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MJ'S FAVORITE SNEAKERS ARE FOR THE BOOKS.

The story behind the METCHA x TSS AJ XI Prototype collab

If you binge-watched The Last Dance on Netflix like we did, you got a glance of how the Air Jordan sneakers line changed the game of basketball kicks. More than a tool to improve hoops, it became a statement beyond the court. Everyone wanted to be like Michael Jordan, so why not have the right shoe to do so.

Jordan & Nike combined style & basketball culture since day one into designs that continue to have a pwrful influence on fresh drops throughout the decades. Like the freshly dropped custom METCHA x TSS AJ1 XI "Prototype".

CONCORD THRU HISTORY

The Air Jordan 11 Concord was (& still is) the one that made ppl talk between every single release. After his sudden retirement, Michael Jordan debuted in May '95 the first sample of the colorway with a big "45" on the back — despite Nike's designer Tinker Hatfield advising him not to wear them yet. They were not quite ready for the market, but MJ loved them so much he just couldn't wait.

After the first retail version, in November '95, with Michael's number already reverted back to his classic "23", the AJ1 XI "Concord" was released again in 2000 and kept coming back at the end of every year ever since.

It went low, got back high, gained a golden accent, one year even a version with sole ready for golf & baseball. And to go full circle, in 2018 Jordan released the first-ever “45” sample of the shoes in completely remastered form as a nod to the OG worn only by MJ himself.

UNRELEASED JORDAN IN LACE HOOPS

There's just smth about unreleased versions of sneakers, huh.

At the beginning of 2006, an alternate version of the golden accent "The Defining Moment" 11s was created with the name Jordan spelled out on the lace loops. This was a nod to Tinker Hatfield's first-ever development in the mid-1990s, which had this exact type of detailing. Despite looking premium as no other, it was inadvertently sold only at Nike's outlets (& you can also try your luck between resellers).

This detail (made pretty much only for collectors) was used for the custom METCHA x TSS AJ1 XI "Prototype" with METCHA lasered on the leather of both sides of the shoe.

When we say it's a once in a lifetime custom, we mean it.

METCHA x TSS APPROACH ON THE OG

2020 will be known for a lot, but there are some things we can def celebrate: the 25th anniversary of the Air Jordan XI landing in the same year of the docu-series that got us missing the golden years of basketball, The Last Dance.

For celebrating it the way it deserves, we joined forces with the LA studio known for being a pioneer in the custom sneakers business: The Shoe Surgeon.

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TSS's philosophy boosts what the materials & designs have to offer, that's why they encourage reducing waste with initiatives like their Leather Scrap Mystery Box filled with premium scraps you can't find anywhere else.

Responsible for taking GOAT snkrs & kicking up a notch in terms of colors, textures, finishes & concepts, the founder of TSS, Dominic Ciambrone, morphed the collab with the same mindset as we did: let's