Virgil Abloh Archive Drops First Global Release, the Air Jordan 1 "Alaska"

The Virgil Abloh Archive and Jordan Brand released the Air Jordan 1 High OG x V.A.A., style AA3834-100, priced at $230, with a global drop set for April 3, 2026 via Nike SNKRS and select retailers. Known among fans as the "Alaska," this marks the first global product drawn from the Virgil Abloh Archive, a collection of more than 20,000 objects documenting the late designer's practice across fashion, architecture, and culture.

The shoe carries the visual grammar Abloh spent years building: an exposed foam tongue, an orange tab on the Swoosh, and bold black "AIR" lettering printed directly over Nike's visible air unit on the midsole. That last detail is a direct expression of the revealing principle that anchored Abloh's early design language, foregrounding construction rather than masking it. Sneakernews describes the upper as arctic white leather with tints of blue on the synthetic panels, while other outlets list the colorway simply as White/White/White. Official product imagery, shot by Andrew Zuckerman Studio, remains the clearest reference for resolving that detail.

"V.A.A.'s mission is to keep Virgil's ideas alive," said Shannon Abloh, founder and president of the Virgil Abloh Archive. "The Archive exists not only to preserve Virgil's work, but to share it with great care and intention."

The release has been moving through the V.A.A. WORLD'S FAIR activation circuit, a series of global events in cities woven into Abloh's creative life: Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. The programming, which includes exhibitions, film screenings, discussions, and workshops, began in Paris last fall. Los Angeles was the first stop for the sneaker itself; an EQL raffle open to event guests and LA residents ran around March 14-15, with winners required to pick up in person during the World's Fair weekend. Sneaker Bar Detroit confirmed the LA raffle had officially closed by March 14.

Throughout March, pairs have been available exclusively through V.A.A. WORLD'S FAIR in-person activations and online via Canary Yellow. That exclusivity window closes ahead of the April 3 global release on SNKRS and Nike.com.

There is one additional incentive layered into the launch beyond the raffle circuit: the first 100 subscribers to the Archive's newly announced Toolkit program for emerging creatives will receive a pair of the collaborative sneakers. The Archive also opened free public membership this month, broadening access to Abloh's ongoing creative legacy.

The partnership between Abloh and Nike dates to 2017 and The Ten, a ten-shoe deconstruction project that fundamentally changed how sneaker collaborations framed storytelling. Nearly a decade later, the Alaska operates within that same design lineage, not as a posthumous tribute but as a continuation of a conversation the Archive intends to keep going on its own terms.