50 Visual Narrative by eduardcab

SHOES CULTURE PEOPLE 50 THINGS VISUAL NARRATIVE EDUARDO CABRERA

THE SNEAKER THAT CHANGE CULTURE

AIR JORDAN AIR JORDAN

Retro High OG

4-52

Michael Jordan has had a symbiotic relationship with Nike, and together they grew into two of the most popular sports brands in the world. The Jordan Brand’s reach goes beyond the actual game of basketball and into sports, entertainment, streetwear culture, fashion and lifestyle.

AIR JORDAN 1

Imagery taken from the movie “AIR”, where Sonny Vaccaro and Deloris Jordan talk about the possibility of Jordan attending the Nike meeting. © Amazon Content Services Llc

Michael Jordan helped turn Nike into an NBA powerhouse and global brand, but he initially did not want to sign with the company primarily known for track shoes in 1984.

p04

6-52 © Getty, Steve Kagan

AIR JORDAN 1

One of the key individuals on the Nike signage was Deloris Jordan, Michael’s mom. She help get the Jordan brand beyond Nike and help make Jordan earn part of the revenue of the shoes that were sold under his name.

The Air Jordan 1 faced a backlash from the NBA after Jordan donned the black and red sneakers during a preseason game in 1984. The NBA sent a letter to Nike, stating “the red and black Nike basketball shoes...” violated league policy, incurring a $5,000 per game fine. The NBA policy was that “shoes had to be 51% white and in accordance with what the rest of the team was wearing.” p06

8-52

Nike capitalized on the controversy by producing a commercial about the NBA’s ban on its sneakers. The voice over in the Air Jordan 1 “Banned” ad said: “On Sept. 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On Oct. 18, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can’t keep you from wearing them. Air Jordans. From Nike.”

AIR JORDAN 1

Imagery of the commercial from Nike © Youtube, Nike

Letter from the National Basketball Association preventing the use of the color of their shoes © Goat

p08

10-52 © USA Today

AIR JORDAN 1

Later, Tinker Hatfield, on of the most proliferated shoe designers today joined Nike and the Air Jordan brand. Hatfield designed the Jordan 3s and majority of the brand collection ever after.

Jay-Z and fellow rapper Kanye West wore the Bred Air Jordan 1 and the Varsity Red Air Jordan 6 in the video for their single “Otis” in 2011. © Youtube, Kanye West

Jordan’s impact on the basketball court also influenced hip-hop culture. His sneaker brand became a staple in streetwear culture, with hip-hop artists and celebrities wearing them in casual settings. p10

AIR JORDAN 1

12-52

The Air Jordan 1 is one of the most sold shoe and has had hundreds of variations throughout the years.

p12

14-52 © Complex

AIR JORDAN 1

The game-changing partnership transformed Nike into the world’s largest athletic apparel company and Jordan into a global and cultural phenomenon. touching millions of people’s lifes.

GETA

Geta are traditional Japanese footwear resembling flip-flops. A kind of sandal, geta have a flat wooden base elevated with up to three (though commonly two) “teeth”, held on the foot with a fabric thong, which keeps the foot raised above the ground.

p14

16-52 © All About Japan

GETA

Geta are often paired with the yukata for informal occasions. Unlike your typical sandals which your naked toes grab onto, geta are often worn with white tabi socks.

Most geta have two teeth, but the tengu-geta consists of a single tooth (ha) in the middle of the sole. The wearer’s feet are held with a cloth strap called hanao. Men’s geta often have a black hanao while women’s are red.

p16

20-52 © Pinterest

GETA

Geta comes in many different shape and sizes. Specifying their use, gender, and generation

p18

22-52 © Pinterest

GETA

Unlike the mass-produced shoes we know of today, geta production was relatively environmentally-friendly. The owner of Naito, one of the most famous footwear manufacturers, used to produce geta from leftover materials in his timber and textile businesses.

Some seafood and fish merchants also used very high geta with particularly long teeth to keep their feet above any scraps of fish on the floor of their shops; these were known as tengu geta.

p20

24-52

GETA

In the Heian Period, geta prevented one’s yukata from getting dirty in the mud or snow as the high soles raised one’s feet 4-5cm off the ground. This was especially common among sushi chefs, making it easier for them to stay away from food scraps in the kitchen. According to The Kyoto Project, priests wore another type of geta with only one ha, the takaba, to scale mountains safely. Another group of people who wore geta were geishas in training, otherwise known as maiko. © Brooklyn Museum, Utagawa Kunisada

p22

26-52 © Wikipedia, Andy Atzert

GETA

Aside from Japanese wrestlers, most people don’t wear geta anymore. However, many in Japan still abide by the practice of removing their footwear at the door. This ageold tradition initially came about to avoid damaging the tatami flooring and to maintain cleanliness. The sandal-like design of geta made it easy for people to repeatedly put on and take off their shoes.

ADIDAS X PARLEY

Through the Adidas and Parley collaboration, they intercepted plastic waste on beaches and coastal communities before it reached the ocean, and gave it new life as an adidas x Parley product. That first shoe marked a turning point; it symbolized change for not only us, but for the fashion industry as a whole. © Adidas, Alexander Taylor

28-52

The Adidas x Parley shoe is the first example of this originality ever being done. The upper shoe is made impressively and entirely from plastic collected in the coastal areas of the Maldives, and illegal deep-sea gill nets retrieved off the coast of West Africa.

ADIDAS x PARLEY

Children contributing collecting plastic waste in Malissia for the campaign. © Youtube, Adidas

p26

ADIDAS x PARLEY

30-52

p28

ADIDAS x PARLEY

32-52

p30

ADIDAS x PARLEY

34-52

p32

ADIDAS x PARLEY

36-52

The Adidas x Parley campaign is not only taking over shoes, but also in sports active clothing. They have made partnerships with various sport organizations.

p34

ADIDAS x PARLEY

38-52

p36

ADIDAS x PARLEY

39-52

p38

SADDLE SHOE

The saddle shoe, also known as "saddle oxford", is a low-heeled casual shoe, characterized by a plain toe and saddle-shaped decorative panel placed mid foot. Saddle shoes are typically constructed of leather and are most frequently white with a black or dark blue saddle, although any color combination is possible. Saddle shoes are worn by both men and women in a variety of styles ranging from golf cleats to school uniform shoes. They have a reputation as the typical shoes of school-girls, especially in the 1940s.

SADDLE SHOE

It is reported that the first saddle shoe design appeared in 1906 when footwear designer A.G Spalding originally designed the shoes for indoor use. The saddle shoe is easily identified by its contrasting colored leather ‘saddle’, most typically black over off-white leather uppers. The shoes were easy to clean with thanks to their rubber sole, inexpensive and durable to a degree.

The two-toned saddle shoe was supposed to be a crisp, stylish men’s shoe, but women found it more appealing. The Roaring Twenties was a time when women were pushing for more and more gender equality and were ridding themselves of what they viewed as shackles of prior feminine oppression. Women were wearing trousers, cutting their hair short, and binding their breasts to make them appear flat-chested. It only made sense that they should wear men’s footwear too.

p40

43-52

During the jazz age, some fans supported racial harmony by wearing the black & white footwear. During the depression, lace up shoes were a fashion craze, but leather & black dye became scarce due to war rationing. Because of this, a cheaper version of canvas, brown & white saddles became the norm. Around this time white stitching and laces were added to the shoe.

SADDLE SHOE

Businessmen of the 1940s often wore two-tones loafers and women wanted to follow suit. It was teenage girls, however, that sparked the saddle shoes rise to fame. Most young women grew up wearing saddle shoes. p42

47-52

It seems laughable today that the saddle shoe would be allowed in gym class, but in the 1950s, it was the shoe that most girls wore while playing sports. The rubber sole was slip-resistant, so they were well-suited for the types of sports girls played in the 1950s—tennis, golf, and cheerleading. In fact, saddle shoes remained a part of girls’ cheerleading uniforms until well into the 1980s.

p44

SADDLE SHOE

49-52

Because of their popularity as a gym shoe, and their rubbered and versatile and comfortable design, the shoes became very popular in the dance floor.

p46

SADDLE SHOE

51-52