Rather than having anything to do with Michael Jordan, this shoe’s story is told from the perspective of a skater, more specifically, Eric Koston, and to properly tell that story, we have to go all the way back to when Koston was a wee teenager who idolised more veteran skaters than him.
Before the existence of SB, skaters often skated in Air Jordan 1s, citing comfortable heel support and supported the ankle with plenty of suppleness, basically having all the qualities a skater would want on a shoe. Koston recalls missing out on a pair of these when they were sitting on the shelf during the 80s, as his mother wouldn’t let him buy it because “the shoes he had were fine.”
Well, it’s a different story now, as Nike gave the now SB legend carte blanche to do up the shoe however he liked. Taking the Jordan 1 Low, this particular silhouette features a longer vamp, resized Swoosh, full leather upper for comfort, and coloured in MJ’s UNC colours.
Koston’s signature is present on the inside tongue label, and when you flip it, uncovers a price tag for “$24.99,” memorabilia from when the Lows would go for that price back in ’86.
The Air Jordan 1 Low ‘UNC’ releases on Saturday on SNKRS Malaysia for a price of RM 455.
