LASER by PROCESS817 #2

Nike SB Gucci Dunk by Bruce @process817

On the final day of the Jordan 23/25 Experience, I was pretty much worn out from the whole weekend and just sat at home while a few of the Krew went to do up some last minute LASER work. Sometime that the afternoon, my phone buzzed and I got an MMS pic of these sneakers from Bruce. I showed the photo to my wife and we both said the same thing:

"WTF? He LASER'd denim?"

Bruce used the HEAT SEEKERS box artwork that I created for my own sneakers on one shoe and put his name on the other in a similar style. But what really makes these cool--I mean you know, besides LASERing a pair of freakin' Quickstrike Gucci Dunks--is how awesome it turned out on the denim material.

The LASER didn't actually cut into the material like it does on suede or leather. Instead, it just charred the surface, turning it a cool burnt brown color. WOW! I dunno if you can really tell just how awesome it looks in these photos; I tried to take close ups so hopefully you can see it pretty well.

The LASER work looks so freakin cool on denim. I totally wanna LASER all sorts of denim shit now. Ha ha!

NEXT WEEK: The final two pair of LASER'd sneakers revealed!

LASER by PROCESS817 #1

Jordan V Raging Bull by Bruce @process817

Okay, okay. I know yesterday I said that I'd be showing 3 more LASER'd sneakers today, but unfortunately I haven't gotten the third pair in my hands to take photos of yet, so I've only got two to show. But hey, the good news tho is that I'll still have it and one additional final one to show next week--so two more, just later. That's cool, right? Riiiight.

So about these joints; you know what they are--the red suede pair out of the Jordan V "Raging Bull" Defining Moments Pack. Heat Seeker Krew member Process817 got these LASER'd on the toe boxes--one with his name and the other with the Krew name--and then much like Tom got the sneakerhead celebrities in attendance to sign them: Mark Smith, Bobbito, and MAYOR.

BTW, here's a funny story: Aston Chambers from Jordan Brand was walking through the crowd when he saw his friend MAYOR signing these shoes; he came over and said "WOW!" because he couldn't believe people would be wanting MAYOR's autograph like some sort of celebrity. Ha ha! C'mon son, we're sneakerheads, these people are our celebrities!

Now check out the NEXT pair of kicks, Bruce's second pair he LASER'd...

NEXT: Nike SB Gucci Duk by process817 [LINK]

LASER by SAMCOLT12

Nike Air Force 1 by Tom @samcolt12

Tom went crazy with these, didn't he? Well lemme tell you, if there's a single pair of sneakers that really captures what the overall All-Star Weekend was like for us, it's these white-on-white Air Forces.

You see first of all, Tom won these FREE at the Sport Sole + Nike Sportswear party on Thursday [link] which had to be some kinda karma or something, because when we got to the Jordan 23/25 Experience on Friday, the folks from Green Demon Laser told us that the "best" sneakers for LASER'ing are white AF1s. Naturally, the next day Tom came back with these stuffed in his backpack to get LASER'd with his Twitter name--and even stranger, with a Jordan Brand logo. Jordan on Nike? Yeah, that's a line neither of those companies will cross anymore...which is exactly why Tom did it. Haha!

But then after he got them LASER'd, he kept them in his backpack the rest of the weekend and anytime a sneaker celebrity popped up, he had them sign em. He got Mark Smith (Jordan designer), Bobbito (legendary sneakerhead), and of course MAYOR, the Air Force I Air-to-the-Throne himself.

TOMORROW: see 3 more LASER'ed sneakers, starting with a Jordan V by process817

LASER by AKUMA471 #2

Jordan Motorsports VI by Stan @akuma471

For his second LASER'd sneaker, Stan choose a Motorsports VI much like Oz1 did, but he went a completely different route.

One the left sneaker he put MOTORSPORT VI to call out the name of the release, and on the right sneaker he put SUZUKI GSXR to call out the namesake of the motorcycles that the Jordan Motorsport Team rides. You know, the white Elephant Print bike that Sole Collector magazine showcased in that pic with the VIs.

I think the type on these came out really clean; the stenciled look works well with them. In my opinion, Stan matched the fonts perfectly with BOTH sneakers he did.

NEXT: Nike Air Force 1 by samcolt12 [LINK]

LASER by AKUMA471 #1

Jordan XX by Stan @akuma471

True story: this is the first LASER'd sneaker I saw when I got to the Jordan 23/25 Experience. Stan had just finished it when I came through the door and as soon as I saw it, I thought two things:

#1 - Wow, that type style fits that shoe perfectly.

#2 - WTF, he LASER'd a Quickstrike XX? DAMN he's got balls!

And the freakin' sneaker is DEAD STOCK, too. Geesh. I don't think I'd have the stones to take a LASER to that sneaker. WOW! Of course, Stan wasn't done yet--he came back the next day and got another sneaker done up...

NEXT: Jordan Motorsports VI by akuma471 [LINK]

LASER by SNEAKERFREEK23

Jordan II by Marcus @sneakerfreeak23

Here's a great example of what Green Demon Laser was letting folks do at the Jordan 23/25 experience. Our crew member Marcus choose to put one of the available pieces of Jordan art--the FLIGHT logo--on one sneaker and text reading "HEAT SEEKERS" on the other. This is really what they were setup to produce in the alloted 15-minute appointment slots. It also really shows in comparison just how much time it took to do all the Elephant Print on the sneakers Oz1 did up.

I think these IIs came out looking clean with this LASER work.

NEXT: Jordan XX by akuma471 [LINK]

LASER by Oz1

Jordan Motorsports VI by Oz1

This is the LASER job that flat out shut down the Jordan 23/25 experience [link]. Oz1 took the relatively plain Motorsports VI an had the Green Demon Laser folks run the Jordan Elephant Print pattern down the zig-zag pattern on side panels, matching the pattern that's inside on the sock liner. Holy shit these kicks are HOT!

It took two long sessions over two days to do all this work, but it was well worth it. These are probably the best looking LASER'd sneakers I saw created all weekend. BIG UP to Dustin and Christina for making this happen.

Oz1 is the freakin' Elephant King!

NEXT: Jordan II by sneakerfreeak23 [LINK]

LASER by DSICLE

Nike Air Force 1 by Duane @dsicle

The Heat Seekers Krew got a whopping 10 sneakers LASER'd at the Jordan 23/25 booth, and as I promised in yesterday's blog post [link] I'm going to show y'all each and every one of them. To start things off, here's the sneaker I did for myself: the always classic white-on-white Nike Air Force 1.

I choose this particular sneaker because Dustin and Christina of Green Demon Laser said the white-on-white AF1 take the LASER etching the best. I actually wanted to do an all-white Air Max 90, but I don't own those and couldn't find one in the stores that morning. I'm actually glad tho, this couldn't have turned out better.

Oh and yeah, I designed that HEAT SEEKERS block type with Dustin on-the-spot. I didn't want to use any of the stock Jordan brand art, and I wanted something more than just plain text. Came out pretty good for being knocked out in just a couple of minutes.

NEXT: the infamous Jordan Motorsports VI by Oz1 [LINK]

Jordan Brand 23/25 LASER machine

In one of my follow up posts on All-Star Sneakend last week, I mentioned the FREE LASER Etching Machine [here] that was setup at the Jordan Brand 23/25 Experience. Me and the rest of the Heat Seekers Krew took serious advantage of the deal, so I'm going to spend this whole week documenting what all we had done up--but first I'm going to start off by telling y'all what the experience was like.

Alright, the first thing you need to know is that the LASER etching machine was brought in by Jordan Brand from Green Demon Laser in Portland, Oregon and was operated practically non-stop for four days by Dustin and Christina. I honestly don't know how those two worked as much as they did; they hardly took any breaks at all and they remained cheerful and professional the whole time (at least, as much as we saw them, which was a lot).

The first thing you had to do was to set up a 15-minute LASER appointment with the Jordan Brand Concierge desk. Then at your appointed time, you rolled up to the iMac with Dustin and knocked a design either using one of the many available Jordan-related images or text of your own choosing. After a few quick measurements, they prepared the shoe by removing laces, taping it down, masking it off, etc, and then lined it up in the machine. Then, after a few minutes of burning leather, your new masterpiece was complete.

During the morning and daytime, appointments were pretty booked up, but in the early evenings things slowed down--and that actually worked to our advantage. Heat Seeker crew member Oz1 wanted to do a large Elephant Print pattern on his Jordan Motorsport VIs, but it was going to be very time consuming--but hey, since there was no one else booked after us, Dustin and Christina went ahead and did it up for him.

I think it took about 30 minutes per side, but WOW the final result was just jaw dropping. I think everyone in the whole place was gathered around the LASER booth waiting to see the results. And seriously, when Christina pulled all the foil masking tape off the first shoe and handed it to Oz, he held it up in the air and it it seemed like a hundred phones and cameras were in the air snapping pictures of it!

Damn, just look at it y'all--it's such a BEAST!

The sneaker caused so much buzz that folks from the back of the VIP room started to come out and see what was going on, and that's when the Marketing Director from Jordan Brand came to see what was up. When he saw the shoe with all the Elephant Print on it, he bugged out! He took some pics with Oz and then hauled him back into the VIP room to get him a drink and show off the shoe to all the Jordan VIPs.

After a few minutes, a Jordan Brand photographer came out and asked for all the Heat Seekers in attendance to line up for a photo with our LASER'd sneakers. I dunno what they're gonna do with the pic, but I gotta admit it felt like a freakin' rock star moment for a minute when the crowd was around us as we got OFFICIAL photos taken by Jordan Brand.

I know that a lot of people got a lot of cool LASER etched sneakers made up, but the Heat Seekers Krew shut it down at the Jordan Brand Green Demon Laser booth.

If you're interested in getting your own sneakers LASER'd, call Dustin or Christina at Green Demon Laser (503) 531-3383 or check them out on FaceBook [link].


NEXT: Check back tomorrow and throughout the rest of this week as I showcase each individual sneaker the Krew got LASER'd up.

Jordan Brand 23/25 Experience

Part 1 of 2

In conjunction with the NBA All-Star weekend, Jordan Brand opened up a special pop-up space in the Victory Park area about two blocks south of the American Airlines Center. Called the "Jordan 23/25 Experience" or the "Jordan Energy Space", it was used to formally release Air Jordan 2010 sneaker as well as showcase the 25th anniversary of the Air Jordan sneaker line.

I ended up going down there 3 times: Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday night. Why so often? Simply put, because there was a ton of shit to see and do!

The first thing you saw when you walked through the door was a display showing a completely dissected Air Jordan 2010. A lot of people might hate on the shoe's visual appearance, but there's no denying that the shoe is a thoroughly modern basketball sneaker. Much like the new Nike Kobe V and Lebron VII, the Air Jordan 2010 is lightweight, slimmed down, low to the ground, and really focused on quick on-court performance.

Immediately past the entrance was the centerpiece of the exhibit--at least in my opinion--the Jordan Shoe Gallery. Every Air Jordan sneaker was in the display case in a solid white colorway (I'll be covering the display coming up next in Part 2).

To the left from the gallery was the Jordan Hall of Fame showcasing milestones in his career, including trophys, his UNC college uniform, Bugs Bunny feet sneakers from the movie Space Jam, and an OG Jordan I, the sneaker that started it all.

To the right from the gallery was an Interactive Wall of touchscreen displays that explained the history and influences behind each Air Jordan sneaker.

On the far wall was the interactive Live Social Mosaic which created a giant image of Michael Jordan out of thousands of tiny photos submitted by Jordan sneaker fans. The images constantly moved and shifted so you could watch what the larger image was actually made of. Pretty neat actually.

To the left of the Mosaic past the Concierge booth (where they were giving out free Jordan t-shirts) was a line of iMacs setup to let you create your own ID23 Customized Air Jordan Alpha I. Secretly I was hoping for ID options on the AJ 2010, but sadly that wasn't available.

Immediately past the ID23 setup was the absolutely incredible "Elephant Printer" Laser Etching Machine where you could bring in your own sneakers to be lasered with a variety of Jordan brand images, words, whatever. This was a HUGE deal! Dustin and Christina from Green Demon Laser in Portland, Oregon worked practically non-stop for 4 long days designing and lasering sneakers for anybody that wanted it done--TOTALLY FREE! This was such a huge deal that my entire sneaker crew got in on the action...and I'll be doing a series of blog posts in the near future (maybe next week, or the week after that) just on what all we got lasered up.

Finally, the back of the space was dedicated to the VIP room. This is where the free open bars, dinner buffets, dessert trays, and the wicked cool Microsoft Surface interactive table were located. Naturally, my Heat Seekers crew got access to the VIP room (c'mon son, you know what's up) and we got to meet all sorts of people from Jordan Brand as well as celebrities. Bobbito was there of course, as was Gentry Humphrey and Mark Smith of Jordan Brand, among others. Even our guests from the All-Star Sneakend were there: DJ Greg Street, MAYOR, and Franalations.

The big VIP deal tho was really the Saturday night concert. After MC Lyte, 9th Wonder, and Bobbito warmed up the crowd at the DJ booth all evening, rappers Bun B and Wale performed on the VIP stage. The sets were short, but were crazy intimate; you could literally get within feet of the guys on stage. Big shout out to Bun B for friggin KILLING IT on the mic (after a bit of technical difficulty with the music). Bun B is a real straight dude, very approachable and personable. And I gotta say it: RIP Pimp C, UGK for life y'all.

NEXT! Check out the all-white Jordan sneaker display.

Continue to Part 2 >>

Air Jordan III Retro - True Blue

The Air Jordan III, introduced for the 87-88 NBA season, might have been the third sneaker in the Air Jordan line, but it's really defined by firsts. The first Air Jordan designed by the now legendary Tinker Hatfield. The first to feature the now ubiquitous Jumpman logo (the 1 and 2 featured the Wings logo). The first use of the iconic Elephant print. The first Jordan with a visible AIR unit in the sole. The first to be heavily marketed in TV ads (the famous Spike Lee "Mars Blackmon" series). And the sneaker Michael Jordan wore when he won his first league MVP award.


The Air Jordan 3 was originally released in four colorways, all of which have been retro'd at one time or another, and a several new colorways have been introduced over the years a well. No surprise there since the Jordan 3 is one of the most loved designs in the history of the brand. It's even been reported that the Jordan 3 is Michael Jordan's personal favorite sneaker design. He even occasionally wore the True Blue colorway in his last few years while playing with the Washington Wizards, since they color matched that uniform.

Originally, the design on the rear featured the Swoosh and the words NIKE AIR, and the sole read NIKE, but starting in late 2001 these elements were switched to the Jumpman logo on the rear and JORDAN on the sole. The same modifications were made to other retros released after 2001 as well. To most sneakerheads, these were unwelcome changes, and many are hoping Jordan Brand will eventually switch back to the original NIKE branding--but no one's holding their breath waiting for that to happen anytime soon.

As for these 2009 True Blues--well there was some controversy with these, too [link]. Everyone got hyped about em when the retro was first announced, and it quickly became one of the most eagerly anticipated sneakers of the year, but then Jordan Brand revealed that it would be an International Only release, unavailable in the United States. Sneakerheads suddenly found themselves trying to track them down from overseas connects when they dropped in August, but most were left out in the cold.

I actually first held the True Blue back in September--as you can see in that first pic--when I visited Flight Club in New York [link] and seriously considered buying it at $275. Glad I didn't since I was able to cop em a couple months later at retail price on a surprise restock from Size? in the U.K.

After all was said and done, this Air Jordan Retro True Blue ended up making several "Best Sneakers of 2009" lists, most notably coming in at #4 [link] on DJ Clark Kent's Top 10 sneakers of the year, and finishing #1 [link] on Mayor's Top 10 list.

PS - After I cop'ed the shoes, I just had to buy this t-shirt --> [link]

Fur Face Boy - Space Fur

Installment four of my official "Space Jams Week" features one of my favorite brands in the world, Fur Face Boy. Anyone who'd been reading this blog for a while no doubt already knows about FFB, but if you don't then go read these posts [one two three four]. This black "Space Fur" shirt was a hyper-limited, web-only run of just 18 shirts, with another 18 available in the Royal Blue colorway [here]. And as you can see, the Space Jam tie-in comes in the form of the black/royal-blue color and of course the sideways alien-esque Jordan type.

It doesn't quite come across in the photos, but the blue ink used on this shirt has a little bit of a shimmer to it. Is that on purpose? Or is it just the nature of the ink? Hell I dunno, but it's really cool in-person.

Now about that sideways type: back in 1995 when the Air Jordan XI first came out, the words on the tongue confused a lot of people (was it supposed to be an alien language?) until they turned the shoe sideways and the words "JUMPMAN - JORDAN" became clear. In the original 2001 Retro of the Space Jam, Jordan Brand modified the words a bit to read "JUMPMAN - JAM". Unfortunately, this new 2009 Retro uses the more pedestrian "JUMPMAN - JORDAN" on the tongue. That's a shame, but at least it does give OG Retro owners something to brag about (besides their more yellowed soles).

The way "Fur Face Boy" is set on the shirt is reminiscent of the sideways tongue type, but it's not quite a straight rip of it--and I think it might be stronger because of that. The design is obvious to anyone in the know, but strengthens the FFB brand better than if it was sideways and completely abstract.

Oh yeah, one more thing...

On the Fur Face Boy website, this shirt was announced with the headline "I believe I can (Fur)..." and no shit ever since then, that freakin' R. Kelly song has been in my head! I can't get it outta there. In fact I'm singing it right now--arrrg, so annoying! It's one of those songs that simultaneously makes me cry AND want to go piss on something.

Space Madness

Installment three of my official "Space Jams Week" is a post that can only be called Space Madness. Yep, that's right, we camped out all night for more Air Jordan XI Retro Space Jams [Read about those in installment one HERE]. Please forgive me if the writing sucks worse than usual because I'm really tired--oh my God is it 8:00am? Crap I've just spent all night camping out for sneakers that I already own! Hahaha!

Alright so here's the story: Terrance, Stan, myself, and Claudia all got to Town East between 11pm and midnight, set up camp chairs, and talked about sneakers. The weather was a nice dry 60º, we ate some burgers and junk from a 2am Jack-In-The-Crack run, Terrance made fun of a couple of scrubs, everything was cool. Then sometime around 3:30, while Terrance and Stan were on a convenience store run, *BOOM* everybody all the sudden bum-rushed the mall entrance!

Goodbye organized line, hello unruly mob.

Now realize, this rush made NO SENSE AT ALL because it was still gonna be well over 2 hours wait, and the mall doors were still locked! People started getting push, people started yelling, and the very irate Mall Cop threatened to send everyone home. After about 15 minutes of crowd hysteria at the front door, the Police showed up and kinda halfway got things settled down.

At 5:00am-ish, the employees from Champs came out and started giving away reserved 'hold' tickets for Space Jams; they had a little over 100 pair to sell and quickly ran out of tickets (almost instantly in the common men's sizes). After much more pushing, shoving, and crowding the front door, it finally hit the magic hour to allow people in to the mall: 6:00am.

Mall employees let four people in at a time, handing them off to waiting employees from Foot Locker/House of Hoops, Foot Action, and Finish Line. Terrance worked his way to the front of the line pretty quickly and got in the mall before the big crowd, hitting up Foot Action for all the pairs he needed. Stan, Claudia, and I were near the back of the mob--because come on, we're not crazy--but a few minutes later we got in. My hook up at Foot Locker/House of Hoops got my size order and ran to the back (totally bypassing the big line by the way) but unfortunately my size was ALREADY SOLD OUT. This was, like 6:20am. I quickly ran next door to Foot Action, where Terrance was at, but they were also out...however they did manage to get me a half-size off shoe (which will honestly be fine).

FINAL STATS
Length of campout: 6-7 hours
Line-to-Mob conversion casualties: 1 campchair + 100% of the Mall Cop's wits
Number of cans thrown at Mall Cop's head: 1
Length of time spent making fun of Hulen Mall: approx 30 minutes
Number of people in the mob: somewhere between 300-400
Rumored number of SJs available: approx 1000 pair
Total number of Space Jams we cop'd: 8 pair
Success rate for our group: 99.5%
Camping out just for the fun of it: PRICELESS

Shogun + Space Jam

You read yesterday's epic Space Jams post, right? If so, you already know I've officially declared this "Space Jams Week" (and if not, go read that post) so here's the second installment of the week: a Space Jam themed t-shirt from the best streetwear/sneaker shop in Fort Worth, Texas: Shogun.

As you no doubt already know, Space Jam is the 1996 live action + animation movie starring Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny and pretty much the entire pantheon of Warner Bros. cartoon characters: Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Tazmanian Devil, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe Le Pew, Granny, Charles the Dog, and of course Marvin Martian. Honestly, the movie itself ain't all that great and Michael Jordan is not a very good actor, but it did introduce something monumentally important to the sneaker world: the Air Jordan 11 (XI) Space Jam.

The Space Jam, which is being released this wednesday, is easily one of if not the most highly anticipated retro Jordan releases of the year. Hell to be honest, it's probably one of the most highly anticipated sneakers PERIOD of the year, not just Jordans. Consequently, there are a ton of Space Jam related t-shirts being made up by a wide number of brands and shops out there. I mean, since everybody's gonna buy Space Jams (you ARE gonna cop some for yourself, right? Right?) it makes sense to have some matching tees out there for people to rock with the sneakers.

Of all the Space Jam related tees I've seen, this one is easily my favorite. When I first saw it, I immediately knew it was Space Jam shirt but unlike most it doesn't rely on a black/varsity-royal colorway. Instead, it cleverly apes the movie's Looney Tunes inspired logo. I mean come on just look at how perfectly "Shogun" replaces "Space Jam". That's what's up! And then to top it off, the art on the back does it up even better: Marvin the Martian and two space guns to mimic the Shogun logo? Fire, absolute FIRE! In fact that design was also available on its own [see it here] and both shirts, along with everything else Shogun-related from what I understand, were designed by John Hoang (follow @johnAtShogun on Twitter).

I'll be wearing this shirt and my Space Jams for the campout tonight/tomorrow morning at Town East Mall. If you want to follow the Space Jam campout live, follow me on Twitter @dsicle should be Tweeting starting around midnight tonight.

If you haven't been to Shogun in Fort Worth, go check em out. Easily one of the best streetwear boutiques around and well worth the trip to Funky Town.

Air Jordan XI Retro - Space Jams

I'm officially declaring this "Space Jams Week" so to kick it off, here are the infamous Space Jams that are releasing this coming wednesday Dec 23. So alright, what's the big deal about these sneakers, anyways?

To answer that, you first gotta remember that Michael Jordan shocked the world when he retired from basketball in 1993, right in the prime of his career. By that point, he was already considered the greatest basketball player of all time. He'd won Rookie of the Year, back-to-back Slam Dunk contests, two Olympic Gold Medals, three NBA MVP awards, was an NBA All-Star every year, had the highest scoring average (32.3 PPG) in the history of the NBA, and of course had just lead the Chicago Bulls to a Three-Peat: winning the NBA Championship three years in a row--and then topped it off by winning the Finals MVP each time. As Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics described him, he was "God disguised as Michael Jordan."

Jordan retired from the NBA on October 6, 1993 due to a series of personal issues, including the death of his father, but he didn't exactly disappear out of the limelight. He chased other dreams, including playing baseball. But then on March 18, 1995 Jordan issued a two-word press release: "I'm Back"

The next day, a year-and-a-half since he'd last worn a Chicago Bulls uniform, Jordan scored 19 points in a game against the Indiana Pacers--and apparently, the whole world was watching as it earned the highest Nielsen rating of a regular season NBA game since 1975. Then a few days later, in just his fifth game back, he scored 55 points against the New York Knicks.

"God disguised as Michael Jordan," indeed.

That year, the Bulls didn't have much success--the season was half over by the time Jordan returned--but his return did boost the team to the Playoffs, where on May 7, 1995 Michael Jordan laced up what many in the sneaker world consider the Greatest Sneaker Ever: The Air Jordan 11 (XI).


The whole world was watching as Jordan came out on the court wearing Concords. Sneakers with shiny black patent leather? That'd never been done before. They were classy and sleek and elegant and futuristic all at the same time. They blew everyone's minds. Cue mass hysteria. High school kids wearing Concords with Tuxedos for Homecoming and Prom. Insane. Jordan was even fined by the NBA for wearing them (not respecting the team colors), similar to the fines he received for wearing the Jordan I in his first season.

And then in his first full season back, Jordan wore the 11s as he led the Chicago Bulls in most dominating season in NBA history, a record-setting 72-10 asswhoopin' of the entire league--and of course another NBA title (and the beginning of the second Bulls Three-Peat). People, we're talking about a dominance level never before seen in the NBA; hell sports in general. The accomplishments of the pre-retirement Michael Jordan were legendary; the dominance of the now un-retired Michael Jordan wasn't even fathomable. It was just flat out stupid. How could anyone be that good?

"God disguised as Michael Jordan."

As the next season began, Jordan mania was still in full effect as Warner Bros. released the feature film SPACE JAM starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. Live action actors mixed in with the cartoon world, sorta like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but with a Basketball twist. Yeah okay, the movie kinda sucked, but every kid in America went and saw it...and saw those shoes. The Space Jams. What were they? An all-new colorway, never seen before? Well that's because there were only five pairs made, just for Jordan to wear in the movie. FIVE PAIRS.

So here you had the greatest player ever wearing the greatest sneaker ever in a brand-new color that no one had ever seen...and you couldn't actually buy em! Talk about pent-up frustration! They weren't available to the public until a Retro release in 2001 (which sold out quick) and haven't been available ever since. Until now, that is.

This wednesday, December 23, Jordan Brand is officially re-releasing the Air Jordan 11 (XI) Space Jam sneaker. As you can see from the pictures, I've already got mine (cop'd em last week) but I'm still gonna go to House of Hoops and stand in line starting tuesday at midnight to snag another pair, but mostly just for the fun of it. I'll post up afterwords about the event, of course, but if you wanna stay up late and catch it live, follow me on Twitter @dsicle or better yet, come out to Town East Mall and freeze your ass off with us as we wait outside Tuesday at midnight.

Air Jordan XII Retro - White/Red

Jordan Brand released a slew of Air Jordan XII (12) retros this year, some of which were a slap in the face to collectors (Nubucks) and some that had some lame controversy around them (Rising Suns) and some that radically changed materials (flu games), but after a year of releasing 12s, I think they saved the best for last. This white/varsity-red/black Jordan 12 is a classic and they didn't screw it up one bit.

The Air Jordan 12 (XII) is the signature sneaker Michael Jordan wore in the 1996/1997 season when he led the Chicago Bulls to a 69–11 record, their 5th of 6 NBA Championship titles (the middle year of their second three-peat) and earned his 5th of 6 NBA Finals MVP award. Jordan was so dominating, so crushing during those years--and so were his sneakers. The shoes of the second three-peat era (XI, XII, XIII) are some of the best designed, most loved of the Jordan line.


The Air Jordan 12 was originally released in five colorways. The shoe, designed by legendary Nike/Jordan designer Tinker Hatfield, was inspired by 19th century womans' dress boots and the Japanese Rising Sun flag, which you can see in the style of the ribbed leather stitching. The design is even carried past the leather and into the rubber midsole, making it seem as if the lines reach all the way to the ground. The tongue features the Jumpman logo and the unique "TWO 3" text denoting Michael's jersey number, and the Jumpman is even integrated into the front of the sole. From a technology standpoint, the XII was the first Air Jordan sneaker to feature the Nike Zoom Air unit, a tighter and more responsive air system than the older air technology. Lotsa great details in this shoe, but it still retains a clean and uncluttered overall look.

One important historical note: 1997 is the year Nike launched Jordan Brand as a stand-alone subsidiary, so the XII was the first Air Jordan that didn't have a Nike Swoosh or logo visible anywhere on the shoe, including the insole. Since then, no Jordans have had a Nike Swoosh on them, and JB has even gone so far as to remove them from most older Retros, replacing it with the Jumpman. The only Jordan left with the Swoosh is the Jordan I which, of course has the Swoosh integrated into the design.

The Air Jordan 12 (XII) Retro white/varsity-red/black sneaker has an official release date December 19. Of course, as you can see here since I took these photos, I got mine early thanks to a hook up from a buddy. Thanks, T.