The Nike Air Force 1 Low Virgil Abloh Archives “Codes – Pine Green” is one of the rarest sneakers to emerge from Virgil Abloh’s creative universe following his passing. Unveiled within the context of the Virgil Abloh: The Codes exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2025, it never received a standard retail release and circulated exclusively in extremely limited quantities.
The sneaker adopts the language of the iconic Air Force 1s developed by Virgil with Nike, but introduces a fundamental change: instead of the traditional “Off-White™ for NIKE” text on the medial side, it features the new “V.A.A. for NIKE”, a reference to the Virgil Abloh Archive™.
A Pine Green upper, metallic Swoosh, industrial lettering, exposed stitching, and a dedicated “V.A.A. CODES” zip tie transform this Nike Air Force 1 into one of the most distinctive objects tied to Abloh’s creative legacy.
What is Virgil Abloh: The Codes?
The story of the Pine Green is closely linked to the Virgil Abloh: The Codes exhibition, organized by the Virgil Abloh Archive™ in partnership with Nike.
The exhibition was held at the Grand Palais in Paris from September 30 to October 9, 2025 and was presented by Nike as the first major European exhibition entirely dedicated to Virgil Abloh’s work.
The project gathered nearly twenty years of creative activity through thousands of materials from the archive: prototypes, sketches, garments, sneakers, personal items, and documentation related to the numerous fields the designer traversed.
A significant part of the exhibition was naturally dedicated to the long-standing collaboration between Virgil Abloh and Nike, which began years before "The Ten" and became one of the most influential relationships in the recent history of sneaker design.
It is precisely in this context that the Air Force 1 Pine Green was first seen publicly.
The first appearance of the Air Force 1 V.A.A. Pine Green
The sneaker was not introduced through a standard Nike campaign.
During the opening of The Codes, images emerged of a completely green Air Force 1 associated with the staff and people involved in the project.
There was no SNKRS launch, no dedicated Nike sales page, and no retail calendar.
The detail that immediately caught the attention of enthusiasts was the text on the medial side:
“V.A.A. for NIKE”.
Three initials indicating the Virgil Abloh Archive, distinguishing the sneaker from previous Air Force 1s created under the Off-White name.
What does V.A.A. for NIKE mean?
V.A.A. is the abbreviation for Virgil Abloh Archive.
The Virgil Abloh Archive™ preserves and studies the designer’s work with the goal of protecting his ideas, processes, methodologies, and creative materials.
In the case of the Pine Green, the presence of the “V.A.A. for NIKE” text is particularly significant because it visually replaces one of the most famous elements of Virgil’s previous collaborations.
For years, variations of the signature industrial graphic referencing “Off-White™ for NIKE” appeared on Nike x Off-White sneakers.
Here, the language remains instantly recognizable, but the subject indicated on the shoe is Virgil’s archive.
It is more accurate to interpret this detail as a new application of Abloh’s design language within the relationship between Nike and his archive, without automatically turning it into a statement regarding the end or the legal replacement of the Off-White partnership.
The connection to Virgil Abloh’s Air Force 1s
Visually, the Pine Green did not come out of nowhere.
The construction belongs to the family of monochromatic Air Force 1s that Virgil Abloh had turned into some of the most desired projects of his career.
Among the best-known examples are the versions created for ComplexCon, the Museum of Modern Art, and other releases linked to museums and cultural institutions.
These sneakers share several elements:
- a nearly monochromatic Air Force 1 Low base;
- a Swoosh applied with deliberately visible stitching;
- a small orange tab;
- technical text on the medial side;
- “AIR” text on the midsole;
- a zip tie;
- a deliberately industrial and “unfinished” design language.
The V.A.A. Pine Green adopts this system and brings it into the context of the archive.
The Pine Green colorway
The sneaker uses an almost entirely Pine Green construction.
The upper, laces, midsole, and outsole remain within the same color family, creating a very uniform base.
The dark green is broken up primarily by the metallic silver Swoosh, golden-yellow text, and the small orange tab positioned near the Nike logo.
It is a simple composition, yet extremely close to the philosophy of Virgil’s previous Air Force 1s: start with a universally known silhouette and modify its interpretation through a few immediately identifiable graphic elements.
The silver Swoosh stitched onto the upper
One of the most obvious details is the large silver Swoosh.
The logo is not integrated in a traditional way within the shoe's panels. The stitching remains intentionally visible, reinforcing that impression of a prototype or a product still in the construction phase, typical of Virgil Abloh’s language.
The metallic effect also creates a very strong contrast with the green leather.
Next to the Swoosh appears the small orange tag, another recurring element in sneakers designed by Abloh with Nike.
The “AIR” text on the midsole
On the midsole appears the word “AIR” enclosed in quotation marks.
It is one of the most famous graphic codes introduced by Virgil Abloh in Nike collaborations.
The principle consists of taking elements that would normally remain implicit—the name of a technology, the function of a component, or the type of object—and making them explicit through text and quotation marks.
The same logic characterized The Ten in 2017 and continues to be immediately associated with the designer’s work.
On the Pine Green, the text is rendered in a golden-yellow hue that also matches the medial branding.
The laces and Virgil Abloh’s industrial language
The laces also maintain another of the most famous details of the Nike x Virgil Abloh collaborations.
In fact, the text “SHOELACES” appears, once again enclosed in quotation marks.
It is a deliberately simple intervention: literally naming the object on which the word is printed.
This approach belongs to a broader system used by Abloh in fashion, product design, and architecture: making visible the mechanisms and conventions that normally go unnoticed.
The 2025 “V.A.A. CODES” zip tie
One of the elements that most directly connects the sneaker to the exhibition is the white zip tie.
On the accessory, the following graphic appears:
“V.A.A. CODES”
C. 2025 “ZIP TIE”
The reference to “Codes” explicitly ties the pair to the 2025 exhibition project.
The zip tie, therefore, is not simply the classic accessory taken from old Off-White x Nike models; it has been customized for this specific phase of the archive’s work.
Did a green Virgil Abloh Air Force 1 exist before?
Yes, and it is one of the most interesting aspects of the story.
In 2022, images had already circulated of a green Air Force 1 linked to the Off-White x Nike universe.
The structure was very close to the one that reappeared in 2025, but the previous version featured the traditional “Off-White for Nike” reference.
The sneaker that appeared during The Codes, however, modified that detail to “V.A.A. for Nike” and introduced accessories specifically linked to the Archives project.
This makes the comparison particularly interesting: rather than a completely new colorway, the 2025 Pine Green can be read as the evolution of an idea already present in Virgil’s previous work.
Is the Pine Green a Friends & Family release?
All available information converges in describing it as a sneaker not intended for normal retail sale.
It never appeared via a public Nike SNKRS drop, and there is no normal distribution at Nike retailers.
Instead, the pairs emerged within the circle connected to the exhibition, the staff, and the Virgil Abloh Archive project.
For this reason, it is commonly classified as Friends & Family.
Some sneaker sources published in 2026 indicate a production of approximately 150 pairs. However, as there is no public communication from Nike confirming this number, it is preferable to treat it as a quantity reported by the specialized press rather than production data confirmed by the brand.
When was the Air Force 1 V.A.A. Pine Green released?
There is no true retail release date, because the sneaker did not have a public commercial launch.
Some marketplace platforms indicate September 2025 as the date associated with the model, but its publicly documented appearance is primarily linked to Virgil Abloh: The Codes, which opened at the Grand Palais on September 30, 2025.
Therefore, referring to it as a “September 2025 release” may be useful for cataloging the model's year, but it should not be interpreted as the equivalent of a normal SNKRS launch.
What is the SKU for the Virgil Abloh Archives Pine Green?
Particular caution is needed here.
StockX catalogs the model with the code IV3991-2138684, but since it is a Friends & Family sneaker and not a normal Nike retail release, cataloging information is not supported by a public Nike product page equivalent to those of normal Air Force 1s.
To identify the model on the secondary market, the full name Nike Air Force 1 Low Virgil Abloh Archives Codes Pine Green, the provenance, and especially the physical details of the pair are particularly useful.
How much is the Air Force 1 V.A.A. Pine Green worth?
A sneaker with such limited distribution does not have a market liquid enough to establish a unique and reliable price.
In 2026, asking prices exceeding $20,000 appeared on StockX, but a sales request does not automatically equal a completed transaction.
For Friends & Family items of this caliber, the price depends heavily on:
- the pair's provenance;
- size;
- condition;
- presence of original accessories;
- actual number of available specimens;
- individual collector demand.
It is, therefore, more accurate to speak of collectible rarity than to use high asking prices as proof of a guaranteed future value.
The Nike Air Force 1 V.A.A. Pine Green from ResellZone
A specimen of the sneaker is currently present in the ResellZone catalog.
It is a size 44, classified in 9.9/10 condition, with very slight signs of use on the sole.
According to the product page, the pair comes directly from the context of The Codes exhibition and does not possess a normal original retail box, consistent with the specific Friends & Family distribution.
The price currently indicated is €17,000—a value that describes the asking price for this specific item and should not be interpreted as a universal market quote for the model.
You can view photographs, condition, and availability of the Nike Air Force 1 Low Virgil Abloh Archives Codes Pine Green.
Why is this Air Force 1 different from the Off-White x Nike models?
The most interesting difference does not concern the silhouette.
The design, in fact, continues to use many of the codes made famous by Virgil: stitched Swoosh, industrial text, quotation marks, zip ties, and monochromatic construction.
What changes is the authorial and archival context indicated directly on the sneaker.
The “V.A.A. for NIKE” text brings the Virgil Abloh Archive to the forefront for the first time, within the same graphic language that the public had learned to recognize through Off-White.
This does not erase previous history; on the contrary, it allows us to see how those codes can be studied and reinterpreted through the archive left behind by the designer.
The Codes and Virgil Abloh’s Nike legacy
The Parisian exhibition is fundamental to understanding why this sneaker makes sense.
Virgil Abloh: The Codes was not built solely around finished products, but above all around the methods used by the designer.
Virgil spoke of “codes” precisely to describe visual and conceptual systems capable of being recognized, modified, and reused.
Quotation marks, technical text, apparently incomplete elements, recontextualized objects, and minimal interventions on known products belonged to this system.
The Pine Green perfectly demonstrates the concept: the Air Force 1 clearly remains an Air Force 1, but a series of relatively small interventions completely changes the way it is read.
A sneaker to wear or a piece for the archive?
From a technical standpoint, it remains a Nike Air Force 1 and could naturally be worn.
But its rarity, provenance, and direct connection to the exhibition mean that existing specimens are treated primarily as collectibles.
It is a particularly interesting case because it shows how the line between sneaker, memorabilia, and archival object can become thin.
The cultural value does not derive only from the number of pairs, but from the fact that the product documents a precise phase in the conservation and reinterpretation of Virgil Abloh’s legacy.
Why the Virgil Abloh Archives Pine Green is important
The Air Force 1 V.A.A. Codes Pine Green does not need to be described as “the sneaker that replaces Off-White” to be significant.
Its interest is more precise.
It takes a design already present in Virgil’s creative archive, maintains the codes that made his work with Nike recognizable, and modifies one of the fundamental details: “Off-White for Nike” becomes “V.A.A. for Nike”.
Furthermore, it arrives in the context of The Codes, an exhibition built entirely to study and preserve Abloh’s creative method.
It did not have a public release, exists in extremely limited quantities, and continues in 2026 to appear only through very few specimens on the secondary market.
It is this combination of elements that makes the Nike Air Force 1 Virgil Abloh Archives Pine Green one of the most interesting chapters in Nike history following the designer’s passing.
