words // Nick DePaula:
As Nike and the Portland-based Doernbecher Children’s Hospital celebrate the 12th year of their longstanding partnership with this Saturday’s launch of the latest patient-designed Freestyle Collection, the brand has also proudly auctioned off 12 pairs of limited edition Air Jordan XIIs to help raise additional funds for the hospital.
The twelfth Michael Jordan signature model was originally designed by Tinker Hatfield and Mark Smith for the ’96-97 NBA season, and once again, the tandem has come together to add another layer to the dozen of special edition pairs being auctioned through eBay.
“Leave it to Mark Smith to go through all of those files and find really colorful and interesting early design sketches,” Tinker explains. “[He came up with] the idea of using a high-tech printer and then projecting onto the shoe and printing those drawings that were actually the precursors to the shoes themselves. I think that’s just a brilliant idea.”
Not only does each shoe feature custom printed artwork along the upper and outsole, they also include Tinker’s iconic signature and his design notes along the box.
To date, ten pairs of the #DBdozen Air Jordans have already been sold over the past month, raising a total of $92,900 for the hospital. The remaining two pairs are each scheduled to be listed in a 1-day auction ending tomorrow.
Check out Tinker Hatfield himself discussing the inspiration and detail behind the #DBdozen Air Jordans below. To place your bid on the remaining pairs, you can visit the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital’s official eBay auction page.
