From the Editor: With
this piece we begin a series of texts devoted to the 75th anniversary of the
NBA - about the people, phenomena and processes that created the league that
everyone loves. Something without which it is impossible to imagine, even more
difficult to understand.
Exploring the Sports Illustrated gallery
Basketball sneakers
have long since spread beyond the niche market of products designed exclusively
for athletes. They are perfectly combined with the everyday style of clothing,
and hardly any of us will be surprised if we notice one of Nike's game models
on a passerby. Such shoes are comfortable, colorful and attractive, and
memorable in the envy of other elements of equipment: if basic outfit sets in
competitive kinds of sports are limited by usual club colors and are the same
for all team members, sneakers have much more room for imagination of creating
professionals, and the athletes themselves, too.
Not for nothing the
companies for many years to lead the race, the main purpose of which is to sign
contracts with the most popular faces of the NBA, in fact for such a specific
product is already a successful performance of the player is great publicity.
For example, in 2003, has not played a single game in the league LeBron James
signed a contract with Nike for $ 90 million, and in 2016, he formalized a new
"lifetime" agreement with the company, which will bring him about 30
million annually. And for the legendary Michael Jordan even created a named
Jordan Brand.
The first basketball
sneakers appeared way back in 1917, and now the annual turnover in the
specialized footwear industry is measured in billions of dollars. It hasn't
always been this way, yet manufacturers have long ago embraced the main
showcase of their achievements - the NBA games. Hardly anyone can recall all
the sneaker models that basketball players wore on the court celebrating the
league's 75th anniversary this year. But that hasn't stopped Sports Illustrated
from compiling its top 75 sneaker models in NBA history.
You can check out the
full gallery here. We'll highlight the highlights from the festive piece,
though.
Nike dominates by quantity, Air Jordan responds by quality
All 75 spots in the
rankings were distributed among the companies as follows:
- Nike - 38;
- Air Jordan - 14;
- Adidas - 8;
- Reebok - 6;
- Converse - 4;
- Under Armour - 1;
- Puma - 1;
- AND 1 - 1;
- Fila - 1;
- Ewing Athletics -
1.
The overwhelming
advantage of Nike will hardly surprise basketball fans: the giant gives the
most generous contracts to athletes, prevents the penetration of competitors in
the market and actively uses the most famous names of players in the production
of products - from LeBron James and Kobe Bryant to Kyrie Irving and Ja Morent.
The best model of the
concern, according to the opinion of the authors of the rating, was Nike Air
Force 1, which is on the 4th place. Sneakers released in 1982, was worn by
Moses Malone. Now they are considered a classic, still published in different
colors and steadily bring in several hundred million dollars annually.
In addition, the
authors praised the Nike Foamposite (No. 6, 1997), worn by Penny Hardaway.
And also Nike Dunk (10th
place, 1985), which has been on the feet of a wide variety of athletes.
However, in terms of
the number of representatives in the top ten, the winner was Air Jordan.
Although Nike is still satisfied: Jordan is one of the divisions of the holding
company. However, products of Michael Jordan's brand, which has been in
business since 1984, is considered separately.
There are five models
of his sneakers in the top 10: the Air Jordan VI (ranked #9, 1991), where
Michael won his first NBA championship; the Air Jordan IV (5, 1989), where the
Chicago leader shot the famous shot; the Air Jordan III (3, 1988), where MJ won
his first MVP award; the Air Jordan XI (2, 1995), where the league's best
player helped the Bulls to a 72-10 season; and...
Air Jordan I (1st
place, 1984).
These are the
sneakers that probably spawned the inherently modern cult of basketball
footwear. Funny enough, but in 1984 they were banned by the NBA, because the
model was not the usual solid color, but attracted attention with its bright
red color, which was considered a violation of the rules. Michael was to be
fined 5 thousand dollars for every game played in a new model (issued still
with the company logo Nike), but this did not bother either the company or the
athlete: the hype around the situation only helped to increase sales. However,
for the first match of the season Jordan came out the same in the shoes with a
more modest coloring.
Jordan Brand products now dominate the U.S.
retro footwear market (as of March 2021). Unlike Nike, which has more of a
direct appreciation for modern game models.
Cult of Jordan sneakers: turned the market
upside down in the 80s, sold $126 million in the first year (hoped for 3
million), the threat of a ban from the NBA only helped
Other manufacturers' best models
Sports Illustrated has representatives from
other companies in its top 10.
Reebok has the Reebok Question (No. 7,
1996), designed specifically for Allen Iverson, nicknamed Answer.
Adidas has the rare Adidas Superstar (8th
place, 1969).
The concern had to pay $25,000 a year for
Karim Abdul-Jabbar, an incredibly popular NBA rookie, to agree to wear this
model.
But the best Converse model, the Converse
Chuck Taylor All-Stars (1917), was only in 12th place.
The first sneakers designed specifically
for basketball remained popular with many athletes until the 60s. Nowadays
sneakers with a white sock are an essential attribute of every street rebel and
are still as relevant as ever.
Other companies had only one representative
in the top 75.
Puma Clyde (14th place, 1973), made of
suede for the leading New York fashionista of those years, Clyde Fraser.
Fila Grant Hill 2 (29th place, 1996), in
which Grant Hill never became the main star of the generation.
AND 1 Tai Chi (50th, 2000), which was the
quintessential street style AND 1 and improbably ended up on Vince Carter
during his greatest performance of the NBA All-Star Game dunk contest.
Under Armour Curry One (70th, 2015), which
allowed Under Armour to break into the basketball shoe market with the help of
Stephen Curry.
The Ewing 33 HI (75th, 1990), created by Patrick Ewing's personal firm, tired of Adidas and the rest of the business sharks.
Which basketball player has the most models in the top 75?
Michael Jordan - 13;
Kobe Bryant - 8;
Scottie Pippen, 5;
LeBron James, 4;
Kyrie Irving, 3;
Penny Hardaway, 3.
The rest of the rankings were, at best, two
pairs of sneakers each.
Many will be surprised by the such
extensive presence of Michael Jordan's partner in the championship Bulls,
Scotty Pippen, who served as Nike's proxy for five models on the list at once.
The best of them, the Nike Air More Uptempo (18th place, 1996), also flashed on
the TV screens of Atlanta Olympic spectators.
Kobe Bryant was noted in the top with the
products of two manufacturers at once - familiar to us now Nike, as well as
Adidas, with whom he cooperated until 2002. The popularity of the great Lakers
offensive guard's models does not decrease to this day: even among active NBA
players his sneakers are in the highest demand.
The Adidas KB8 (28th place, 1997) was
recognized as the best product of Kobe's collaboration with the German company.
But Nike Kobe IV (2009) climbed as high as
#11.
LeBron and Nike Zoom Generation
(24th place) from 2003.
The era, which gave us the most memorable
models, was the 90's (32 positions in the ranking) - the period of creative
flourishing of Air Jordan and Nike, still ready for experiments. The closest
pursuers from the 2010s have exactly half as many representatives in the rating
- only 16.
