Remember that picture of Michael Jordan rocking "Pinnacle" Air Jordan 1s and #NTDenim last week? It turns out that was actually taken during a in-depth Q&A with Jordan, Tinker Hatfield, and Mark Smith which proved to be far more revealing than the #AskTinker event on Periscope.
UK-based sneaker writer Gary Warnett (of Crooked Tongues fame) recounted the event on his blog, transcribing the entire session. Jordan Brand's Communications Director, Brian Facchini, led the Q&A and broke out the hard-hitting questions from the jump, asking Hatfield and Smith which Air Jordan designs they are proudest of.
"The 20 was pretty cool because he storytelling was very rich and it was actually kind of hard to get Michael to open up about the past, but we finally got him to open up…I look at that shoe today and I see a tapestry. I see a specific symbol inside the shoe and I remember the story…it almost makes me cry — they’re very emotional stories," Hatfield said.
"I'm really proud of the 20 but I think the 23 is a special one — we did something very different there and we are telling different stories and there were new ways to hold the product together with processes that were also storytelling," Smith said.
Meanwhile, Michael admitted that he's confused by the countless Air Jordan nicknames.
"I don't come up with these names, but I've kind of adapted myself to them. My kid said 'Bred' and I said, 'What do you mean? All of them are 'breds' to me?'" Jordan said.
Turning towards the future, MJ says he sees the much-anticipated Air Jordan XXX as an improvement on its predecessor, and that today's shoes are leaps and bounds better than the sneakers he played in.
"We’re working in the 30 now, which I think is a step up from the 29. The work in innovation in the technology that goes into the shoes now is far greater than anything I played in. Those shoes have evolved into signature things, but in terms of innovation, the shoes have improved tremendously since I played," Jordan said.
The full interview is filled with plenty of other valuable insights from the trio, and you can find it on Warnett's blog.
