Film, Footwear and Philanthropy With Michael B. Jordan

I used to hit the sneaker stores on Broad and Market in Downtown Newark. I remember leaving out of Arts High School to cop the AJ 11 Columbias from Dr. Jay’s. I wanted them so badly that I had talked my mom and dad into letting me get an early birthday gift, so they let me use some of the money from working. They would put the majority of it into a savings account for me and really wouldn't let me touch it—but these ones they let me get.

Watching Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, and old animated films like The Lion King, Aladdin, Oliver & Company, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Fievel Goes West, The Rescuers... I had them on a rotation, watching all of them over and over. Then I started getting into action and science fiction like E.T., Jurassic Park, Die Hard, Blade. [Ultimately,] the combination of those led me to my love for animation and anime.

I was speaking to my best friend, Steelo Brim, about wanting to customize some kicks and what it could like. We thought about how dope it’d be if some of our favorite films could be turned into sneakers. After listing some of my all-time favorite films we narrowed it down to which ones would translate well as sneakers and we landed on Casino, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coming to America, The Sandlot and The Last Dragon.

I gotta give Steelo his credit on this one. I had been following The Shoe Surgeon and everything he had been doing, but never met him personally. Steelo had a personal connection to him and linked us to bring this project to life.

We had a working session at his studio where we sat down and talked through everything. I spoke about those five of my favorite films and The Shoe Surgeon conceptualized the different design elements. We talked about our favorite scenes, iconic symbols and different objects from each movie that we thought would really help bring the films to life through the sneakers.  We talked through materials and textures, which allowed us to put together a vision board for each sneaker. From there, I just let him do what he was great at. He would send images along the way for me to weigh in on, but I really gave him the room to create based on that first working session.

It can’t be too sad, [and] I love a good hero’s journey. And the [musical] elements or theme song! As a kid I loved to sing along to movies and memorize all the songs. You know what, let me listen to this song right now… “Street Wise” from Oliver & Company (1988). This has undertones of black music like funk and jazz, and always spoke to me. 

We really wanted to make sure we were able to bring to life as much of the movie as possible. With a big piece of the movie being based around an actual casino, we really wanted to try bringing as many of those elements to life—from the felt Swoosh, which tied back to what you feel on tables and the backs of the playing cards; to the upper; to the Ace symbol being seen through the leather and lastly, to the the chips on the outsole.

We liked how everything in the movie had different textures and pulled inspiration from Jack and Sally as well, so we wanted that to come to life through the footwear, by using various materials like suede and twill and exposing the stitching.

The Bos are one of my all-time favorite sneakers. When I thought about Bo Jackson and how his footwear represented the ability to play multiple sports, I felt like this was the perfect silhouette for this movie which represents so much as well.

The Last Dragon is a classic in my book and that’s what the AF1 is, too.

Not only did we want to pull in elements from the movie you see in both Bruce Leroy and Sho Nuff—the palette with the black, yellow and red—but also that moment in time, the ‘80s, with the leather hits. We also had to figure out a way to add “the glow” which you see on the Air symbol and [the phrase] ‘Who’s the Master,’ which is on the sock liner.

We wanted to figure out how to connect NYC to [the film’s fictional nation of] Zamunda and I feel like The Shoe Surgeon did a really good job of that. [There are the] various animal prints, but we also wanted to make sure we were able to show royalty, which came to life via the gold. The pins on the back heel were really to pay homage to the starter jackets that Akeem and Semmi wore, but we made sure to merge it with Soul Glo and McDowells.

I thought The Shoe Surgeon killed these! It sorta was actually. The movie and the kick came out a couple months apart (in 1988 and 1989) also, this was the first year MJ played the Knicks in the playoffs, as well, so that’s also why we thought these kicks were perfect for this film.

We felt like the shoe itself and the color of the denim we chose really tied into the time period of The Sandlot. Between the amount of wear and tear from always playing ball and how much The Beast [the film’s giant dog] would chew the leather off the ball, we wanted to figure out a way to distress the denim, while also making sure to keep it connected to the film, which is why we put the baseball stitching under it.

I’ve loved sneakers since I was a kid and there are so many people in the sneaker community who inspire me. Coming up at a time where I couldn’t afford all these kicks, I would use my imagination to think about what my sneaker would look like if I had a chance to build it.