Reservoir Shoe Dogs

The NBA was in a doubtful position coming off in the 70’s, it was labeled a niche sport. The league was a fight-filled, drug-addled, dull brand of basketball that looked even worse when compared to leagues in the NFL or Major League Baseball, that still held a grip on the imaginations of American sports fans. Forward for the Lakers, Spencer Haywood used cocaine during the 79-80 season, a stint that came to a blunt end when he was kicked off the team after falling asleep during practice for a finals matchup against the 76ers. Spencer wasn’t alone, Cocaine plagued the NBA in the late ’70s. Players such as Marvin Barnes, Micheal Ray Richardson, and most prominent Len Bias were riddled with drug interactions. Cocaine had become the vogue drug in the disco-and-party-influenced ’70s and many

NBA players indulged before the league had any drug policy.

“There was so much chatter about it becoming a Black league, And we Black players didn't help the matter. “We weren't refined. It was like, big fur coats, big fur hats. “It was like Superfly in the NBA," said Spencer Haywood, who won a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1971 that opened the door for players to enter the league before completing college.It wasn’t until David Stern succeeded Larry O'Brien as commissioner in 1984, who took the helm of a league beset by fan disinterest, financial problems, and drug scandals. Stern knew for the game to grow, it had to get attention nationally, and the way to do that was through television, especially with cable developing then. Some background, In the 1980-81 season, 16 of the NBA’s 23 teams lost money. Total attendance was down almost a million from the year before and teams were playing to an average of only 10,021 fans per game, about 58% of the capacity of their arenas. As the low point of the pre-Stern era, many of the NBA games were tape delayed for more desirable programming such as "The Waltons. "

Stern's first order of business was instituting revenue sharing, players now would receive roughly 50 percent of gross revenue. This generated a peaceful relationship between players and owners that was a stepping stone in establishing the league with a progressive image under Stern. By focusing the owners attention on the proper ways to market their product, The agreement concluded a decade of slighting relations between NBA players and owners, and, more importantly, it made the two parties partners. Since the salary cap was instituted, NBA fans didn't have to read about the tiresome labor disputes, strike threats and on court fights that tarnished the NBA. Stern wasted no time putting his marketing astute to work. He even decided to take the dying NBA All Star game, and transform it into the All-Star Weekend. The event's slam-dunk competition, and the three-point contest added in 1986, were borrowed from the ABA.

The Legends game was borrowed from the old-timers' games in baseball. And the huge parties for the NBA's corporate sponsors were modeled after those given at the Super Bowl. Under his leadership the league broke its attendance record for seven straight years, beginning in '83-84. NBA gross annual revenue soared 437%, from $160 million to $700 million. Stern understood the concept of branding and marketing. He saw the natural rivalry and star power of the Los Angeles Lakers with Magic Johnson competing against the Boston Celtics with Larry Bird.

Their contests were always featured on national television. He realized how shoe companies could help build the brand, especially Converse, and how that would lead to endless hours of free exposure for basketball. Converse was the sponsored shoe and the de facto shoes for players of the 70s. Converse’s basketball strategy outfitted Magic and Bird in their premier sneaker advertisements under the header “Choose Your Weapon”. The shoes were designed with colorways of the sneaker that reflected their respective teams. Converse signed other superstars such as Isaiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons, Mark Aguirre of the Dallas Mavericks, Kevin Mchale of the Boston Celtics and Bernard King of the New York Knicks to market their high top shoe. Converse had an all star lineup when it came to shoes, but it didn’t sell to inner city kids. Back in the 80s basketball players off the court weren’t as popular as they were on the court. They lacked flair; wearing double breasted suits, flared trousers along with tailored shrits.

Off the court, players didn’t captivate the spirit of the youth, everything felt bland. Kids from the inner city were wearing Sergio Tachini tracksuits, Fila shoes, Karl Kani hoodies and carrying Louis Vuiston bags. The dress code of the youth from the 80s personified "Let's get this money” at a time when widespread deindustrialisation devastated traditional working class communities, jobs and lifestyles particularly across New York City. Still, these circumstances didn’t desolate the spirit considering that “Boy Wonders'' were responsible for setting fashion trends in Harlem.

He’s a successful hustler from around the way, not an entertainer; however, his fashion represents the tension between unity and diffrentiation, satisfying the demand for social adaptation, coinciding with social demarcation especially for the upper class.

“Every day, Boy Wonder stays consistent with that bulky drug money. “Every day, people are on the lookout for him. “It takes a lot of outfits to be a boy wonder. “Damn, they say. “You saw the shit he was wearing today? “Even though boy wonders weren't celebrities or athletes, it didn’t matter because the athletes and entertainers wanted to dress like the hustlers.”-Dapper Dan

Eric B and Rakim cemented the hustler aesthetic when they donned an black and gold Dapper Dan Gucci jacket for the cover of their 1988 Follow The Leader album. There was grim irony in luxury streetwear becoming the uniform of the people trapped in a relentless cycle of full time, taking drastic measures to get by. If you were a good basketball player that was second to being a good hustler. The NBA needed to find a basketball player that kids wanted to be. Magic and Bird signature shoe lines weren’t marketed well because the Converse Weapons weren’t nuanced. Sneakers didn’t have a meaning, sneakers worn by NBA players during the 1980’s matched their team's color and were designed to have a standard cup sole. Players weren’t marketed by the commercial value of their name, image and likeness.

There were other players besides Magic and Bird that had shoe contracts, but their contracts were restrained. Shoe companies would give a player a shoe, pay him to endorse it and manners were settled. It would take a shoe company to combine Magic’s showmanship, Dr. J’s flight and Clyde's flare into a marketing plan. This vision didn’t come into fruition until Nike emerged through the early 1980s. They started in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports and initially flourished as a distributor for the Japanese shoemaker Onitsuka Tiger (now known as Asics).

The company's innovation debut was in 1979 when they introduced air cushioning technology. NASA inventor and engineer Marion Frank Rudy invented the air unit for the Nike Air Max for comfort during running; it kept up the revenue of Nike for long. But in the early 1980s, the revenue started dipping mainly because the management weren’t keen on marketing their shoes' personality. Something Nike's competitors had by then developed in their business during the 1980s. It was Sonny Vaccaro, the founder of the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in his native Pittsburgh, who exposed Nike to the opportunities concealed in hoops. Vaccaro’s approach to Phil Knight was to launch an entire product line around Michael Jordan, this young kid out of North Carolina. CBS broadcaster Billy Packer and Vaccaro had dinner with Phil Knight during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Vaccaro made a burning plea for Nike to sign Jordan to a deal.

He told Knight that Jordan would be the next big thing. Knight seemed almost indifferent to Vaccaro’s pitch. However, Nike VP Rob Strasser had already watched Vaccaro work his magic in college basketball. Nike hired Vaccaro in the late ‘70s, based on his idea of paying coaches under the table to have their high school players wear Nike shoes. That strategy allowed Nike to surge to the lead in the field for the signing of Jordan. Strasser was willing to listen again to Vaccaro on Jordan, despite Knight’s indifference. The Jordan magic with Nike

began with the very first meeting with his representative, David Falk ,who came up with the Air Jordan recalled Peter Moore, who was then a top designer for Nike. “David named it, not me. “It made perfect sense”.- Peter Moore. Within minutes, Moore sketched up the product line’s first logo, with wings. One of Moore’s first great moments with Jordan was explaining the company’s vision for what Air Jordan could be. Jordan was going to be the first team athlete with his own signature line, before he had played an game

But Jordan went into the meeting with an averse attitude about Nike. At North Carolina, Jordan wore Adidas shoes in practice and casually, he wanted to sign with Adidas. But neither Adidas or Converse could come close to matching the Nike deal, which offered a bizarre royalty on shoes sold. No endorser had ever gotten a percentage of profits, as Strasser and Nike had offered Jordan. Nike was set to promote Jordan and his product line like no athlete had ever been promoted.

Jordan’s first exhibition game occurred in October of 1984, he wore red and black Nike Air Ships, which resulted in a phone call from David Stern, hinting to Strasser that Jordan would be banned from wearing the shoe because only white shoes were allowed in the league. Moore remembered the exchange clearly: “David Stern calls Rob and says, ‘Hey, I’m going to ban your shoe.’ Rob says, ‘Look, this shoe is perfectly legal.’ Stern says, ‘No, it’s not. Moore recalled. “So on the way out the door, Stern says, ‘Rob, I have a favor to ask of you and I’m embarrassed to ask it.’ Rob says, ‘You’ve already ruined my day, go ahead.’ Stern says,

"My son thinks I’m a jerk. "Can you get me a pair of the shoes autographed for him?"

But it's not only that great backstory that made the shoe important, it's also a damn-good looking shoe. There weren’t many shoes on the market that were proportioned like it was. The toe was slim, yet wide, and arched dramatically up the tongue into a beautifully cut collar line that flowed into the ankle. Even more revolutionary, though, was the color blocking. It's more than a shoe, it's an attitude. Nike’s well-known trick at the time was to

pay Jordan’s $5000 fine every time he wore the new shoes on the court. They made this into a television commercial that capitalized on the shoes’ rebellious nature. The first Air Jordan ad was a silent Michael Jordan dribbling the ball and a voice-over who narrated the incident. The voice-over said, “On September 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18, the NBA threw them out of the game.

Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them. The camera slowly focuses down to the Air Jordan I which is covered by a black bar as if they are being censored. The commercial boosted the shoe's lore and helped brain-worm the colorway into the brains of viewers across the globe. It told a tale of defiance and brash charisma connecting both this mercurial player with these untouchable shoes. The NBA can ban it, but they can’t stop you from getting it, a marketing lore that embodied youth rebellion and individuality. Jordan went on to wear his banned shoe in the 1985 All-Star dunk contest, where he topped off the look with two gold chains that flew through the air as he released the ball through the hoop. The eminence of being banned spoke to the swagger and bravado of hip-hop fashion, gave Jordan an edge and helped evolve his backstory and brand.

Because of the polarizing looks and relatively expensive price tag of $65 at that time, many retailers started offering Air Jordan 1s on sale. The combination of a lower price with the added padding as compared to something like Chucks or Blazers made the AJ1 a go-to for mid-80s skaters, who also resonated with Jordan’s recalcitrant reputation. In 1987, The Search of Animal Chin, a skateboarding movie starring Bones Brigade, the team that was composed of Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, Craig R. Stecyk and Tony Hawk all sported the Jordan I while grinding.

Hip hop artist Nas referred the Jordan 1's as a lightsabrer explained in The Last Dance: "For a kid, it was almost like owning a lightsaber, from Star Wars, you needed that shoe to be like him. "It was more than a status symbol, you knew that this guy was the guy.” Nike’s marketing approach, which was implemented in response to the NBA ban, proved to be one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time. This resulted in more than $150 million in sales.

The foundation for what Moore wanted to do with Jordan’s new image had actually come during the 1984 Olympics when photographer Jacobus Rentmeester shot Jordan in a warm up suit for Life magazine. Moore paid $150 for temporary use of the photo, which Rentmeester had posed in a unique way. The sense of a Russian dancer was part of what Moore sought in Jordan’s new image. Moore created the jumpman logo, and it would first appear on the Air Jordan III in 1987, designed by Moore’s one-time assistant, Tinker Hatfield. in 1986. This was Tinker Hatfield’s first Air Jordan design, and it is credited for keeping Michael Jordan at Nike after the original Air Jordan designer Peter Moore left the company in 1987.

Tinker’s first project for Nike was the Nike Air Max 1, a revolutionary design that encapsulated gas inside a urethane airbag for a cushioning component, removing part of the midsole so that you can actually see the exposed airbag. Besides the Goldfish shoe that roamed in every disco hall in the 70s, there wasn’t a shoe as nuanced like the Air Max 1 was. Tinker Hatfield designed the Air Jordan 3 in intimate collaboration with MJ, addressing the player’s request for a more lightweight, mid cut modern shoe. The result: a revolutionary sneaker, remarkable for both its innovative design that marked the debut of the iconic Jumpman logo on the tongue, and the model’s distinctive elephant print accent.

Tinker also designed an entire collection of apparel to accompany the shoe, which included tracksuits, duffel bags, and Jumpman hats that followed the Chicago Bulls colorway and featured the defiant, elephant print. Hatfield would work with Jordan for the next decade consistently working on versions until number XV, and each design took cues from different inspiriations. The Air Jordan V was inspired by the “Flying Tiger'' nose art of the World War II-era P-51 The shark teeth midsole isn’t the only feature that is distinctive. To add to the finishing touches of the shoe, Tinker added a Jumpman-embroidered tongue, glazed in reflective material on the first two colorways. That was the next major step in the design process. My favorite shoe designed by Hatfield is the Air Jordan XI because it features patent leather, nylon, and a carbon fiber shank, eliciting a statement piece to pair with more formal wear. Jordan was comfortable enough in formal clothing that he ordered Hatfield to design the XI to complement his suits and spats.

Hatfield talked about the designing process for the XI with Sole Collector and said, “MJ was all excited when I brought in the shoe and it had this patent leather on it. The first thing he said was, "You….you….y…." He couldn’t get a word out. [laughs] Then, the first real sentence that he said was, "People are going to be wearing these with tuxedos." I just said, “You’re kidding,” and didn’t believe him. Then, about three months later, Boyz II Men showed up at the American Music Awards wearing Air Jordan XIs with tuxedos. Michael called me up that night, and said, “See, I told you so.” [laughs] I just said, “You probably paid those guys, didn’t you?” He said, “No way! They did it on their own.” The shoe developed a life of its own because it transcended basketball, ending up in modern culture and music history.

While Michael Jordan certainly did his part in helping the Air Jordan XI reach legendary status during an accolade laden 1995-1996 NBA season, we definitely can't overlook the creative genius of designer Tinker Hatfield.

There was one point during Hatfield and Jordan’s run, that Hatfield pushed for a less sporty sub-brand called Jordan Beyond. You can notice Hatfields work when Michael did SNL in '91, he wore a Jordan Beyond quilted green jacket. Unfortunately, the Jordan Beyond line didn't pan out due to in-house issues.

At that point, Jordan’s cultural clout was growing thanks to copywriter Jim Riswold and an agency producer Bill Davenport, who came up with a concept that would team Jordan with up-and-coming film director Spike Lee. Riswold and Davenport got inspiration from watching a movie trailer for Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It, They noticed Lee’s Mars Blackmon character never took off his Air Jordans, his Jordans were essential to Mars Blackmon’s sense of identity that he refused to take the shoes off while making love.

Intrigued by this idea, Riswold composed the :30 “Hangtime” ad, the first in a series of up to seventeen spots featuring Mars Blackmon in “Cover,” “Nola,” “Can/Can’t,” and“It’s Gotta Be the Shoes. The development of the idea for the “Spike and Mike” commercials were inspired by Spike Lee’s independent use of Air Jordans as signifiers of a specific aesthetic of the cultural style and moment he was portraying in his films. The movies were referencing cultural products, the meaning of which had been developed on the streets, the basketball court and through advertising which, in turn, derived from Lee’s films that played off of decades of advertising that had implied various athletic abilities.

When Spike set out to make “He Got Game,” he leveraged that connection, managing to secure a pair of then-unreleased Jordan 13s months before they were available to the public or even worn by Jordan himself on the court. Denzel Washington stars as Jake Shuttlesworth, a convict offered a chance for a commuted life sentence if he can persuade his estranged son, Jesus (Ray Allen), one of the country’s top high school basketball prospects, to enroll at the governor’s alma mater. Shortly after being let out on work release, Jake heads to a sneaker store, where the clerk Avery Glymph immediately shows off the latest Jordan model. “I was all about Jordans, and to have those shoes in my hands, knowing I was like the first person to hold them, was kind of cool,” Glymph told Andscape magazine in 2019.

Lee was a product of his environment; incorporating realism, inner city style and and speech to work not just in the service of an imagined racial community but an imaginary blackness which exists exclusively to further the interests of corporate America. “Lee embodied hip hop.” These commercials were also an important creative break for Nike; as the Spike and Mike ads were some of the first Nike ads to use humor. The use of humor, in his view, while still based on Nike’s idea of sport and performance, was a friendly way of introducing a large company to individual consumers.

One would think that designing a signature sneaker for a player that wasn’t in the league anymore might leave Tinker with a lack of inspiration. The Xs came out really nice though, with elastic band lacing, Jordan's accomplishments listed on the outsole, and numerous colorways to represent different cities in the NBA. The Jordan X even dropped in a cleated version for baseball enthusiasts that were ready to be like Mike (hopefully with a better batting average) on the diamond. Nike helping to keep Jordan Brand prevalent in baseball inspired athletes in other sports to pursue a signature line. Aside from their mesmerizing abilities on both the gridiron and the diamond, Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders helped drive up the sales of some of Nike's most memorable '80s and '90s cross-trainers. Nike iconically capitalized on Jackson with the “Bo Knows” campaign, which helped crack open the nascent cross-training market. Although Jackson never had an official signature model, he's synonymous with the Air Trainer SC line, and " Prime Time" Deion was known for his Diamond Turf styles.

The Air Diamond Turf, Deion’s first signature shoe, was a cross-trainer built for speed and support, with a mid-foot strap for stability. It would be the first of five signature shoes Nike produced for Sanders, shoes that matched his material flamboyance while supporting his athletic performance. He cycled through these kicks as he left Atlanta and played in cities from Dallas to San Francisco to Cincinnati to DC. Ken Griffey's emergence represented a changing of the guard in baseball and Nike, too, as the company looked for Bo and Deion’s successors. Ken Griffey Jr. was the closest thing baseball had to Michael Jordan, and while his Swingman line will never surpass the Air Jordan line in terms of sales and popularity, it does have a special place in sneaker culture.

Griffey was everywhere during his meteoric rise making an appearance on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the film Little Big League and various video games such as Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball and Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest. It's hard to describe the Griffey Jr. experience to young baseball fans today, because it's impossible to imagine the experience ever happening again. Sure, there will always be amazing baseball players. Right now we're lucky enough to watch Sohei Ohtani dominate the game year after year in a way that few have. But the difference is, Sohei Ohtani could walk through Times Square and no one would stop him. Griffey had swag, the backward cap, the beautiful swing, the charisma, the home runs and the shoes! He showcased that a Black baseball player could be the face of a league that still struggles to market to them.

Griffey’s sneaker line helped introduce many young Black kids to the game of baseball. It was the first time for many seeing someone like him in the sport, and he looked cool doing it.

Artist and fashion influencer, ASAP Ferg, spoke about Griffey’s legacy and what it meant for a kid from Harlem to watch in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I grew up wearing Griffey sneakers. "Seeing everyone with their outfits, you know that was my favorite part because I like to get fresh. "Griffeys were super big because of the design. We got introduced to baseball through the shoe." Griffey’s sneaker journey started with The Nike Air Griffey Max 1, designed by former Nike designer Tracy Teague. the Air Griffey Max 1’s design sported an upper mixed with leather and Durabuck. An internal bootie and an adjustable ankle strap adorned with The Kid’s number 24 created a secure fit. Heel and forefoot Max Air put it on par with the tech featured in top models from other categories. The three launch colorways, the two Mariners uniform-friendly “Freshwater” colors and the more eye-popping “Varsity Royal” pair—stood out on store shelves.

In 1993, when Jordan retired for a subsequent baseball stint, Nike was looking to create new buzz around a new superstar. Nike's partnership with Charles Barkley was thriving in the absence of Jordan, with the help of an advertising jolt towards Barkley in TV and print campaigns that generated international excitement. The Nike commercial “Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley'' was one of the biggest advertising events of the early 1990s. Not only did it premiere during the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, but also Nike produced a teaser trailer, which ran for several weeks beforehand. Nike also based Barkley’s theme in merchandise, posters, comic books and T-shirts. Conceived by the advertising agency of

Wieden+Kennedy, they took the set they built for Ghostbusters 2 and rebuilt it to look like Tokyo. The 30-second spot featured tremendous production value and was a slam-dunk for Nike, the 29-year-old Barkley, and, even though he was defeated, Godzilla Jabar as well. To cap it all off, Chuck got what felt like a signature shoe: The Air Force Max, a bulky shoe built like a tank, like a Charles Barkley shoe should. The shoe featured the forefoot velcro strap, a visible Air Max unit in the heel, and a 90s style carved out traction pattern. In Barkley’s first season with the Phoenix Suns, he made it all the way to the NBA Finals. Unfortunately, Michael Jordan and the Bulls were waiting for them and the Suns lost in six games. The following season, Barkley got his first official signature shoe: The Air Force Max CB. It featured a synthetic nubuck and leather upper with a mid-cut design, as well as an adjustable strap to secure the midfoot.

On the court, Barkley was averaging 23 points and 11 rebounds, leading the NBA in triple-doubles and leading the Sun's finish 3rd in the Western conference standings during the 94-95 season. If Barkley ever had a chance at winning the NBA title it would have been now. MJ retired and the NBA was wide open. The Suns beat the Golden State Warriors easily in the first round and would come face to face with the Houston Rockets in the 2nd round. The series would go the distance but ultimately the

Rockets won in six games. As Barkley’s hot campaign with the Suns started to dwindle, Nike was evaluating a young marketing strategy. 1995 spelt an incredible year for basketball footwear accompanied by Jordan’s, Air Jordan 11, Shawn Kemp’s Reebok sneaker, the Kamikaze II, and Grant Hill’s first shoe with FILA, the Grant Hill. Nike was looking to create magic behind the 6’7 guard out of Memphis, Penny Hardaway. Looking at the tag-team dynamic of the Spike Lee-Jordan commercials of the late ‘80s, Nike pitched a different idea around the modest star Penny Hardaway and his alter ego sidekick puppet, Lil Penny. The first commercial, “Locker Room,” hit airwaves in November of 1995. In it, Hardaway laces up the Air Max Penny, in the Orlando Magic locker room when Lil Penny asks Hardaway if he could say hi to his high school buddy Kevin Garnett

. Chris Rock was the voice of Lil Penny, however, he wasn’t the first choice of Lil Penny. Nike approached Eddie Murphy first, but the legendary comedian declined. Damon Wayans and Martin Lawrence were also candidates. Soon renowned advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy incorporated one of the most beautiful and popular women of the 1990s: Tyra Banks. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl was arguably the baddest model on the planet. She was the perfect woman for Lil Penny to holler at while sitting at a red light, or to crush about while daydreaming in Hardaway’s pool.

The height of the Lil Penny campaign was the 1997 Super Bowl spot. The commercial was filmed at Orlando inside a huge mansion featuring a who’s who of ‘90s Nike athletes and celebrities, including Tiger Woods, Ken Griffey Jr, Barry Sanders, Michael Johnson, Stevie Wonder, Tyra Banks, Spike Lee, Jaleel White, and Jonathan Lipnicki, the little kid from Jerry Maguire. The last commercial of the Lil Penny campaign was “Frozen Penny,” which aired in 1997. The commercial was a parody of Michael Jordan's dramatic "Frozen Moment" commercial by being shot in slow motion.

The commercial worked in a young girl dropping a scoop of ice cream, Banks blowing Bubble gum bubbles, Lil Penny drenched by a wet dog shaking itself dry, while Hardaway is balling in a pick-up game. The commercial shows that life goes on even though a great thing could be happening on a basketball court, instead of time stopping for the world, maybe a hint of the end of the Jordan line the following year in 98. The Air Max Penny 1 was the first shoe to release as part of Nike's new Uptempo line. Before Penny came around, Nike basketball shoes were split into two categories: Flight, shoes made for soaring players and Force was designed for the bruisers who threw bows and drew blood in the post. While his sneaker history is most synonymous with the 1997 Foamposite One, Penny rocked several other classic Nike models on court as well, namely the Nike Air Swift, the Jordan IX and the Nike Air Flight One. Penny's 'position-less' style of play didn't fit into either of those categories,

so Nike Basketball created a new category: Uptempo. The shoe was Designed by Eric Avar; it' featured a grooved support wing on its lateral side that provided both lightweight support and asymmetrical style. This wing was a precursor to Foamposite technology, which would itself debut on Penny's signature line in 1997 via the Air Foamposite One. The Air Max Penny 1 also introduced Penny's 1 Cent logo on the heel and boasted pinstriped tongues as a nod to the Magic's uniforms.

As quickly as success had come to Penny, it vanished with the same rapid speed. After a period of friction with teammate Shaquille O’Neal, Shaq ended up becoming a Laker leaving Penny in Orlando to try and conquer the East single-handedly during the 97 season. The one bright spot of that season was that Penny would get his second signature shoe, the Air Penny 2, a great on-court performer, and my favorite pair of Penny Hardaway Shoes. The shoe offers a fluid trench that relied

on support and durable materials. But the main highlight of the Air Penny 2 is the cushion. It features a light foam midsole that elicit a forefoot Zoom Air unit and a heel airbag. For the second time, Eric Avar was able to create a unique signature model that fit Penny’s style perfectly.

Nike's dedication to innovating sports footwear was genuine, and they weren't going to rest on their glory. The world was about to see just how far they'd go to advance basketball shoes in a major way. It all started in the previous year when Eric Avar began designing a shoe for Scottie Pippen. He found inspiration in the exoskeletons of beetles, in particular their aero dynamics. His basic looking shoe would revolutionize basketball footwear, but would take some serious technology to make it happen. Though the idea of creating a product that utilized complex technology was exciting, Avar's actual vision was not welcomed with open arms.

Upon seeing the original concept, designers and manufacturers alike both voiced their concerns about the possibility of creating such a shoe due to the radical materials and composition involved. The idea of taking a liquid, hardening it in a mold, and attaching a sole to it just seemed a little too risky. Flash forward a little bit to a meeting between Avar and four-time NBA All Star Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway to discuss possible options for a signature sneaker. After sifting through a few samples, Penny realized that none of those styles were particularly wowing him. As he was entertaining the uninspiring designs he asked about the sealed bag that Avar had brought along. Avar knew the bag contained the Air Foamposite One prototype, so Avar assured him that there was nothing of importance inside, which of course did nothing but raise Penny's curiosity.

After some time he was told he could open the bag and knew from the jump that that had to be his shoe. Thanks to Penny's persistence and dedication to the previously discarded idea, Nike agreed that they would try to figure out how to get it done. Accompanying the release was one of Nike’s many genius marketing strategies, the ever-memorable phone adverts. This series of print adverts featured shots of classic Nike sneakers with a small swoosh overlaid and a phone number underneath, upon calling the number a bespoke message could be heard. The Air Foamposite 1s were featured alongside the Air Max 95s, Air Griffey Max 1s and Air Jordan XI ‘Concords’ in the campaign.

The first Air Foamposite One, nicknamed the "Dark Neon Royal," was released to the public with the then outrageous price tag of $180. In Nike's defense, the high cost was necessary after they considered the high production cost. The debut colourway was safe enough, borrowing heavily from Penny's Orlando Magic uniform, but its polyurethane-based upper and prominent carbon plate looked like it had appeared straight off of a spaceship. Simply put, people had never seen a shoe like this before, so to say that it blew minds while simultaneously stirring intense controversy would be a huge understatement. Much like Jordan's debut sneaker, the NBA decided that they weren't going to approve the shoe because they felt it did not contain enough black to match Penny's uniform. From the League's restrictions to the dismayed public who couldn't accept the innovation in front of them, most stores were having a seriously hard time moving units. Many retailers were forced to lower the price in hoping that customers would eventually catch on, they felt charging $180 was not helping one bit. Nike obviously had to step their marketing up on this one. Just when things were looking pretty bad, several key things happened. First, a University of Arizona Wild Cat by the name of Mike Bibby became the first player to rock the Foams on the court.

This happened on March 23, 1997, at which time Penny was still rocking the Air Penny II in the NBA. Seeing them in

collegiate action began sparking some interest in consumers, and in Penny himself, who began wearing them just a few games later. Rather than ask Nike to change up the colourway Penny decided to fill the grooves in the sides of the Air Foamposite One with a black Sharpie marker. This allowed him to adhere to the NBA's 50/50 color rule that had stopped him before. Despite the sneaker’s overall reception, Nike took a step back from the Foamposite Ones and Pros and pushed forward with the Foamposite technology. In typical Nike fashion, the innovative shell was applied across countless releases, offering scope for Nike to perfect the design and finetune the technology over time. Penny’s subsequent sneaker, the Air Penny III (1997), Total Air Foamposite Max (1998)’, Air Flightposite (1999) and the frankly unacceptable Clogposite (2000) are just a few of the silhouettes to feature Foamposite tooling in the subsequent years.

It wouldn’t be until 2001 when the Foamposite Pro saw a comeback, retroed for the first time, seeing seven new colourways released across the next five years. Fast forward to 2007 and the Foamposite One finally saw a return for its 10th anniversary, retroed in four color-ways including the original ‘Royal’ worn by Penny in 1997. As the 2010s got into full swing Nike became more experimental with the Foamposite color-ways; leaning into the divisive design to capture the attention of a dare-to-be-different subset of sneaker-heads.

Notable releases include the ‘Pewter’ (2011), ‘Weatherman’ (2013), ‘Safari’ (2013), as well as Foamposite Pro colourways ‘Spider-Man” (2014), “Yeezy’ (2014), not to forget the traditional Chinese art inspired ‘Tianjin’ Foamposite One (2015). And then the tide turned. Undoubtedly one of the most hyped releases of the early 2010s was the ‘Galaxy’ Foamposite One. Released in 2012 the shoe featured an Androxmeda inspired upper, with deep blue and purple swirls accented by starry details. The release was one of the most chaotic of all time, with the sneaker reaching outrageous prices at resell (figures which pale in comparison to some sneaker prices today). Legend has it that one man offered to trade his car for a pair.

No other campaign in Nike history has featured the bravado, hip-hop attitude or humor of Lil Penny. The Air Max Penny commercials in and of themselves were events, It was like somebody dropping a mixtape or a new movie each week. Finding out these cool ways to inject social commentary, by inscribing tween’s voices and abstract 90s Disney inspired hipness into its advertisements, the Air Max Penny commercial uses authentically childish repertoires to justify positioning kids as normal audiences.

Wieden+Kennedy pushed beyond the norms of athletic performance in narrative and visual aesthetics through their examination of such topics as black culture in the 90s, which included Lil Penny in satin Hefner jackets hosting kickbacks, courtside at the Knicks game with Spike Lee, and stopping at a red light next to Tyra Banks in her convertible. In an NBA on NBC intro for the 1996 playoffs, where he took a table-saw to a pair of Air Jordans "just to see what was inside," Lil’ Penny eclipsed Nike’s roster of Bugs Bunny, Steve Martin, Barkley’s Godzilla, and (maybe) even Spike’s Mars Blackmon.

The Magic lost the East Conference title that season, but Lil’ Penny secured his spot as the brand’s spokesperson. While Penny Hardaway has been continually praised as one of the most influential basketball players to the sneaker game, some might argue that he wasn’t the best Hardaway of the 90’s basketball era. That honor could go to Tim Hardaway, one of the masters of the crossover and originator of possessing bop in his crossover. Tim was one of the rare breeds of “high-scoring true point guard”, because he dished it out as easily as he poured it in, earning 1st-Team All-NBA honors while amassing impressive yearly totals that floated around 20 and 9 a game in his prime. While Tim Hardaway's line wasn’t nearly as celebrated as the Air Penny, Nike Basketball fans still give

certain shoes like the Nike Air Raid as much weight as Penny’s kicks. The Nike Air Raid released in 1992 and were designed by Tinker Hatfield. Tinker's purpose for creating the Air Raid was crafting a basketball sneaker exclusively for outdoor use. To combat the ever-changing conditions of the blacktop, the Air Raid utilized a sturdy black leather upper with large mesh side panels for on court breathability. The iconic grey midfoot X-strap (which would be re-imagined on Hatfield's Air Jordan 8 the following year) combined with the

inner bootie system were to provide unmatched lockdown during lateral moves. The high-cut white polyurethane midsole extended up towards the heel to act as a counter for stability.

“That X was about strapping up to go into battle, because you’re going to get knocked around the frickin’ cage and you need to strap yourself in.” - Tinker Hatfield (via Nike Inc.)

Tim Hardaway also endorsed the Nike Air Bakin, a model crafted by Eric Avar. Avars designing cues are evident through upper and slim midsoles and the

traditional herringbone traction that can be found on the Air Foamposite. Thanks to some ambiguous flame-styled "Air" lettering on the heel, there was some amount of uproar about the Air Bakin when it first released, with suggestions that the lettering actually could have been read as "Allah" in Arabic script. Nike agreed to withdraw the shoe, and it was later re-released with some aesthetic changes.

The scorching Nike Air Bakin was tied to Hardaway through print ads aligned to the Heat guard and the shoe’s loud red, black, and yellow tones. Funny enough, Hardaway swapped in black laces for his PE pair, stamping the controversial heel patch with No. 10 tagging and his ‘MEE’ motif, a tribute to late grandmother Minny E. Eubanks. Sneaker and apparel companies became more willing to negotiate massive deals with unproven rookies, hoping that the players would not only develop into superstars on the court, but also become marketing machines off of it. The Nike Air Max CW, released in 1995, was in many ways a continuation of the foundation established by Barkley's signature series Donned for only a short stay, the Nike Air Max CW was worn by Webber during his tenure with the Washington Bullets. The shoe offers a high-quality leather upper, visible, a thick Max2 heel air sole unit, a visible forefoot air sole unit and the iconic "Air Max on the tongue.

The sneaker’s stunning and appealing provenance was also attributed to the use of the now defunct “CW” and #2 logos. The CW served as the first Nike Air Max sneaker to feature visible forefoot Air Max technology, a revolutionary achievement in its own right. Webber's second installment for Nike was the Nike Air Max Strong Mid. The Air Strong was a highly versatile model in the Nike Force line, a fitting sneaker of choice for any serious player in the paint like Alonzo Mourning, Chris Webber and David Robinson, whose custom Strong High PE featured the #50 stitched on the heel pull tab. The Air Strong featured some of the best Nike technology including

supportive arch straps, Dynamic Fit inner-sleeve for a snug and a visible heel Air Max. From a marketing perspective, the Air Strong saw great visibility both on and off the court. In 1994, Nike aired a commercial series known as “The Barbershop'' which featured former Warriors teammates Chris Webber and Latrell Sprewell sporting the Strong Mid illustrating the sneaker not only as a quality piece of dunking on Charles Barkley, but also as a sport fashion statement piece as well.

What's ironic about this commercial is that Webber and Sprewell would team up with Damani Dada Clothing in 2004.

By virtue of the "Bling Bling" era of the early 2000s, Webber debuted his signature CDubbz with new partner Dada, in a chrome All-Star edition, stealing the

show at the All-Star game in 2002. The connection between basketball and hip hop culture was brought to a new level by Latrell Sprewell, thanks to the partnership with Dada. The "Spree" of 2004, also called "Supreme Spinners" were inspired by the design of Houston's slab scene, featured on the outside the miniature of a chromed alloy rim made with the collaboration of Lexani Wheels.Meanwhile AND1 had already begun building some momentum in the basketball community with its famous “trash talk” tees; up to this point, the brand was mostly regarded for its street-ball influence more than anything else.

AND1 began its journey in 1993 when Jay Coen Gilbert, Seth Berger, and Tom Austin started a t-shirt company out of the trunk of a car while studying at the University of Pennsylvania. The t-shirts featured the legendary faceless hooper and different trash talking mottos heard at the park.

The shirts were such a hit that they were snatched up by Foot Locker. Within two years of its launch, AND1 products were available in 1,500 stores across the US. Then in 1996, Coney Island’s finest Stephon Marbury, became the brand’s first signature athlete. Marbury brought street basketball nuance into the NBA. With Marbury´s signature shoe, AND1 launched its first pair of basketball sneakers and immersed itself into the footwear category. That said, AND1 was viewed as just another basketball brand. That is, until a tape was delivered to AND1 containing street-ball footage of spectacular New York City point guard by the name of Rafer Alston, aka Skip To My Lou. The videotape would soon be known as the “Skip Tape.” Early in 1999, after a failed traditional marketing campaign, AND1 decided to use the “Skip tape” as a marketing tool and reprinted 50,000 copies. Over the next eight weeks, it was distributed to basketball camps, clinics, and record labels, which grew to be the first basketball mixtape, making

Alston an underground celebrity. Even though AND1 signed Starbury to their roster, they recruited more NBA players to wear their products, a significant power play to compete with bigger brands such as Nike and Adidas Players in Latrell Sprewell, Kevin Garnett, Larry Hughes and Jamal Crawford brought AND1 into the national spotlight in 2001. Kevin Garnett, who serves as the company’s Creative Director and Global Ambassador, originally left Nike to join AND1 in 2001 when he was a rising star for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kevin Garnett discussed why he left Nike with SLAM magazine in 2018, "I left Nike wanting more of a creative outlet, wanting more say on my own product. "I had a vision for how I wanted stuff to look. "I had a feel for a lot of fashion input, where I thought I was connected enough to know where I wanted to go with certain looks and certain styles. "And with Nike, it was kind of cut and dry as to what you were going to do. With AND1 it was more of a collaboration and partnership. The money was right and the opportunity was even more right. And [so] I went for it." As the 2001 season rolled around, AND1 was closing in on Nike. they had become the second-largest basketball brand in the United States. The AND1 Mixtape became a cultural phenomenon that owned the heart of the game. ESPN reached AND1 in 2003 about pursuing a reality show based around the tour. The basis of the ESPN show was to find the next superstar; whoever won the contest would receive a AND1 contract.

Many street-ball players reached legendary status. They were known around the world exclusively by their nicknames: "Hot Sauce", "the Professor", "Escalade", "Alimoe", "Spyda", "Skip to My Lou" and "Main Event". If you lived through that era and didn’t try that Hot Sauce move with the spin and tucking the ball under your shirt, we can’t be friends. The soundtracks to the mixtapes were incredible, featuring artists like Snoop Dog, Mobb Deep, CNN, MOP, Method Man, GZA, Common, Talib Kwali, and more. AND1 also created a world streetball tour, which was sort of like a hip-hop Harlem Globetrotters. They then added a reality TV show and even released a video game.

The success of AND1 had Nike on their heels, scrambling to ride the street-ball wave. EA Sports released the NBA and NFL street video games series (some of the most fun games ever made, in my opinion). Nike put out their battleground product line and video series, while the NBA partenerd with ESPN for a docuseries that chronicled players everyday lives released the NBA street, ankle breakers, and dunk DVD series. The born-to-ball DVD was even a thing and it still couldnt fuck with AND-1’s momentum.

AND1’s signature shoe series moment-in-the-sun was when Vince Carter rocked them during the dunk contest. The Tai Chi, from the upstart brand AND1, was suddenly vaulted onto the league’s largest platform in an instant, forever associated with one of the most iconic moments in the NBA’s All-Star Weekend history:Vince Carter’s Dunk Contest. Back in the day ,the league’s annual Dunk Contest was a product dream featuring planned out, special edition footwear in custom colorways for some of the game’s highest flyers. What took place on that Saturday night in Oakland over seventeen years ago won’t ever be replicated again. As Vince Carter laced up the Tai Chi on that February 12th night, by that point, AND1 had only been making sneakers for less than a handful of years. While they were still finding their way in product, it was a brand fueled by the grassroots adoption of real hoopers.

Ryan Drew: “You gotta remember, that was the year where the Tai Chi, the Tochillin and the Finger Roll all came out. “We were doing some cool color fades and textiles, and the whole Sprewell thing happened too, where he took the Knicks to the Finals the year before.”There was a two-year period of time there, with Vince, Sprewell in the “American Dream” ad and the Mixtapes. “Larry Hughes was probably known more for being in the Tochillin ads, than he was for playing hoops. “We just exploded at retail in Foot Locker and FootAction because we put the mixtape on the TVs in the stores.

AND1 clearly sponsored Hip-Hop culture and street basketball, but they broke barriers thrrough valuing community in a genuine way. It made it even more fun to go out to the court, and try to like, replicate moves, talk shit, ball in baggy

shorts and a cotton durag. AND1 distorted the noise from the media and poured into the purity of the game of basketball by gaining the respect of the streetball community. The faceless logo became not only synonymous with the company, but with basketball as a whole. Allen Iverson arguably represented the most vivid embodiment in basketball, then emerging in himself, which his dress code was considered outside the acceptable norm.

In branding terms, his association with the imagery and rhetoric of the street added a layer of gritty realism and sporting/cultural authenticity from which the NBA had skewed. Iverson brought effortless appeal to the NBA’s courts, turning trends like wearing sweatpants with Timberland boots into a staple for fans all over the world. Next to this, Iverson surged the popularity of jewelry worn by players courtside, bucking the more “traditional,” stripped-back look that had dominated for so many years. Next to the clothes and sneakers,

another important part of Iverson’s iconic style were his braids. Starting off in the early-2000s, some of his most talked-about moments are linked to his braids, like the time his mother started braiding his hair during a game. What began as a distinct need for self-expression, his style grew to become one of his defining traits. It can even be said that if Michael Jordan made the NBA recognizable all over the world, Allen Iverson was the one who made every kid want to dress, and as a result, become a basketball player. He was obviously not the first figure to sport tattoos, but one of the first to make it so undeniably cool, dominating the court in full-sleeves and neck tattoos.

“I don’t wanna be Michael Jordan. I don’t wanna be Magic. I don’t wanna be Bird or Isiah, I don’t wanna be any of those guys. When my career is over, I wanna look in the mirror and say I did it my way.”

This patent differentiation from the Jordan-dominated NBA mainstream was clearly foremost among Reebok’s motivations for signing him to a $40 million contract in 1996 and for dubbing him, and his signature shoe, “The Answer,” even before he had played an NBA game. Through the accumulative influence of the annual advertising campaigns for “The Answer” Reebok shoes, Iverson projected an imaged identity grounded in the commonly perceived practices and metaphors of contemporary inner-city African American culture: expressive and defiant individualism; hip-hop; poverty and hardship. “Looking back at the Answer, that shoe went from very minimal distribution to millions of people asking for it globally,” Reebok GM Todd Krinsky told Boardroom. “I remember when it first launched, I was on my way to a Philly Foot Locker, some of the Foot Locker team believed in it, some didn’t and it sold out before we even got to the mall.” The Answer featured one of Reebok’s most popular cushioning systems, DMX 10, and a hidden lacing system. Beginning in November of 1997, the Answer released in three colorways during the 1997-1998 NBA season, including the original black and gold version, as well as the white and red version that appeared in the video game-like commercial for The Answer.

Allen Iverson most successful season, he laced up the Answer4. Like the previous Answer models, this shoe used full-length DMX cushioning but noticeably featured A zipper shroud that constructed the shoe sleek. Rocking the Reebok Answer IV, Iverson led a blue collar Sixers squad to the NBA Finals against the Showtime sequel Lakers. Handing Kobe and Shaq their first loss of the postseason in Game 1 of the Finals in LA, Allen would lose the series but win the respect of all. In 2001, AI took home Home Depot hardware, winning the league’s MVP award, taking the scoring title once again, leading the NBA in steals and being crowned the All-Star Game’s MVP. Iverson’s signature line is nothing short of iconic, Without him, the NBA may have never been considered a sport fit for the kids of America’s inner cities, but remained an endorsement-haven run by

middle-aged white men. Despite being overshadowed by LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony is a figure most illustrative of Iverson's aesthetic. Anthony is an

individual who, like Iverson before him, has been paraded across the sport media for a series of minor mistakes. He is also a figure who is closely associated with a specific inner-city space: that of the poverty, drug, and crime-ridden streets of West Baltimore. Indeed, he has even been used as an mediator of authenticity regarding fictional depictions of his hometown. While most who watch The Wire enjoy the comforts of leather couches and surround sound, Carmelo watches with an insightful eye.

He grew up on the same streets that the show depicts. The Wire’s ninth episode, “Game Day,” managed to authentically portray Baltimore’s rich culture of basketball, while still tying in Baltimore's illegal drug trade scene. Carmelo knows the plight of the young black men who survive on the cold corners of West Baltimore. In a recent guesting on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All The Smoke podcast, Carmelo Anthony dropped a major revelation about his upbringings, "I went to Baltimore the summer of 92 and that was the heyday of body more murder land. "At that point in time, the pharmacy, the Wire, all of that started to hit and I was just a product of my own environment." Furthermore, Anthony’s fluid yet dynamic

playing style fits easily with common assumptions related to the expressive individualism of inner-city basketball, which has proved to be a lucrative form of cultural capital within the commercial marketplace. For instance, in 2003 Nike’s Jordan Brand division chose Anthony as one of its core endorsers and charged him to uphold the cultural prominence, and commercial value, of the Michael Jordan phenomenon. Within a series of commercials, Anthony’s position as one of the key inheritors of the Jordan legacy was subsequently explicated.

In his first major commercial for Nike in 2003, Anthony’s identity was confirmed to the American public by way of an embodied transformation from Michael Jordan to “Carmelo Anthony, his student.” As well as positing his due deference to basketball’s living deity, this clever metamorphosis highlights the similarity and differences between Jordan and Anthony. The former in terms of playing style, the latter in terms of personal aesthetics; Anthony’s braided hair, head band, and tattoo marking a distinct

contrast with Jordan’s understated style. In this, and numerous other commercials for the Jordan Brand, Anthony was involved in a two-way symbolic exchange between himself and his basketball/brand mentor. Jordan’s cultural presence and imprint, even in absence provided Anthony with a valuable basketball lineage. His unassailable “street” credentials simultaneously acted to sophisticate Jordan’s image, thus providing the Jordan Brand with a more contemporary ethos and appeal, as this is the case in a series of Nike commercials featuring Anthony and the comedian Tommy Davidson.

While Michael Jordan was certainly the biggest factor in establishing Jordan Brand as a global powerhouse, the original members of Team Jordan helped lay the foundation.

The theme of Jordan as the mentor and ambassador for the game continued with the Air Jordan 16 ads, with Mos Def’s “Umi Says” as the theme song. Along with professional athletes, Jordan is seen interacting with normal folks as well, even to the point of joining a pickup game in a local gym. The tagline for the campaign was strong – “Much Respect.” It is still a revered slogan, and said amongst sneakerheads to this day. Within a highly stylized visual and musical narrative, the “Much Respect" commercial located Jordan as the product of a clearly cohesive and self-confident black community. In doing so, it advanced Jordan’s urban provenance and relevance: something circumvented within earlier iterations of his commercial identity but clearly deemed a requirement of the contemporary moment.

A new school of kids were keeping the Jordan name strong into the 2000s, including Clippers duo Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson, Ray Allen, Mike Bibby, Eddie Jones and Carmelo Anthony. But Mike wasn't done having consumers in a chokehold, The Air Jordan XVIs were released on MJ’s 38th birthday and were also the first Jordan since the IIs that were not designed by legend Tinker Hatfield. The concept of the Jordan XVI was an on-court/off-court sneaker, keep the shroud on outside of the gym and remove it like tearaway pants for game-time. It was also the first Jordan since the VI to feature Visible Air in the shoe—but the shoe was far from taking steps back with technology. Underneath the hood (shroud) was a mesh-infused upper, helping the player's feet breathe while working hard on the court. 12 years later, the "Ginger" colorway still holds up as one of the best non-Bulls colors in the Jordan series.

As the new Millennium approached Nike banked on Eric Avar for more envelope-pushing designs to combat AND1’s steam. With one eye always looking forward Eric showed everyone time and time again that he understood how to create footwear that enhanced athletes with technology instead of “just creating another shoe. ”2001’s Air Hyperflight built upon the Foamposites foundation with its sleek, futuristic construction. The 2003’s Zoom Ultraflight took things one step further by combining the luxurious feel of high-end leather with a tech-driven translucent shell that exposed all the inner workings of the shoe.

The Nike Zoom Ultraflight was informed by multiple inspirations: from a clear Nike track spike that was never produced to a transparent deck lay on a performance car, to Cooper and Eric Avar visit to a New York City sporting goods store. “We were amazed by this translucent snow helmet where you could see the structure of the foam underneath.”- Eric Avar

In 2004, Nike debuted the Air Zoom Huarache 2K4, a model led by Kobe Bryant who was in his first year with Nike. Designer Eric Avar combined the spirit of the original Air Huarache with the latest in Nike technology to create one of the most highly regarded court performance shoes to date. Eric and Nike’s team had a new kind of player in mind, operating in a zone that was neither Force, Flight nor Uptempo. The shoe featured a lightweight Phylon sole, low-to-the-court Nike Zoom cushioning, leather/suede upper and a collar strap that reflected the Air Force Strap, all added up to a new performance standard

for Nike Basketball: a shoe built for explosiveness and quickness. As a further nod to its original predecessor, the Nike Air Zoom Huarache 2K4 debuted on the courts of college basketball in March during the height of hype and basketball fervor. Sound familiar? This time young athletes took advantage of modern technology, adding personal words of inspiration to the shoes through NIKEiD.com.

Although the Nike Air Zoom Huarache

2K4 wasn’t Kobe's signature shoe, he will always be closely linked to the Huarache 2K4, which he debuted in February of 2004. The Huarache 2K4 would show up on Kobe’s feet in PE colorways for almost every game for the rest of the season. Flashbak, The last game of the 2003-04 season for the Lakers was against the Portland Trail Blazer. A win against the Blazers meant the Lakers would secure a second seed in the Western Conference. But the Blazers had a secret weapon on their hands, the self-proclaimed “Kobe-Stopper,” aka Ruben Patterson. The Lakers trailed by as many as 10 points before rallying in the fourth quarter behind Kobe’s 12 points in the fourth quarter who had Patterson on him for much of the game. With 8.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter the Blazers had a three point lead and Patterson had two free throws to ice the game. The following inbounds play Kobe received the ball by the midcourt line, tightly guarded by Patterson, created space with his pivot and shot an off-balance three to his right. Bucket. Game tied and headed to overtime.

There the Blazers were in control. Damon Stoudamire was able to hit a clutch jumper to tie the game and hit a running layup to give the hometown team a 104-102 lead with 2.2 seconds left. Another Lakers timeout, 1.0 on the clock. Gary Payton was the inbounder at half court. Set play, pindown screen, Kobe comes racing down the key towards the three point line. Pass, catch, turn, swish, ball game. The loss pushed the Trailblazers out of the Playoffs for the first time in 22 seasons. The “Kobe-Stopper” was anything but that night. At least he got a personal momento, Kobe gifted him the pair of Zoom Huarache 2K4’s he wore to light him up that night. "Yeah, I asked for his shoes, " Patterson said. "I said, '' You've got to give me your shoes for that one. "-Ruben Patterson

Kobe’s first year with Nike wouldn’t end with a Championship, the Lakers were defeated by the underdog Detroit Pistons but it proved to be quite a memorable year, nonetheless. While the Zoom Kobe line was celebrated for its tech-pushing performance in all three of its installments, never before has one of Bryant’s signature shoes featured anything close to a low cut. Logically, the first thing you’ll notice on the Zoom Kobe IV is its purposefully lower height. For some, playing in a low-top is almost a taboo concept, as for years it has been ingrained in every baller’s mind that a higher cut equals more ankle support. “Not so,” said Kobe Bryant. With a focus placed on heel lockdown, the Zoom Kobe IV offers not only comparable support to shoes of a higher cut, but actually greater stability and control of Kobe’s next step. As Avar recalls, Kobe has never been more clear with the direction he wanted to go.

"He always comes with a deep, insightful and almost philosophical point of view of inspiration, whether it's an inspiration on the metaphor side but also on the performance side," he begins. "This one, in particular, was on the performance side, and he said, 'I want the lowest, lightest weight basketball shoe.' I asked him, 'You mean, like a height?' 'Low top,' he says. 'Soccer, Mercurial-type low?' I asked. He just looks at me and says, 'Yes!' But Avar made it work without sacrificing comfort or stability, from then low-top performance basketball footwear became the new norm. Without the Zoom Kobe 4, the Nike PG line wouldn’t be what it is. Bryant would go on to win two championships in Avar’s high-end performance designs, but the duo never rested.

The low-top theme came attached to every Kobe release from the four’s to the eight’s with each model offering something different; especially after Kobe’s 2013 Achilles injury. Developing something brand new was Eric’s focus since Kobe physically couldn’t play the way he wanted to. The ankle region needed to be fully protected without inflicting Kobe’s mobility. The Kobe 9 Elite High ended up being a beautiful piece of performance footwear that flipped the game upside down with its ultra high-cut design. Every detail of the Kobe 9

Elite High was meticulously crafted from the nine red sutures along the Achilles to the

pressure mapped traction pattern. Kobe’s “ Chop Wood Carry Water” mentality helped inspire Eric to replicate a court-ready boxing boot that was flexible, provided great court feel and again utilized Nike’s newest technology. Speaking solely from a form and function standpoint, the Kobe line is the most important line in Nike Basketball history. The Kobe series is the most consistently function-focused basketball shoes Nike has ever created, and that is solely because Kobe Bryant demanded them to be that way. In the entire pantheon of Nike signature athletes, Scottie Pippen may have been the unlikeliest of them all. Little regarded out of high school, traded at the 1987 NBA draft, and was recognized as Robin, to Jordan’s Batman throughout his whole career. But in 1996, Scottie Pippen was probably at the apex of his career. All the years passed without Jordan, occupied with his MLB dream, solidified his leadership and improved aspects of his game.

In Scottie's year without Jordan, he averaged 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 2.9 steals in 1993-94. He also was First Team All-Defense and All-Offense and finished third in MVP voting behind Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. Pippen produced at essentially career-high levels despite being surrounded by lesser talent and being used exponentially more. As Pippen blossomed, Jordan made sure that he was taken care of. By the time the Bulls were contending for their 5th championship, Pippen was sporting the Swoosh, and it wasn’t the Jordan 10’s. The Nike Air More Uptempo released in 96, Scottie Pippen's first signature shoe. The Uptempo was, in many ways, a revolutionary sneaker.

Its silhouette is due to designer Wilson Smith’s will to show globally the new Air technology, applied for the first time to the entire shoe. From that started the idea of the giant lettering, inspired by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring’s Pop Art, a perfect synthesis of the Nineties. As Smith once said: “I believe that the Nineties were a unique time.” And so, Smith tried to copy that uniqueness in a shoe that had a visual and practical impact. For its nature, in fact, the Uptempo was perfect for bounce and even more for the fall back down. Being on the feet of one of the league's most popular players, and showing up in a Hollywood Blockbuster, helped the Nike Air More Uptempo receive cultural relevance in 1997. The Nike Air Max Uptempo III was featured in Spike Lee’s movie He Got Game, on the feet of one Jesus Shuttlesworth, aka Ray Allen. They also were featured in the film, George of the Jungle (1997).

Scottie wasn’t the only lockdown defender getting love from Nike, Gary (Glove) Payton likewise received a signature line. When Shawn Kemp, GP’s running mate, and lob-catcher was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, GP shined. GP averaged 19 points, two steals and was All-NBA first team during the 97-98 season. Now when it comes to sneakers, the long-

time sneakerhead would finally get his own signature model. The Nike Air Zoom Flight 98

was designed by Eric Avar, who designed the shoe to be enveloped in a nylon sleeve simulating a glove. This “glove” hides the shoe’s main support feature known as the Monkey Paw: a five-finger-esque plastic overlay cage around the heel helping you (in theory) lock-down on defense. During that 1997 season, GP also wore the Nike Zoom Hawk Flight, a shoe made famous for its role in Spike Lee's, "He Got Game".

The Air Zoom GP were retroed in 2015 and it is a shoe

that GP was the face of but it wasn’t technically his signature shoe. Payton’s 2000 season was another great signature from the GP line. Like its predecessor the Nike Zoom GP II featured forefoot and heel Zoom Air, it added 2 TPU counters for stability and a sleek synthetic upper. A good deal of models that took form in the early 2000s were inspired by the Gp II sleek upper quality. A couple of my favorites that flourished were the Tracy McGrady’s Adidas Tmac 1, Jason Kidd’s Nike Zoom 2K3 and Chris Webber’s Dada C4 shoe.

Believe it or not, sneakers were actually the reason TMac ultimately opted to jump from high school to the NBA, in a way of speaking. Tracy McGrady was highly touted after showcasing his talent at the Adidas ABCD Camp with the help of Sonny Vaccaro. Tracy had already made up his mind that he was going to play for the University of Kentucky after his senior year, but Adidas offered him a six-year, $12 million, shoe-endorsement deal. This changed everything for Tracy. “I’m sitting in my Coach’s office, he’s like, ‘I know you want to go to Kentucky but after I tell you this, you are going to forget all about that.’ I’m like, ‘After you tell me what?’ He’s like, ‘I got a $12 million deal for you.’ I said, ‘From who?’ He said, ‘From Adidas.’ I said, ‘Oh. Let’s sign!’ "My college dream went out the window. I signed for that bag and that was it.” -TMAC

By 2002, he had his own shoe in the Adidas TMAC 1, featuring distinctive shell toe, adiPRENE cushion and herringbone traction. The shoe is supportive, sleek and reactive. After securing scoring titles in 2003 and ’04, McGrady made good on his end of the Adidas lifetime deal quickly. Adidas leveraged McGrady’s blossoming brand by giving him a pseudo signature in the Adidas Mad Handle, placing posters of T-Mac in mall displays and advertising him all over TV. Summer after summer, early Adidas TMAC signatures owned high school basketball camps in the same fashion as the endorser himself. Notably, pairs were seeded to an up-and-coming talent named LeBron James.

McGrady was later asked if he was aware of Bron wearing his sneakers in an interview with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson of Bally Sports. “Yes, I was aware I remember watching some of his high school games. “I actually talked to Bron when he was in high school. “Bron used to wear my shoes in high school because he had a relationship with Sonny Vaccaro. Sonny Vaccaro was my guy and he was recruiting Bron. “So, I was truly aware of all the hype surrounding him. I was impressed with his body of work as a rookie and just his poise and his size. I mean we’re talking 6’8” 250” lbs, an 18-year-old that can just do whatever he wants. “He was a GROWN MAN bro!” He said.

Much like his childhood hero, Penny Hardaway, the new No. 1 in Orlando was a superstar when it came to commercial success and selling sneakers. Though off-the-backboard alley-oops in All-Star outings Scoring 13 points in 35 seconds made McGrady a fan favorite in America, his shoes described as vapor on the market as expressed by Wexler, that was only the tip of the iceberg. A trade to the Houston Rockets in ’04 would bring the brand an audience it could have never prepared for. T-Mac teaming with a new running mate: Yao Ming, he suddenly gained a global audience. T-Mac was on a whole ‘nother level,” Adidas athlete Gilbert Arenas shared on All the Smoke in 2021.

Arenas went on to tell tales of the gravity McGrady possessed when it came to the category, shifting six-hour-long photoshoots to capturing content in a matter of minutes. To some, the “whatever Mac say goes” sentiment shared by Arenas may sound wild when considering the brand also boasted Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett at that time. Though the T-Mac tales could be exaggerated, they still shed light on just how much power he had in his deal. “I went to China with him,” Arenas recalled. “When we got off the plane at the airport? All you heard was, ‘Mac! Mac! Mac!’ I’d had my Agent Zero tours over there, so I’m big! They know me…but Mac was in front. He’s in a Rolls Royce, and I’m in a taxi cab, and we came here together!

Not only was the market massive, but the timing for Adidas was also crucial to their basketball category’s growth abroad. Just recently, the Zoom LeBron 2‘s “Chamber of Fear” advertising campaign was buzzing. The famous Chamber of Fear pack was created back in 2004 as an ad campaign for the Nike Zoom LeBron II. Nike embraced the popular concept by creating an interactive online video game, with limited edition posters and baller-ID bands as gifts, and a limited set of Air Force 1 Lows themed after each of those obstacles were produced. The commercial for the shoe conveniently puts each chapter in the Chamber of Fear together, as we watch Lebron overcome his own personal obstacles on his way to achieve greatness. First up is HYPE, as LeBron fights and

defeats the camera flashes and gets to the hoop for an easy lay up. LeBron then goes on to face the TEMPTATION of women and money, which he ignores and defeats with a glass shattering dunk. Next up are the nunchuck wielding, trash talking HATERS who he silences with a long range jumper. The ghosts of COMPLACENCY are his next victory as he moves on to face his biggest test, SELF DOUBT. Lebron plays the boss of his self doubt one-on-one and destroys it with a bounce-pass-through-the-chest-alley-oop-to-kick-in-the-face-of-death.

On his feet for the journey through the chamber are the LeBron II's, which he wore for the 2004-05 NBA season and are still a favorite of many LeBron collectors. The Nike Air Zoom LeBron IV were ascending owing to The Nike Air Zoom Generation. Nike pumped up the volume and produced a shoe that surpassed the AZG in both technological and design standpoints. The Nike Zoom LeBron II was arguably the most anticipated shoe of 2005; James had gained an increasing bandwagon following by his second season, and sneaker fans were

excited to discover what Nike’s planned direction was with the LeBron Line. Only three color-ways of the LeBron II were made available throughout the course of the ’04-’05 season; the original black/white/red color-way was an instant sell-out as was the white/navy/red color-way. With the exception of the first two shoes in his line, most of the King’s signature shoes have been considered bulky. You’ve heard time and time again the justification for them being that way, but you say to yourself “I’m not a 260 lb Point Forward moving like a train going to the cup. I’m just an average to above average athlete that appreciates a well performing shoe.

Nike went back to the basics with the design of the LeBron VI. Taking inspiration from the Nike Air Force 1 High, the VI has familiar elements such as a prominent Swoosh and a traditional toe box. It feautures reflective piping accents and a double layered tongue. It is heavy on small details that befit a signature shoe for a star as bright as Mr. James, such as exposed carbon fiber on the heel, and unique symbols and messages found in and around the shoe. Without a question, Ken Link and the whole designers team have succeeded in establishing a distinctive and often groundbreaking signature line, at the same time mastering the performance necessary to meet the demanding standards Bron's game.

Reference points are always important with signature shoes. From the hints of Humvee inspiration on the Air Zoom Generation, the “Milkcrate '' technology featured on the V and more proudly on the Soldier II, they also excel at being nice looking off the court pair of shoes. The Triple Black colorway can even be mistaken for a pair of Nike ACG boots by a casual observer. ''We always talk about how people buy shoes for off-court first.”-Bron. The ongoing marketing campaign surrounding Lebron James’ sixth signature shoe by Nike continued as “The LeBron’s” commercial featured Pussycat Dolls lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger and “Business Lebron”. The commercial not only features the stunning Scherzinger but also shows off the smooth side of Lebron as he is in full character the entire duration of the commercial as “Business LeBron.” Nike’s campaign team premiered the first episode of “The LeBrons” on ESPN and MTV, while also distributing 400,000 copies of DVDs about the making of the shoe and the ad campaign.

Nike also opened a popup retail store in 20006, promoting the limited edition Zoom LeBron IV, at 460 Broome Street in the trendy SoHo shopping district in Manhattan. Chronicled on dial-up computers and box TV sets, Nike anointed James before screens were flat or the internet was mobile. Upon arrival, they let us know we were all “witnesses'' through both advertising and apparel. The passing point forward has been exalted to four-time champion and four-time MVP over the course of his three-decade career, entering the game as a devoted

distributor and leaving it as the most celebrated scorer. Just as prophesied in the Air Zoom Generation 2003 commercial, he was granted the gift of vision. A gift that blessed brands, ball players, and fans of footwear in miraculous fashion. From a brand standpoint, the spiritual successor to Michael Jordan has kept Nike atop the basketball market both at home and abroad, possessing a 20 model signature series, numerous diffusion lines, and rising retros. James has since signed two extensions with Nike and has earned over a billion from the relationship. His presence has helped Nike exist as hoops heaven for generations to come, since signing the likes of

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ja Morant to storied signature shoe deals. Following a stretch in which Kevin Durant’s Nike series were fashioned after weather patterns and tropical candies, There was a juncture when you had to have the KD 6 PB&J. At least I remember when my friend Donte put our school in a frenzy in the 3rd grade because our class were all in awe of his KD’s. Equally important was Kyrie’s signature line, Each iteration of Kyrie’s shoes builded upon past incarnations that drew upon styles of the 90s. Kyrie drew upon his personal affections into his line of sneakers, partnering with Boston's Concepts for Nike SB, Nickelodeon for a “SpongeBob SquarePants' ' collection and General Mills for the Kyrie 4 cereal pack. Furthermore, Irving has utilized his Nike partnership to

honor Native American communities across the U.S. via the Nike N7 initiative, as well as shining light on WNBA athletes, the likes of Sue Bird under the “#KeepSueFresh” series of shoes.

With the NBA reaching another talent apex in 2010, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade hitting their peaks, Nike branched out from its signature footwear projects and opted to craft a brand new sneaker and push it to the moon. It was a totalitarian approach. As the U.S. Men's Senior Basketball team recaptured an Olympic gold medal in 2008, it was also the first time in eight years that Nike embarked on their latest, most talked-about and frenzied technological innovation since the Nike Shox. It was in 2000 that Vince Carter leapfrogged a seven-footer in his white and navy Shox BB4s, sparking a retail rush when the BB4 conveniently released a few months later.

The mad chemists, led by Nike designer Eric Avar, cooked around in the lab and produced the Nike Hyperdunk. The Hyperdunk was considered as good, if not better, than any signature effort on the market. Even before its initial worldwide launch, the Nike Hyperdunk has already been the beneficiary of Nike Basketball's most integrated marketing campaign to date, which includes ESPY cameos, limited Marty McFly-inspired releases, countless print and television ads, and even a fictitious Hyperdunk Recovery Center website and hotline for victims to

receive treatment. American men’s basketball needed a big boost after getting embarrassed at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and the Swoosh happened to be USA Basketball’s sponsor. Despite being three shoes into his own signature sneaker line with Nike, Kobe was billed as the frontman for the future of the brand’s progression in basketball. To promote the release of his new Nike HyperDunk shoe, Kobe Bryant did a commercial where he jumped over a speeding Aston Martin car, showing just how well the shoe could help people with their bounce. The ad became a viral sensation and translated very well in shoe sales for Kobe and Nike, but it also sparked a collaboration between NIKE, Kobe and Aston Martin. Named the Nike Kobe Bryant (Aston Martin Edition)

footwear pack, including the Nike Hyperdunk (Aston Martin DB9 Edition) and the Nike Zoom Kobe V (Aston Martin Edition), the limited edition trainers commemorate the viral web film released in 2008. The Hyperdunk was the first Nike basketball shoe to feature Flywire and Lunar Foam. Flywire is a series of cables woven together, used to reduce weight while increasing stability, while Lunar Foam is a lightweight cushioning platform meant to reduce the force of impact. Both became staples of Nike's portfolio. The Nike Hyperdunk possessed multiple colorways, they even were available for NikeID customizations

The shoe came with different customization options including glow in the dark detailing as well as a fade upper option. I remember when my best friend Chris exposed his customized Nike’s in the 3rd grade, the whole class was jealous of his sneakers. Chris always had shit that everybody wanted, his lunch was desirable, he’d pass his multiplication tests, and his gear was trend-setting. His Nikes featured his name on them,

they lit in the dark and attained a plethora of different colors. Chris was illuminating fresh thanks to the Nike Hyperdunk series, through their efforts to improve on Flywire and lunar foam. The best model to feature flywire is the Air Max 90 Flywire Tz. The Air Max 90 Flywire features a familiar profile in the Air Max 90 but with narrow stripes and an added bonus of an overall lighter product without foregoing the necessary support.

Since 2009, Nike’s strategy has evolved to integrate cushionlike and innovative models throughout all business facets, dedicated to enhancing athletic performance. However, where the rate of advance in technology has surpassed the rate of time, the sneaker subculture has become a placid mainstream, lacking genuine excitement over progressive ideas and nuance. What was once a subculture of addicts, connoisseurs, and inner-city kids looking to flex has turned into a race to wear the same sneakers. Brands insist on

flooding consumers with limited releases, and the Internet and the sneaker resale market has turned something that was once cool into a hypebeast fest of the worst kind. Plus, they don’t even wear sneakers right. White girls run the streets with dingy white Air Force 1s and Reebok’s Club C 85 shoes with laces all dirty. What ever happened to having your sneaker looking clean? The practice of cleaning your sneakers was a critical part of being a sneakerhead, especially if you had an older brother. It’s something you can bond over like that scene in Paid In Full when Mitch shows his little brother Sonny the proper way to keep his sneakers clean.“

Sneaker culture has been colonized and gentrified by brands and consumers alike, it's not recognizable anymore. The biggest change is the art of the hunt. Figuratively, Cedar point lines are now filled with people who have no intention of wearing the sneakers.. Bots are another hurdle you have to clear when buying limited sneakers online. Copping sneakers shouldn’t feel like a GTA mission. And while you’re losing raffles and putting shit in your cart only to receive an “Sorry You Didn't Get Them out” email instead of confirmation, there’s some snot-nosed kid with a bot in the suburbs copping 10 pairs with his parent’s money so he could flip them. Sometimes a kick in the shins of cultural consciousness is necessary, so take this as more than a simple history lesson. It is important to cultivate a true passion by educating yourself on the brand that served as a visionary for the industry we unconditionally support.