Originality Crisis

Originality Crisis There was a time when basketball players were the most stylish athletes on the face of the Earth. From the haircuts to the gold chains, but a player’s entire aura was encapsulated by what was on their feet. The game itself is practically a fast-paced fashion show, where over-grown athletes take the place of under-fed models and high tops are the substitute for high heels. Superstar athletes were backed by marketing campaigns that were more than just images of running in slow motion to a song from some sell out indie rock band. But today, modern shoe companies are too concerned with making shoes cheaper and lighter that any kind of style or visual aesthetics have gone by the wayside.

In the late ’80s, basketball shoes began to take a more personalized approach to the way they were designed. No longer were the standard issue white on white’s suitable for all players. As each player has a different style of play, some wanted a different style of shoe to match it. The matter of what type of to wear may seem like a basketball afterthought in today’s game, but the option to choose was not always there. And It wasn’t until the Jumpman himself, Michael Jordan, stepped on the scene that this fight for the expression of feet really began. His Airness himself could not lay this royal decree upon the League out of nowhere and it wasn’t without strife that anything would be done.

In this fight for the civil rights of shoes, Michael Jordan was MLK, Rosa Parks and John F. Kennedy all rolled into one. For each game that Jordan would wear non-league approved colorways, he would be fined $5,000. Despite the sanctions from David Stalin…excuse me, David Stern, game after game, Jordan donned the black and red 1s in a battle not just for himself, not just for Nike’s cheapest advertising campaign ever, but for colored shoes everywhere!

Enough of the history lesson already, the state of modern basketball shoes is quite honestly a tragedy. The easiest place to begin is with how physically unappealing a majority of them are nowadays. The that line the walls of each and every sneaker spot look the same, regardless of a swoosh, stripes or that funky little division sign that is the Reebok logo. Lacking any sense of creativity and in many cases, quality, it is no wonder why everybody is either wearing Vans or All-Stars. It isn’t because of an absence of talent or quality spokesmen in the League; shoe companies are either trying too hard or not hard enough.