story

"My name is James Whitner, owner and founder of The Whitaker Group."

"My name's Israel Mateo. I'm a Footwear Designer on the Special Projects Team, Brand Jordan. My name is Bennett Shaw, and I'm a Senior Product Line Manager in Jordan Special Projects."

"I describe my relationship with Nike and the Jordan Brand, I think more as we're idea partners. We see the world the same way. The ideas that are represented in our stores and product is probably a modern, classic,..."

"Luxurious take on just architecture and thinking. Leading our team is one thing and being a part of the design process is another thing, and having these ideas is, that's another part. Seeing this come to life is something completely different."

"You think about the 2 and the journey of the box. It's like, yo, this is how you come into a AJ2?"

"I worked with a super talented young man, Harrison Liu, who was a Developer on the project. We're going through the process and James is loving everything thus far. We've gone through a lot of different iterations of it, and he..."

"Is on a call with us and he says, 'Yo, what if we wrap the midsole?' We have to keep trying to make everything that we do as good as it possibly can be."

"All of that is reliant on our developers and our team. Are they willing to do everything that it takes to really get this design to where it needs to be?"

"It sounds good in a meeting room when you're like, 'Yeah, let's put the python on the midsole and off the upper.' It sounds like an idea until you're like, 'Oh, I ain't expect it to look like this. This is crazy.'"

"The goal for this project is just to inspire. Inspire others, inspire them to find their greatness inside of themselves. A lot of the Air Jordans we've grown to love are timeless, and they have..."

"Things from the time that always push boundaries and made it a little bit different than what was out around it. If I had to describe the AJ2 x A Ma Maniére in one word, it would be inspiring."

"If you love sneakers and you see these, you pick them up, you know there's a lot more to it than just the cosmetics. Airness is an idea of an essence of who we actually are."

"You've been beat on or talked down to or counted out your whole life. You start to forget your power or the fact that you actually have any power or real opportunity. You need to be reminded that there's a level of Airness that you have."

"Regardless of if the world counts you out, you have to have presence and purpose and understand that you have meaning and you have an opportunity every day to add meaning and value to your life. That's each of our Airness."

"For me, our goal is to help try to help us all be more personally accountable, and with the stories we tell, make us want to look in the mirror so we all better for each other. I'm James Whitner of the Whitaker Group. This was Behind the Design of the A Ma Maniére AJ2."

Behind the Design: Air Jordan 2 x A Ma Maniére 'Sail and Burgundy'