In the third and final installment of our conversation with Tinker Hatfield at the Air Jordan 2012 launch event, the mastermind and designer of your favorite Jordans thoroughly describes his working relationship with Michael Jordan. In detail, Tinker touches on the progression of their relationship from the Air Jordan 3 to now, their friendly trash-talking conversations and the challenges they bestow upon each other when designing a shoe. Read up on Tinker’s relationship with His Airness below.
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On the progression of their relationship over the years:
“I think he was suspicious of me for about three years. He wasn’t sure about me, and then the Air Jordan 3 went big and he was like, ‘You’re okay.’ Then, the 4s came out and he was like, ‘You’re not bad. You’re pretty good.’ After the third or fourth shoe we made together, he was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do this’, and he was all into it then. So, it took a while. He was pretty guarded, and he had to be. There are many people out here that just try to get stuff out of him.”
On trash-talking with Michael Jordan:
“That guy is so picky. A lot of times we get into arguments, which is really fun. I mean, I get to argue with the most famous basketball player ever and tell him he’s full of sh*t. We go back and forth because we know each other. When you’re friends with somebody, you can talk trash, right? That’s kind of a process. I’m an athlete. I come from a long line of athletes. My dad was a coach and my mom was a coach. I know sports inside and out, and I used to play basketball, so it comes naturally to me to do the trash-talking, so we just do it. It’s awesome. I love it.”
On Michael Jordan challenging him and vice versa:
“I’m so lucky because he’s been so great. Some athletes see it and say, ‘I like it’ or ‘I don’t like it’, but they don’t know why. There are so many famous stories about him challenging me on a few things, and it’s great. That’s the way it should be. If someone’s a big star and no one says ‘boo’ to him, then he’ll never get the drift. It’s all circumstantial. I’m the designer, so I’m going to come in with those crazier ideas, but he’s had a few too. We just sort of ultimately go back and forth till we find the equilibrium that works for the both of us. That’s the way it should be. When a kid buys a pair of Air Jordans, he should know that he’s buying something that we really put some thought into.”
