Tinker Hatfield

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Tinker Hatfield is the renowned designer of many of Nike's most popular and innovative athletic shoe designs, including the Air Jordan III, the Air Jordan XV, the twentieth anniversary Air Jordan XX, and other athletic sneakers including the world's first "cross training" shoes, the Nike Air Trainer. Hatfield oversees Nike's "Innovation Kitchen" and is rumored to be designing the upcoming Air Jordan XXIII.

Hatfield is an athlete formally trained in architecture. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Architecture, and he has been also published for the architectural design of his Portland, Oregon home. He realized that his skills could also be applied to athletic shoes. He claims to have designed the cross-trainer as a "multi-sport" shoe when he realized people at his Oregon gym brought various sneakers with them for diverse activities such as basketball, aerobics, weightlifting and jogging.

The Air Jordan XV model also had a red stripe that went up the back of the shoe and bottom of the heel. This stripe caused speculation that the inspiration for this feature of the Air Jordan XV model came from the signature stripe on Prada shoes. The shoes also had an “original” woven upper, and this also caused speculation this feature was also inspired by Italian designers.