Even a year after his passing, Virgil Abloh is still making an impact in the footwear space.

The Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 by Virgil Abloh was honored as Shoe of the Year at the 36th annual FN Achievement Awards. Nike VP Roderick Blaylock presented the award, which was accepted by Virgil’s wife Shannon Abloh, CEO and managing director of Virgil Abloh Securities.

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“Collaboration was at the heart of everything Virgil created,” said Shannon, speaking via video. “Let’s all raise a glass and cheers to Virgil.”

Abloh died in late November last year at age 41 after a two year battle with cancer. He was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections since 2018, and had led his own streetwear brand Off-White since 2012. He also designed countless hits for Nike and Jordan Brand, including his line of deconstructed Nike icons in his “The Ten” collection. Abloh was awarded the Shoe of the Year for the Air Jordan 1 in this collection at the 2017 Footwear News Achievement Awards.

In his acceptance speech at the time, Abloh explained the importance of showing up to work as if it is a dream job.

“This award, to me, is representative of my emotion as an intern. That emotion of showing up to this dream job — or let’s even go back further — that emotion of dreaming of a dream job, showing up and proving you can add ideas to an industry that’s already set in its ways, that always delivers great things,” Abloh explained…