Key Points
- Jordan Brand launched the Jordan Design Studio, a global emerging-talent program.
- It spans eight cities: Seoul, Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, LA, Chicago, Beijing, and Shanghai.
- Each city is led by a mentor, including Angelo Baque (Awake NY) and Chris Gibbs (Union LA).
- Cohorts will reimagine the Air Jordan 1 "Love Letter," with one finalist influencing the brand.
Jordan Brand has launched the Jordan Design Studio, a global program to find and develop emerging design talent across eight cities: Seoul, Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Beijing, and Shanghai. Each city is led by a mentor plugged into its local creative scene.
The first named mentors are Angelo Baque, founder of Awake NY; Chris Gibbs of Union LA; and the artist Nina Chanel Abney in Chicago, with more still to be announced. Each will assemble a cohort of up-and-coming designers, and the cohorts will run workshops reimagining the Air Jordan 1 "Love Letter." Jordan Brand says one finalist will ultimately leave a mark on the brand's design legacy.
The read is that Jordan Brand is institutionalizing its collaboration pipeline. For three decades its collaborators were established names; a mentorship program that scouts unknowns in eight cities is the brand trying to own the next generation of designers before a rival does — and to keep the Air Jordan 1 culturally central by putting it in new hands. It fits the pivot Uristocrat has tracked from hype toward heritage, moving the brand's energy from one-off drops to longer-term cultural infrastructure.
Handing the Air Jordan 1 to emerging designers rather than marquee collaborators like the late Virgil Abloh is the point: the silhouette that built the brand becomes the training ground for who builds it next. Jordan Brand has not announced a timeline beyond the initial reveal.
Source: Sneaker News
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