words // Zack Schlemmer
For more on player exclusives, check out THE PE ISSUE of Sole Collector Magazine
image via Nice Kicks
Penny Hardaway’s Black/Royal Nike Air Up
These probably don’t officially count as a Player Exclusive, since they released at retail, but I don’t really care. As far as player-specific versions of models go, these top my list. The black and royal blue colorway of the Air Up with Penny’s #1 embroidered at the back is by far my most wanted basketball sneaker. If there is one "holy grail" sneaker out there for me, this is it.
I’ve wanted them since their original release in 1994, when Penny Hardaway was one of my favorite players. As the story seems to always go, the $95 price tag at the time was out of my range, and the period that they were on sale didn’t coincide with when I needed another pair of shoes. One of my sixth grade basketball teammates had Penny’s white and black colorway, which I also love and of course made me pretty envious, but for some reason it’s always been the black and blue pair that I really want. I literally looked at them everyday...because Penny was wearing them in this poster that I had on my bedroom wall.
I can’t even say exactly what it is about the Air Up that I like so much that has made it one of my all-time favorite shoes. A lot of it definitely has to do with nostalgia, part of it comes from my love of Penny’s entire line, and I guess the rest comes from nothing other than the great design—the shoe's blend of simplicity with bold color blocking.
The Air Up will always be one of my favorite sneakers. But I am not a fan of the “Air Up '14” version with its shiny Vac-Tech leather upper that released this year, and I cringe to think of my most beloved basketball shoe ever being remade in the wrong materials. Here’s hoping Nike will bring this colorway of the Air Up back in its true nubuck form someday. Or better yet, that I find an OG pair!
