AJ3 "BLACK CAT"

Launching soon is the Air Jordan 3 Retro "Black Cat". This marks it's first retro ever, 18 years after it's original release in 2007. As the lore goes: 

It was 1996 - & for months, Tinker Hatfield (Godfather of Sole, the "H" in HTM) the world’s greatest sneaker designer, had been working on a new shoe for the greatest basketball player in the world. But Tinker wasn’t getting anywhere. Then, while watching the Chicago Bulls on television, Tinker saw Michael Jordan through a different lens. On the court, the chiseled 6-foot-6 shooting guard was smart and sinewy. He was powerful and instinctive. He could conserve his energy like no other. At the right time and moment, he’d attack. Jordan displayed predatory behaviour, reminding Tinker of a feline — specifically, a black cat. He sketched his vision on trace paper. Then he boarded a plane.

(Above is TInker's first sketch of the AJ13) 

Jordan was at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on the set of what would become the iconic “Frozen Moment” commercial. Between takes, secluded behind a prop while seated in director’s chairs, Tinker unveiled a presentation board to Jordan. It featured the side and bottom views of his design for the Air Jordan XIII. Flanking the shoe were illustrations of two black cats with glowing eyes.

(Above is the original AJ13 presentation given to MJ himself. Curtosey of Jordan Brand)

“When he saw the board and heard me mention the words ‘Black Cat,’ he stopped me. He just stopped me dead and said, ‘How did you know?’ ” Tinker recalled. “I’m like, ‘How did I know what?’ He goes, ‘How do you know what my secret nickname is? It’s only used by best friends.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know anybody ever called you the Black Cat.’

(Above: the realised AJ13 "Black Cat" launched in 2017) 

“This was a moment where there was something unspoken that just sort of occurred between the two of us. We sort of were truly on the same plane. He immediately loved the idea, because it struck him the same way it did me,” Tinker recalled of that day in an interview with Jacques Slade, two days before the Black Cat release. “It’s safe to say that was a pretty important moment in the history of basketball shoes, because that shoe ended up being like no other.”

 

COMING SOON TO USG!

 

Shout out to all the USG cats: MJ & Batman, Vader & Ventress (pictured above), Kiko, & Vladimir.