words, images & design // Nick DePaula
When SLAM #41 dropped in April of 2000, we had just witnessed the greatest Dunk Contest performance ever. Vince Carter was famously comfortable with sneakers in his sophomore season, and he wore a white and red lace-up and AND1 Tai Chi for those quick dunks.
AND1 had been around for a few years as a growing label at the time and their streetball mixtapes were a hit, but now, their shoes were coming off.
The Tai Chi became the first shoe in the company’s history to sell over a million pairs.
“Not only was it probably the best series of dunks I’ve ever seen – because they were dunks you’ve never seen before – but it was like the dunks he did were made to block the color of the shoe,” said the former head of footwear.
The reverse 360 opening perfectly showed the white and red sides of each shoe spinning in the air. The between-the-legs dunk – off the bounce pass – immortalizes the shoes in the air forever.
The iconic image is so old that the Raptors’ new unit features a pose on the front. Earlier today, Vince and the franchise unveiled a new outdoor basketball court with a half court silhouette.
As the buzz back in 2000 after that All-Star Weekend continued, in the next available SLAM cover space, VC included a simple and white Tai Chi for the cover.
The header was specific:
“The Greatest Show on Earth”
As SLAM continues to celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, we created a new version of AND1 Tai Chi to honor the 2000s era of AND1 and Tai Chi’s impact on sneaker culture.
The timing couldn’t be better, as both SLAM Magazine and Vince Carter will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame next month in October.
Our AND1 Tai Chi collaboration features SLAM’s precious colors of white, grey, black and orange, fittingly the exact shades of that Issue 41 cover photo.
The white-to-black mesh fade is a nod to the brand’s unique materials from the start of the decade, as well as a way to bring the Tai Chi-inspired yin and yang division studied on the side of the shoe.
As always, the shoe looks great with a suede color along the inner panel – the bright orange suede is seen here in the SLAM edition.
The unique stitching, contrasting color laces and chrome shank all harken back to the added touches that made the AND1 shoes so powerful as hoops during the turn of the millennium.
For added detail, our 30th anniversary crest can be seen on the inner right collar, opposite the three vertical stars on the left collar that indicate the serial number of each release.
3M’s hits throughout the season return to the bright lights of All-Star Weekend, and what an impact The Greatest Show on Earth you’ve had it, all these years later, in both AND1 and SLAM Magazine.
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