![]() ![]() Our products showed up on the Air Max 95, Air Max 97. That’s where we really started to collaborate across a broader range of footwear. They took the lead in putting reflective material on running shoes, alongside brands like Adidas. And where we really start to see things pick up between us and Nike are right around in the mid-’90s. ![]() That was obviously long ago, prior to my tenure at 3M, but it still remains one of the most notable Air Jordans, as well as one of the most notable that our material has been on. Gallagher: The Air Jordan 5 is one of the hallmark collaborations that we’ve had with Nike. This interview with them has been edited and condensed for clarity.įor a lot of sneaker enthusiasts, 3M started popping up in the early ’90s with the Air Jordan 5 and on running shoes from that era. To find out more about Scotchlite material, 3M’s connection to sneakers, and the brand’s recent collaborations, we caught up with Brian Rice, chief brand and design officer, and Ryan Gallagher, global marketing manager for Scotchlite reflective material. Meanwhile, Heltzer’s revolutionary invention was the start of his ascension within the company, where he would became CEO in 1970 before resigning five years later over illegal contributions to Richard Nixon’s 1972 presidential campaign. Scotchlite has been technologically improved over the years to make it more applicable to different surfaces, durable, and weather resistant, but the heart of the high-visibility retroreflective material remains the same. Readers likely recognize its use on the aforementioned Air Jordan 5’s tongue, the Nike Air Max 97’s overlays, or apparel like Supreme’s Spring/Summer 2013 The North Face collab. Heltzer’s experiments led to the development of Scotchlite, one of 3M’s most well-known products and the one that is most commonly used in footwear. I’d run down the six floors and sweep up what I had.” “When you melt glass and pour it in a thin stream, it breaks into particles that turn into bubbles. “My first ones involved melting glass in a crucible about the size of a cup and pouring it out of the sixth floor of the Benz Building,” Heltzer said. Heltzer, who started as a $12-per-week employee, began looking for ways to incorporate reflective glass beads, using science experiments to dial in the technology. The year was 1938 when University of Minnesota engineering graduate Harry Heltzer was tasked by Carlton to find a way to make highway stripes more visible than the plain white or yellow paints used at the time. Carlton started a laboratory to create reflective material for highways, which led to 3M’s first major breakthrough the following year and would later end up changing the way we see footwear. This led to rapid expansion and a focus on making items like abrasive cloth and masking tape. ![]() ![]() Ordway emerged as an investor in 1905, assuming the company’s debts, taking a majority share, and moving it to St. This idea fizzled out within a few years when they realized their Lake Superior, Minnesota, locale contained little to no corundum. As its original name suggests, the group planned for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company to specialize in mining corundum, an abrasive mineral used primarily for making things like sandpaper. McGonagle, who worked at the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad with Bryan. Cable, attorney John Dwan, and William A. Danley Budd, railroad company executive Henry. The former Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (renamed 3M in 2002) was founded in 1902 by five men: physician Dr. It’s also responsible for some of our favorite sneakers like the Air Jordan 5, Nike Air Max 97, and many more. It makes Post-it Notes, painter’s tape, and air filters. The company’s materials are on highways, street signs, and emergency vehicles. 3M is everywhere, even if you don’t realize it. ![]()
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