Source: Nike / Jordan Brand
If you’re a true Michael Jordan fan, indulging in a two-hour documentary every Sunday night for the last five weekends did nothing but whet your appetite.
Luckily the Jordan content isn’t slowing down now that we all have a lot more free time on our hands because of stay-at-home mandates around the world. ESPN did what it had to with The Last Dance, and now VICE is delving into the subculture that Jordan influenced when he took over the sports world– sneakers. The documentary is titled One Man and His Shoes and will get into how, before MJ’s ascent, basketball sneakers were more of a necessity than a sense of personal style or performance. If you ever see older footage, everyone seems to be rocking Converse All-Stars.
But when Jordan came into the league and dropped his first signature sneaker in 1985, the world took notice and wanted to be like Mike. However, with that, subculture also comes the limited releases, which created a craze that influenced violence. People were beaten up and robbed of their sneakers, or sometimes even killed.
Vice plans to get into that as well with the trailer showing tearful parents and community leaders pleading with Nike to make the sneakers more readily available, so violence won’t be so prevalent in their communities. Namely, the Joshua Woods case, who was killed in 2012 when three men followed him from a Texas Mall, where he’d just bought a pair of limited-release Bred Air Jordan 11s, and killed him after taking the sneakers.
Notable interviews come from Jordan’s former agent and businessman David Falk, former NBA commissioner David Stern, Sole Man’s Sonny Vaccaro, designer Peter Moore, sports journalist Jemele Hill, and more.
Peep the trailer above and be sure to watch One Man and His Shoes on May 25 at 8 p.m. on VICE TV.
