After five decades and many iterations, the emblematic Nike Cortez remains mostly unchanged in appearance, but its runner history will forever be cemented within Nike’s heritage. For the launch of our ?exclusive Cortez, we linked up with TJ Dolan AKA Krek (@krekfms), a graffiti artist and classic car dealer at Dolan Classics who filled us in on what inspires his creativity.

The perfect creative to link up with for this release, Krek created a unique piece of artwork for us, offering elements of our brand that nodded to the Cortez with, of course, his unique approach to graffiti artwork. Debuting in ‘72 the Nike Cortez features a classic script from the original advert on the reverse of the tongue label – something you really get to admire in hand.

A lover of typography, Krek enjoys its textures and flows, and he draws inspiration from vintage car shapes from Italian models, 3-wheelers, and more, which correlate subconsciously in his work. For Krek, certain cars from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even beyond the eras, have paint jobs that go hand in hand with graffiti just like the vintage tooling on the Cortez.

Always wanting to not limit himself and diversify his creativity, Kreks’ graffiti world opens up limitless avenues whether he’s traveling, meeting people, or styling, as “you really involved with your surroundings and the people around you.” Krek loves the idea of sketching a tag in a few seconds knowing the possibilities for that creative piece could be a mural on the side of a building or a piece of clothing – “something small that could be overlooked could become something beautiful.”

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