In the fall of 1993, Michael Jordan turned the sports world on its head when he announced his (first) retirement from the NBA. As we know, Jordan's retirement and subsequent minor league baseball stint proved to be short-lived, and in March of 1995, natural order was restored as he made his return to hardwood.
Now, thanks to Hypebeast's recap of Jordan and Tinker Hatfield's interview during their recent Shanghai visit, we're learning that the Air Jordan line would have likely carried on — with or without Michael Jordan.
"I think that even if he had never played basketball again he had already cemented his place in history as one of the greatest players ever, and the designs at that point had already become popular outside of sport," Hatfield said, alluding to the Air Jordan line's unparalleled off-court success.
And so, while Jordan pursued other ventures, Hatfield continued to toil away on his designs, laying the ground work for what would later become the Air Jordan XI.
"When Michael retired the first time and he went to play baseball, I always had this notion that he was just taking a break. I felt that way; I don’t know if anyone else here did. So I just kept working on designing Air Jordans even though he was playing baseball," Hatfield said.
The plan worked like a charm, and it wasn't long after Michael Jordan's return that the Air Jordan XI made its debut.
"When he said 'I’m back,' essentially we knew he was of course going to be wearing a crazy new shoe. That was a lot of fun to think that it was all going to take off again... I think I tried even harder to be crazier with this one because I wanted to make a mark for him and help him come back with a splash," Hatfield said.
Designing sneakers for the greatest player of all-time wasn't always easy, though, and both Hatfield and Jordan remember having to make alterations so that the kicks could hold up against the G.O.A.T.'s nightly wear and tear.
"We had to reinforce the shoes. He kept telling me his shoes would blow out and stretch out by halftime; he would even get a new pair sometimes. So it really changed the way everybody designed shoes," Hatfield said.
"I was forceful on my shoes — the cutting, all the movements, and when I did wear and test the shoes I could always go back to Tinker and say, 'You know what, I think you need to do something here.' That made us work well together," Jordan said.
Working well together may be an understatement, as the Hatfield-Jordan duo has since led to some of footwear's most revered designs, technologies, and concepts. To read the entire interview, be sure to click over to Hypebeast now.
