How Chris Gibbs’ Love of Vintage Inspired Union’s Next Big Air Jordan 1
From experimental color theories to subtle design tweaks, the style veteran breaks down the story behind ‘Chicago Shadow.’
There are streetwear OGs and then there is Chris Gibbs. In a culture whose beginnings are documented in short interview snippets and grainy analogue photos, his resume reads like a Wikipedia entry for streetwear and style writ large.
Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, Gibbs moved to NYC for university, soon landing a job at James Jebbia’s Union. Working his way up from store assistant to merchandiser, buyer and stylist, he absorbed the era’s mood, immersing himself in all aspects of mid-’90s New York. His personal network ballooned, leading to lifelong friendships with people like Brendon Babenzien and Luke and Lucie Meier, whose own portfolios fill literal Rizzoli books. While Jebbia’s Supreme continued to blur the lines between skate shop, clothing store and gallery space, Gibbs took on more and more responsibility at Union before ultimately relocating to Los Angeles to open Union’s West Coast outpost in 2003 with his wife, Co-Creative Director Beth Birkett Gibbs.
In the 20+ years that have passed, he’s acquired Union, opened a shop in Japan, helped lead OAMC and redefined the global style landscape through a careful curation of brands that can be found almost nowhere else on earth. Fear of God and Born x Raised sit next to visvim, Margiela and retaW. Shelves of metallic ASICS and muted Dunks are punctuated by viral designs from Marni and Dries Van Noten. His collaborative work reflects this idiosyncratic philosophy, reimagining the iconography he grew up with to tell stories he alone can tell. Worn-out Ape Heads with Union halos. Long-sleeves detailed with abstract MJ graphics. A pattern-blocked Air Force 180 from 2005.
Bringing a lifetime of experiences and memories to these projects, Union has become a regular creative partner of Jordan, now entering its seventh year of working together. The affiliation has explored rarely surfaced aspects of the Air Jordan story, from less-heralded styles like the Air Jordan 2 and AJ1 KO to kaleidoscopic AJ4s such as ‘Guava Ice’ and ‘Desert Moss.’
Ahead of Union’s latest release with Jordan on 'Chicago Shadow,' we caught up with Gibbs on a quiet Friday afternoon at his office in Los Angeles.
The 1 transcends boundaries, and that’s always been a core value of our store: representing the full spectrum of fashion.
Chris Gibbs
Can you share your earliest memories of Jordan—the brand and the person—and how you eventually came to work with them?
There’s a big gap between those two moments, but I’m old enough to have been a highly impressionable kid when MJ was playing. I wasn’t a die-hard Michael Jordan fan—I’m not from Chicago, so I wasn’t a Bulls fan. I appreciated him as an athlete more than anything. The Toronto Raptors didn’t exist back then, so I wasn’t rooting for them either.
My first memory of Jordans was the era of the 3s—the Mars Blackmon commercials. I grew up in Canada, where we did five years of high school. I was in my fourth year. I remember being blown away by the ad campaign. By then, I was really into Spike Lee, especially Do the Right Thing. I was lucky enough to get a pair, which were mind-blowing. That was my first real introduction to Jordan and the shoes.
You fell in love with the 3s, yet fast forward a few decades and you’re working on your first Jordan 1s. Why did you start with that silhouette instead of the one that originally got you into Jordans?
It came down to a couple of things. The main factor was the idea behind our first project, which was very vintage-specific. The 1 is the ultimate vintage shoe, so it made sense for the story we were telling. I thought about my relationship with the brand and the vintage patina that represents an era rather than a specific year or shoe.
The 1 is one of the top three sneakers of all time—maybe even number one—and it has a democratic appeal. Punk kids wear it. Skaters wear it. People from all kinds of subcultures wear it. In contrast, a punk kid might not wear a 3, a 4 or a 5. The 1 transcends boundaries, and that’s always been a core value of our store: representing the full spectrum of fashion. That’s why I chose the 1 for my first collaboration with Jordan.
We had the idea about stumbling across a beat-up pair of Jordans in a thrift store where the top was all messed up, and they had to be Frankensteined back together.
Chris Gibbs
How did you come up with the hybrid concept?
The original idea was, “Hey, we're doing this washed-out collection. Let's make the shoe look worn.” Someone from my team saw it and said, “Dude, no one’s going to want to wear an already worn shoe.” [Laughs] To be honest, I didn't like the way it looked either.
After that, my imagination ran wild. I thought of when you go to a vintage shop and you find apparel that’s been customized. You might get an M65 jacket where the pockets have been changed. You often see military clothing adapted and modified in fashion, especially older pieces.
I thought, “Oh, wouldn’t it be cool to imagine a shoe that some kid had found while rummaging?” So we had the idea about stumbling across a beat-up pair of Jordans in a thrift store where the top was all messed up, and they had to be Frankensteined back together.
Why those colors?
Our palette was the original Jordan 1s from ’85. We were going to create two designs, so we picked two shoes. One was ‘Black Toe’ with the grey and white top. The other design, ‘Storm Blue,’ used the ‘Kentucky Blue’ bottom, which was MJ’s favorite color, which we paired with the ‘Chicago’ top.
What was the reaction like to this updated version?
When we got the second one, we were like, “This is awesome.” I loved it. It felt great. The Jordan team loved it too.
Can you walk us through the new shoe? There are a lot of details you see right off the bat, with the color combination being the main thing, but the tongue is a little thinner too. And then, obviously, the pre-yellowed midsole.
This whole project revolves around this idea of Jordan coming back from retirement and the idea of bringing something back. It’s the same story. We are bringing back this iconic shoe that, if you missed it, you’re going to get a chance to get. We changed the colors, but in essence, it’s the same construction, same idea, same story.
What kind of decisions went into the making of this one compared to the first time around?
We lost four colors with our previous collaborations, but we still had more colors to play with. That’s how this one came to be: ‘Shadow’ on top and ‘Chicago’ on the bottom. I love the look of a late-’80s shoe. I suppose that has everything to do with when I started wearing sneakers, where I could choose what I wore versus my parents telling me, “Well, you're going to get these KangaROOS.” [Laughs]
I love the aesthetics and sensibilities of that period. Foam tongues were big then, so I wanted to go with that. I wanted a washed patina. You think about vintage shoes and how the color changes over time—I like that. Everybody does an antiqued midsole, but this was—if not the first—one of the first to do it. And so we kept that consistent.
Like the aged midsole, the UNLA tag also has become a signature.
We’ve put it on everything. That’s our little branding moment. I also really liked the oversized Wings logo and the idea that it went off the shoe. Don't ask me how they [Jordan Brand] let me away with it. Then we have the zig-zag stitching.
What do you think Jordan means now to a new generation that never saw him play? They know who he is as a person and might have watched The Last Dance and clips on YouTube, but they weren’t around for him as a cultural phenomenon.
I experienced him, so he’s still important to me. I understand what he means for the story of basketball. I understand what he means for the sport, for the culture and for sneaker culture. How do you communicate that to a 17-year-old and get them inspired? Even though Union is an old brand, we’re still younger than Jordan Brand. Collaborating with younger brands and getting these stories retold so people understand the history is one way of doing it. We’re part of that.
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