STREEThing

New Zealand streetwear store Qubic recently teamed up with Sole Collector Magazine to host the “A Night with Gentry” event. International Jordan Brand Director, Gentry Humphrey, was in-store to provide a special Jordan XX3 presentation, as well as answering questions such as the brand’s future after XX3 and his perspective on retros.

Check after the jump for an in-depth interview with Gentry Humphrey and more pictures from the night, courtesy of Solejam and Frank and Ivy of Qubic.

In terms of direction where does the numbered jordan series go from here? Will there be a 24?

So some people say that for our brand there’s no other number that means anything above 23. Some say 45 but Michael hates that number. The reason is because when he came back and he played at the playoff game he got the ball stolen from him, and the guy was wearing the number 45. He’s not used to making mistakes, let alone at crucial times in his career.

That was a pretty good thing because that fueled him to become a greater athlete. Later on that year when he was filming Space Jam he had a full basketball court built in Long Beach and invited NBA players to come and play so he could fine tune his game in the off-season so anything to do with 45 he’s not going to do it.

So getting back to the question we don’t think there’s another number after 23 that’s special to this brand. However we set a precedent to build the best basketball shoe ever and we’re pretty proud of that. We zig when everybody else zags and we think there’s people like yourselves that are loyal to the brand and we owe it to you all to continue that legacy. So, right now we’re tinkering with the idea with another shoe to carry out the legacy but as a numbering system I don’t think you’ll see it in the same numbering system. We might twist it up and do something different. So instead of AJ 24,25,26, we might do a AJ 2009, 2010, 2011.

We’re working on a new concept next year and we want people to covet the Air Jordan and love it as much as you guys know so…. one of the secrets I’m going to tell you is that you might potentially see.. two versions of the Air Jordan. Nothing’s set right now.

Are you ever worried that there are too many retro models and it takes away from collectors?

I am worried about retros. I’m worried about what we bring out. But as long as I’m here the one thing I will do is honour the smart individuals who were smart enough to collect early on. It might be a different swoosh model or logo. But as long as I’m around there will always be just that something different on the comeback shoe just so we can recognize the true collectors with the originals.

What will the retro program be like from now on in?

OK, I’m going to take it back a bit - I started with the J I, and I had to have it when I started because it was way different to everything else out there. So I feel like I owe it to everybody else that to have that feeling as well. But sometimes people don’t understand the business side of it. Back in 95/96 we were about a 200million dollar business. Now we’re almost a billion dollar business. It’s hard to be super super special if you got a lot of it out there. So we have to be a lil savvy on how we do things, how we drop things. Sometimes a lot of things I want to do we can’t do because from a business standpoint we have to answer to shareholders.

It’s all numbers numbers, man numbers don’t mean shit to me. <laughs> You gotta be cool, you gotta be special; that means more to me, but hey if I’m not progressing in the business I may be let go <laughs> So, we gotta figure new ways to create and continue this legacy. We’re getting to a point we’re dropping so many retros out there and I thought I wanted to give them a break, to keep them somewhat special. But shareholders are like, yo, they work, keep ‘em comin’, keep ‘em comin’.

So how about we do this, we take two things and two opposite end of the spectrum, like a Jordan, and an Air Force 1 and put them together. The first was the XII, the one I’m wearing. But most importantly it allows a break from the retros, we can still have some fun with designs, so that’s how this whole Fusion thing came about. It was to give the retros a breather. It’s what we call the best of both worlds. Bringing the AF1 and Jordan together.

What do you consider to be the best Jordan silhouette made and why?

I’m going to give you the politically correct answer. Because a lot of blood sweat and tears goes into each Air Jordan, nobody wants to choose a “favourite” Jordan. It’s a lengthy process and they almost become your children. And for those of you who have kids, and someone asks you, say, what’s your favourite kid, you may think you have one, but you can’t say it out loud. <laughs> There’s not really one… well, personally I think the XI is the best one for me. But end of the day they’re all really special in their own way.

Does Michael actually have much say in the design and release details of the shoes? Is it more so now that he’s retired?

The only thing Michael really says is that we need to launch the new game shoe at All Star weekend. You know, for the game of basketball, the All star game is like the coming-out party and it’s where you get your chance to shine, and he wants to make sure that we drop it on all star weekend.

He’s involved in the continuing process of development, end of the day it still has his name on it, and it has his logo on it, and I think the good thing is that he puts a lot of faith in me because I’m the dinosaur of the group, I’ve been around the longest and I kinda know his style. So if the team deviates and goes off track he knows I’m going to reel things back in so he’ll like it and I can show it to him what he needs.

With the next generation growing up with JB stars like Carmelo, CP and Ray Allen, will Jordan follow Nike and attach itself to one major star ie a Lebron James or will it continue to spread itself out amongst the players who best represent it?

You know we’re kinda in a state of transition. I mean, history tells us to attach ourselves to one guy and have that one guy drive the business. Personally I believe it’s an old formula. I think it’s good to have ourselves aligned with young athletes so young kids can associate them with the brand and see them come up and play, but I think the future is using technology to create new stories and new waves and to create new ideas and concepts, the consumer is so savvy right now we gotta do things different. There are a couple of things that we’re going to be doing that will be very different. I can’t tell you what they are but I think that’s the way the future is.

Do you see Jordan Brand as a lifestyle product or strictly a sports performance model?

I think there’s some realities here. First, we seek out to produce the best performing shoe, ever. Period. I mean, if we build something that that looks cool but won’t last a season for an NBA player and it becomes a liability to him we’re no good. That doesn’t mean anything. So first and foremost we build the best basketball shoe, ever.

But we also understand that there is a certain aesthetic about our brand that’s special, there’s a design language we’ve been able to bring to our product and that’s equally important. So for it being a lifestyle brand, a kid goes out and drops 300 bucks on a pair of shoes, more than likely they’re not going to take them to the court and get them all beat up. They’re going to rock them, show them to their friends, and that’s reality.

So we know there’s a lifestyle component to it and we’re fine with that. But the number one thing is to build great shoes, so if a guy is playing in it he’s going to be able to do his thing and be able to do it at a high level. That is our priority first.

Any chance of an Australasian exclusive?

Actually, that’s kinda the reason I’m out here. I like this area a lot, I’m fascinated with the ball culture here, in comparison it’s a small community but a great community because you love the game. I mean, I think there’s a great opportunity to do something here and potentially do some pretty cool things for the area.

I think I just need to emerge myself in the culture on this trip, I was also at the gold coast, but I’m here now and I want to see what this culture is like, the hiphop culture and the ball culture, I mean, we’re designing things and nothing is off limits. Everything can be an inspiration.

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