In 2021, folks have gotten all too familiar with the pre-release sneaker rollout. Potato quality images from the factory line leak online, followed by your favorite celebrity spotted wearing them on IG. You follow this with maybe a few official teaser images and then finally they drop. Rinse and repeat. Today we’re presenting you with a timeline of some of the best sneaker reveals in history. From the biggest event in athletics to the cartoon advertisements, you’ll find a little bit of everything in our timeline of the best sneaker reveals of all time.
1989: Spike Lee’s Air Jordan 5 commercial
In 1989, Spike Lee brought his wholly unique brand of hyper-stylized, playful cinema to sculpt an iconic commercial for the upcoming Air Jordan 5. While the AJ5 wouldn’t officially release to the public until February of 1990, the shoes were part of an iconic commercial directed and starring Spike Lee. Lee built off the ever-growing legend that was Michael Jordan while pushing the silhouette into the mainstream. The advert is short but sweet. Filmed in black and white, the commercial’s magnetic appeal comes from its dialogue, close up shots, and rapid cuts. The clip is a classic Spike Lee montage, cutting out all the fluff and hitting the viewer at rapid-fire speed. After seeing the man himself play in them the following season, these shoes were destined to be a hit from the jump.
1995: Michael Jordan Debuts Air Jordan 11 During Eastern Conference Semi-Finals
While the shoe wouldn’t be ready for retail release until several months later, the always rebellious Michael Jordan revealed the Air Jordan 11 during the ’95 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Debuted in the now-iconic “Concord” colorway, the shoe would garner a hefty fine from the NBA due to the colorway violating strict dress code regulations. Like the “Banned” 1984 Air Ships, MJ’s rebellious nature helped cement the AJ11 and the “Concord” colorway especially as a historic piece of sneaker history.
You can read more about the AJ11’s storied history here.
2000: Nike Air Presto Ad Campaign
When the Nike Air Presto first hit the scene in 2000, it was billed as “The T-Shirt For Your Feet”. Eschewing regular numbered sizes in favor of lettered XS-XL apparel sizing and debuting in an array of hyper-colorful versions, the shoe needed equally interesting advertising to hook in its audience. With designer Monica Taylor in charge of visuals and Dylan Lee on copywriting, Nike rolled out an expansive, multi-media cartoon ad campaign. It was a hit. Colorways were given names like “Rabid Panda”, Catfighter Shiner”, and “Shady Milkman”. Another was just named “Bill“.
Each colorway had a 15-second television bumper that would play in between commercials on a variety of networks. Each miniature cartoon played out like some kind of surreal, minimalist slapstick. Magazine sticker inserts featuring the full Air Presto spread were also common. The shoe’s rollout had a collect-’em-all vibe akin to kid’s trading cards or action figures while appealing to the open-minded yet sardonic humor of late-90s comedies and animation. The silhouette’s gone a long way since then, getting reimagined as futuristic techwear and deconstructed icon years later.
2008: Kobe Jumps Over A Speeding Car Wearing Hyperdunks
This video does so much in just a single take. The conversations it brought up only further expanded upon Kobe Bryant’s growing status as a force to be reckoned with. If anyone could jump over a speeding Aston Martin sportscar in a single bound, it would probably be Kobe, right? Was the Black Mamba really capable of a feat like this? Maybe it was the shoes?
The Nike HyperDunk was the latest performance model from the Swoosh, revealed unannounced via this short clip on the now-defunct KB24.com in April of 2008. Debuted in a classic Lakers colorway, the kicks were front and center, garnering your eye’s focus from the moment he slips them on until you see him in perfect form mid-air. The Hyperdunk was tailor-made for the Black Mamba, as his video hints at. Is it fake? We won’t say. Just don’t try this at home.
2015: Michael J. Fox Reveals Auto-Lacing Nike MAG on Jimmy Kimmel Live
While a fairly accurate version of the Back To The Future II Nike MAG was released in 2011, it wasn’t until 2016 when the shoe would be recreated in earnest. As opposed to its 2011 counterpart, this version of the Nike MAG was actually a self-lacing shoe like the one in the film. Revealed to everyone’s surprise during an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Fox nonchalantly gives a demo of his footwear during the interview to thunderous applause. 89 special-edition pairs of the Nike MAGs would be released via a charity raffle later that month, eventually raising $675 million in total for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Since then, further Nike Adapt technology has brought self-lacing capabilities to the masses.
2015: Kanye West Debuts the adidas Yeezy Boost 750 During the Grammys
Anticipation for Kanye’s first adidas sneaker was sky high before anyone saw any photos or even got a name. While leaks and teases from Ye’s camp occurred as expected, it wasn’t until February 8th, 2015 that the world got its first real look at the adidas Yeezy Boost 750. People claimed to hate it, others loved it, but when the time came, the shoes instantly sold out during their All-Star Weekend release. Donned by the rapper/designer extraordinaire during the 57th Grammy Awards, Kanye matched the OG Grey/White colorway of the 750s with a burgundy velour tracksuit that exuded a true sense of luxury.
While photos quickly emerged online of West posing with his wife Kim Kardashian during the show, it wasn’t until Ye took the stage himself that the shoe’s legendary status was cemented. During his performance of “Only One”, an illuminated floor made the 750s shine like a literal Holy Grail. It’s one thing to see photos of a shoe online or even to see it on a store shelf somewhere, it’s another to see one of the defining artists of a generation wear them. Like so many great Jordan advertisements before him, kids felt they could aspire to be at Kanye’s level of genuine artistry if they had a pair too. Six years later, we’re still buying Yeezys.
2017: “Off Campus” – Off-White x Nike’s THE TEN Pre-Release
While “officially” revealed via a Nike News article, the multi-day “Off Campus” event at the 23 Wall Street building in New York City was the first time Virgil Abloh’s THE TEN collection was seen in-person by the general public. A London version of “Off Campus” followed suit a few weeks later. The shoes and select apparel were available for sale two months ahead of the collection’s international November ’18 release. Abloh and fellow artists, designers, and general creatives held panels and workshops throughout the sprawling space.
The entire event was a world-class spectacle that hadn’t been seen on this level in a few years. There arguably hasn’t been this much of a push for a collaborative project of this scale in the years since. With guest appearances by a variety of celebs mixed in with the lucky crowds of fashion-forward fans, “Off Campus” was a huge success that only further fueled the hype for what would eventually become one of the defining sneaker drops of the 2010s.