brand jordan

This isn’t typically the blog I use to talk about basketball related topics, but this one is less about the sport and more about the design—and specifically the design of brand Jordan.
Recently I’ve been reading Driven From Within—a pretty nice book in terms of photography, typography, and the philosophy that drives both Michael Jordan and his brand (and you can get the book at Borders for like five bucks right now; it’s a good buy). MJ’s story is told first person by Michael himself, with a ton of insights from close friends and family, including Tinker Hatfield, the famed designer at Nike and the genius behind the majority of the Air Jordan shoes.
Excerpts from the book…

“The shoes we created over the years were not contrived from a temporary fad of flavor-of-the-month thing. There is a pure foundation. I am most critical of the design work when I see someone throwing elements onto shoes just to make them look cool. There has to be a soul to the process. There has to be a real story.” — Tinker Hatfield.

“The products, companies and people who stay true to who they are usually end up being around for a long time.… If you are trying to make your way through a maze, and your decisions come from the inside, from your gut, nine times out of ten you won’t find yourself running into a wall.… As long as we stay true, stay honest, stay stylish, stay innovative, stay focused on quality over quantity, then no one will catch us because we’re always going to be leading. Fads are fads; they come and go. That’s not what brand jordan is about. And that’s not who I am.” — Michael Jordan.

This past week in New York, I spent a good chunk of my free time eyeing/drooling over the plethora of beautiful basketball shoes in the midtown athletic shoe stores and the Soho sneaker boutiques. But there’s something magical about the Air Jordans. Something that makes my gut churn and my mind warn me: If you don’t get these now, you’ll regret it. I never got the XXIs and I regret it. I didn’t get them, fyi. Maybe someday…
I think it’s interesting that the same icon that inspired me as a kid on the basketball court is the same one that inspires me today as a designer.



For amazing images of Jordans 1 through 23, click here. Enjoy. But a word of caution: If you’re a shoe person, be careful; you may not come out for quite a while.