“I think generally the mid-90s were just a bigger-than-life time….”- Wilson Smith
words // Zack Schlemmer
In 1996 Nike introduced their boldest basketball shoe design to date with the Nike Air More Uptempo. They were basically a shameless walking advertisement with giant "AIR" branding plastered on the sides of each shoe, but somehow, they worked. Still regarded by many as one of the coolest Nike basketball designs ever, it's definitely one of the most recognizeable.
Designer Wilson Smith was inspired by pop art and graffiti for the giant AIR shoes which became synonymous with Scottie Pippen, even though they weren't an official signature model. Scottie wore the black and white version for much of the 1995-96 NBA season on the way to another championship with the Chicago Bulls. The already eye-catching More Uptempo got even more noticeable when Pippen wore them in a special Olympics colorway during the 1996 Games with an even more prominent "AIR" color blocking. Scottie's '96 Olympics More Uptempos would become one of the most memorable shoes in USA Basketball history.
