Tinker Haven Hatfield, Jr. was born on April 30, 1952 in Hillsboro, Oregon. He is a graduate of Architecture from the University Of Oregon School Of Architecture. In 1981, he joined Nike but it was only in 1985 when he started designing shoes. According to him, he designed the ‘cross-training’ shoes for different sports activities because he noticed that people coming to gym actually brought different shoes for each activity like jogging, weightlifting and aerobics.

In 1993 and 1996, he was named as one of the ‘most influential people on the business side of sports’ by Sportstyle Magazine. In 1998, Hatfield was named as one of the "100 Most Influential Designers" of the 20th century by Fortune magazine, and for his special and unique contribution to sports, Tinker Hatfield was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

Currently working for Nike, Tinker Hatfield is a popular shoe designer whose net worth is estimated to be around $25 million as of 2012. He is known to be the designer of Nike’s most popular and in-demand athletic shoe designs which include Air Jordan XX, XXIII, Air Jordan XV and the 2010 (XXV). He also designed Nike Air Trainer, which is considered as the first "cross training" shoes in the world. Currently, Hatfield serves as the Vice President for Design and Special Projects of Nike.