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DIRT: Ari Menthol 10s: The Sneakers That Smoked the System

Quote of the day:

“A dull truth will not be looked at. An exciting lie will. That is what good, sincere people must understand. They must make their truth exciting and new, or their good works will be born dead.” – Bill Bernbach

Made me think:

🧠 The Mandela Effect
Coined in 2009 by paranormal researcher Fiona Broome, the Mandela Effect describes the phenomenon where large groups of people misremember the same event or detail. It’s named after the widespread false memory that Nelson Mandela died in prison during the 1980s (he was released in 1990 and became President of South Africa in 1994).

In design: this bias is a reminder that collective memory can diverge from reality. Logos, packaging, and even shoe silhouettes are often “remembered” differently than they actually are. (Think: how people swear the Nike swoosh once looked thicker, or that Adidas stripes were arranged differently.) Designers can’t always control how their work is remembered — only how it first lands.

Air Menthol 10s: The Sneakers That Smoked the System

In 2006, a little-known designer named Ari Saal Forman dropped a sneaker that would become one of the most infamous cultural flashpoints in footwear history: the Menthol 10s.

The shoe was a mash-up — part homage, part provocation. Ari took the classic Nike Air Force 1 silhouette and remixed it with the colors and logos of Newport menthol cigarettes, one of America’s most controversial and heavily marketed tobacco brands. The sneaker’s green-and-white palette mimicked a pack of Newports, complete with the “Spinnaker” logo reimagined across the heel. On the side, instead of “Nike Air,” the word “Menthol 10s” was stitched, a sly nod to both the cigarette and the AF1 model.

Ari released only 252 pairs at an event in New York on June 17, 2006. The packaging itself doubled down on the provocation: sneakers boxed like cartons of cigarettes, wrapped with warnings and slogans. It was less about footwear and more about a cultural experiment — asking, what happens when you hijack the iconography of two global giants (Nike and Newport) and turn them into one object?

The answer: legal chaos. Within weeks of the launch, Nike’s lawyers issued a cease-and-desist, and Newport’s parent company, Lorillard Tobacco, followed with their own. Ari was forced to shut down production immediately. The Menthol 10s were effectively banned, cementing their status as underground legends.

Collectors who managed to grab a pair held onto them like contraband. Today, they almost never surface, but when they do, they fetch staggering prices on the secondary market — not just as sneakers, but as artifacts of rebellion.

The Menthol 10s weren’t just shoes. They were a commentary on advertising, branding, and consumer manipulation. By fusing Nike’s street-culture dominance with Newport’s aggressive marketing toward marginalized communities, Ari held up a mirror to how corporations profit from identity, aspiration, and addiction.

And that’s why the Menthol 10s endure. They sit alongside shoes like the Pigeon Dunk (2005) as cultural landmarks, proving that sneakers aren’t just fashion — they’re billboards, protests, and provocations.

There's a great Vice documentary about them too. Check it out here

Something to think about

The Menthol 10s show how design can become a social experiment — part shoe, part cultural critique (art?)

👉 In an era of endless collaborations and brand mashups, are we still pushing boundaries? — or have provocations like the Menthol 10s become impossible under today’s corporate-polished sneaker machine?

My weekly Recommends

🎬 Power Moves with Shaquille O’Neal
If you’re into sneakers, Reebok, marketing, or the paradigm shift of sports brands, this is essential viewing. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, the way Shaq flipped athlete endorsements into long-term cultural capital is masterful.
Check out the Trailer here: Power Moves with Shaquille O’Neal (YouTube)

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Till next time...