Global giant Nike has chosen South African sneaker store Shelflife for its first collaboration on the African continent.
The Jordan Brand, which created its first Air Jordan Sneaker in 1985 with basketball legend Michael Jordan, continues 37 years later to earn an astounding $3 million every five hours for Nike. Resales between collectors on the secondary market fetching up to 500% more than the original retail price.
As part of a global campaign highlighting parts of the world that are passionate about Jordan sneakers but are often underrepresented, Nike handpicked three stores to collaborate with. The international sportswear giant selected stores in the Philippines, Detroit, and South Africa. “Nike selected the Titan Store in the Philippines, Shop Two 18 in Detroit, USA and us in South Africa,” says Nick Herbert Founder and Creative Director, Shelflife.
Expressing his initial response to getting the news that the Cape Town based streetwear store was the lluck pick, Founder Nick Herbert says “When they first called me, I was driving to a meeting. I actually couldn’t believe my ears, and thought I was being pranked. Shelflife had been shortlisted to do a co-lab and we had to present to 30 members including top execs of Nike Jordan Global. It was a mad experience!”
“Every sneaker store owner or sneakerhead dreams of the opportunity to work with Jordan to design a shoe.”
The Jordan x Shelflife took two years to develop. “We pretty much had free range on the colours and materials we wanted to work with. We came up with the concept of focusing on the Shelflife team that makes it happen; to capture the essence of the team who show up each day to make sure the product gets to market,” says Herbert.
READ: Drip drops their first major collaboration with FILA
“Often it is only the CEO or owner of a business that is in the limelight. But each member of our team contributes equally. The Shelflife team are the most passionate, knowledgeable sneakerheads around – they understand it and live it and speak about it all day long.
The TEAM ONLY shoe acknowledges the role of each member of our team but also the broader community that makes us who we are – from sales staff to social media management, to the employee, to the designer to the client. We represent a collective who understand the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Nike shares, “Our collab with South Africa’s leading sneaker and streetwear store Shelflife, this fresh take on the AJ2 grounds you to the spirit of TEAM ONLY. And as Jordan Brand’s first collaboration with an Africa-based partner, it’s a celebration of bridging oceans and finding community.”
The Jordan x Shelflife range will be available at Shelflife in store on 20 October in Cape Town and Johannesburg and online from the 21 October. In addition to the sneakers, retailing at R3,899, the Jordan x Shelflife range includes a TEAM ONLY range of clothing. The range will be distributed globally through Jordan’s top tier neighbourhood boutique partners and the Nike SNKRS app globally in October 2022.
