“The best performance basketball shoe for the best player on earth - Michael Jordan,” reads an Eastbay catalog from 1995. Crafted by legendary designer Tinker Hatfield, the Concord featured a collection of revolutionary innovations. That Air Jordan 11 became the first basketball shoe to incorporate patent leather. Jordan made young kids want the sneaker the NBA told him he couldn’t wear. “That design reimagined what a basketball sneaker could look like. “The Concord will always be the ultimate grail,” Houston Rockets point guard and longtime Team Jordan member Chris Paul told The Undefeated before facing the Golden State Warriors. Every retail pair to date, even the ’95 OGs, has featured Jordan’s trademark No. 45 on the heels - just like Jordan wore when he debuted them. 8, the brand will deliver the same model that dropped (fittingly) 23 years ago, down to the cut of the patent leather, details on the insoles, and even the box.īut the real news is that the shoes will be released to the public for the first time with that No. On Thursday, Jordan Brand officially announced the return of the mid-top Concord 11s for just the third time, following retro releases in 20, as well as a low-top edition that debuted in 2014. “I remember … thinking those are the cleanest sneakers I’ve ever seen.
Now 38 and a professional Air Jordan collector based in Stockton, California, he’s known on social media as with approximately 30,000 followers between Instagram and Twitter. 45 was there as well, printed in white on the heels of each shoe.īarias, then 15, fell in love. The camera panned to Jordan’s feet, showing off the fresh, predominantly white “Concord” Air Jordan 11s. That night, Chicago’s players sported black sneakers - everyone except for the greatest of all time, of course. That’s where he’d spent his time away from basketball - in the outfield, chasing major league dreams. The new number was what he rocked for the Birmingham Barons playing in baseball’s minor leagues. 23 he’d previously worn for his entire NBA career. When he returned, he shocked the basketball universe by switching to No. Nearly two months had passed since Jordan ended his 17-month retirement. Watching from his home in San Diego, where he’d moved with his family around age 10, he saw the fifth-seeded Bulls, on the road facing the top-seeded Magic, take the court in their red away uniforms. It was during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic.