The Nike Air Max Plus Is Taking Over Homecoming Festival in Lagos
Designed in collaboration with Grace Ladoja, this sneaker is a tiny slice of home.
When Grace Ladoja launched Our Homecoming in 2018, it was born out of the desire for the Nigerian diaspora to have a space of their own in the country. Attracting creatives across the diaspora and within the country to the annual Homecoming Festival, Ladoja’s platform has reached unimaginable heights, building a new community rooted in music, fashion, art and sport.
Eight years into the ongoing project, Nike wants a taste of the Homecoming experience, too. Giving Ladoja free rein over a bold, new sneaker design exclusive to the 2026 Homecoming Festival, the sportswear brand is more tapped into the culture than ever before.
The Nike Air Max Plus has had many redesigns and makeovers from brands across the world, but Ladoja’s version is daily reminder of home. Bringing fragments of everyday life and beautiful aspects of Nigerian culture to the ever-popular TN, this collaboration is one we’ll never forget.
We spoke to Ladoja about the sneakers, the inspiration behind the design and what it means to come home. Keep scrolling to read the full conversation.
Could you tell me how the idea for Homecoming Festival came about?
I came back to Lagos for the first time like 14 years ago. When I came back my mum had just passed away sadly. My mum moved to London to have me and she’d never been back to Nigeria, but every Sunday we would phone home. We’d phone my nan, we’d phone my aunties — everything. When she passed away, I was like, I need to go to Lagos. I need to find these people that I used to speak to, that I felt so connected to. So me and my brother came, and the first time I touched down in Lagos, I swear to God, it felt like I was at home.
When I came, I was connecting with the cultural community here, and at that time I just started working with Skepta, and we had this big mission to change the culture. We were coming to Nigeria a lot, and just we were seeing so many things, like Mowalola and her world, and it felt like a secret. Music, fashion, art, sports — it was like everything was popping here.
So I thought, we need to make an entry point in Lagos where people can come and feel comfortable. People want to come back to Nigeria, but it’s really scary. It feels so big. So we made a place that was like connecting culture, amplifying what’s here and allowing people to come and feel at home culturally. It was really organic, to be honest.
Our Homecoming was one of the first platforms to really merge fashion, music, sport and culture. How does it feel to see that vision come to life every year?
It feels really good, because every year it’s new things. My brain doesn’t work in a singular way. I love a remix. I think things need to come together. Things need to clash. I’m always thinking more, more, more, but I think that’s what makes the interesting cultural intersection — how the worlds collide. Over the years, we’ve seen so many things happen in different parts of culture, but because it’s so intertwined, it feels like African culture in general is progressing.
It’s not just music, it’s not just fashion. There’s always something in Homecoming that feels like it’s moving forward. This might not be a strong music year, but it might be a strong fashion year. It might not be a strong fashion year, but it’ll be strong sports year. It always feels like we’re looking at something new, strong, and it feels present on the pulse of what’s happening in the city.
The Nike Air Max Plus is a staple of so many communities. Was it always the shoe you wanted to collaborate on?
That’s my number one shoe. I saved up my bus fare to buy the shoe when I was young. I walked to school for 60 days to buy this shoe, so it feels really special to have it be the first thing I’ve worked on with Nike. I’m a sneakerhead, and I interned at Crooked Tongues when I was younger. I’ve been in sneaker culture and I know what the shoe represents. Sneakerheads love it. Roadmen love it. Future African creatives love it. The silhouette is amazing. It’s a perfect shoe for me.
You’ve got to remember that this shoe is about being from two places. The idea that there’s no place like home, and home is whatever it is to me. Home was London, but it feels like home is Lagos now. I wanted people to have a product that celebrates that feeling of being from two worlds, and I think that is really present, especially in popular culture now. We’re talking a lot more about where we are from. What is home? What does home feel like? I just wanted that kind of synergy with the product.
What is the story behind the different colors and textures on the shoe?
One colorway is really about the African sunrise. When you’re in Nigeria or anywhere that I’ve been in West Africa, the sunrise and the sunset is a deep orange. It feels quite magical. That color celebrates a kind of rebirth or restart. Me and my son say this sort of thing every day. “It’s a brand new day.” It just feels like in Nigeria and Africa, you’ve always got the next day. It’s a new day, a new hustle, right? So it’s that rebirth kind of sunrise feeling. And then the other shoe, which is now being called the Pan-African colorway — I thought how can one product encompass all the colors of all the African flags? We tried to get all the flags in. It does feel quite rooted here.
With the textures, the whole shoe is inspired by the weaving technique and texture that was around the African sponge. This is a household item that connects everyone, so I really love that we were able to include that. And things like the lacing — the lacing is not actually real. It’s not functional. It’s just design. You know how it is in Nigeria. It’s flamboyant. It’s excess. It’s OTT. The charms all have different symbols, but also all celebrating Africa, whether it be the cowrie shells, or the eagle or the African gold. This is a shoe that is empowering.
What is your favorite detail on the sneaker?
It’s the lacing and the charms. When you look down, it looks really graphic. It looks really cool. And people can take things out if they wanted to. If they wanted to take the charms out and put it on a necklace, they can do whatever you want with it. It’s quite playful and it gives you a bit of customization as well. I want to see how people lace it up themselves. Those are my favorite bits.
Nike is known for highlighting different communities and cultures through collaborations. How does it feel for Our Homecoming to be Nike’s latest cultural activation?
I think it’s good. Some of the collaborators, whether it be Slawn or Mowa, their collaborations came from people coming to Homecoming. So it feels really amazing that we are also a part of that story. It’s kind of a weird collaboration. But I think because I’m so multifaceted, it makes sense because in culture, there’s different people that have different voices.
I feel like it was a good time to do that collab, and I feel excited for what that will bring. Even seeing the response to the shoe — it feels like people want something more from collaborations, and this one was refreshing. That’s exactly what we wanted people to feel.
A Nike sneaker collaboration is definitely something to celebrate. Do you see yourself collaborating with Nike or any other brands again in the future?
Yeah, I think we want to keep it going, because now I live in Lagos and we’ve got a permanent concept space. I want to constantly have projects design-wise come out of that — from idea to retail through this filter of Africa. I think that that is where I want to be now. I want to make sure that it is seen globally, you know? The design, the references, the people, the community, the collaborators — we have a role to play in amplifying that.
With these products, even if some people didn’t know what Homecoming was, they still posted about the shoe. They didn’t say it’s about Grace or Our Homecoming, but it’s still a great product. That’s what is so exciting about this next chapter of Homecoming. We have a lot we want to make, and it’s going to be a really exciting, refreshing feel to the global creative landscape.
