There is a bittersweet note tucked into this one that is worth saying out loud. The project actually began as a for real Air Jordan XI collab before it became a CMFT 11. Anybody who knows what an XI collab would have meant understands the small ache in that. Still, working on any shoe with Jordan Brand is an achievement you do not wave off, and the team made the most of the canvas they got.
The idea was to honor what made the XI historic. That shoe introduced carbon fiber to the Air Jordan series, the glossy plate that every kid ran their thumb across in the store. So the CMFT 11 SC leaned into that directly, featuring an unmolded carbon rand running along the upper. A nod to the technology that made the original an icon, translated onto a comfort model.
But the part people tell stories about is the launch. On 10.23.10 there were events in Santa Monica, Chicago, and New York, and at each one a string of 23 custom carbon fiber boxes, made by the Jordan Motorsports team, were randomly scattered into the mix as a surprise. Willy Wonka style. Imagine being at the event, picking up a box, and realizing you had the carbon fiber one. That is the kind of detail that turns a release into a night people still bring up.
Twenty three boxes, three cities, one of those small theatrical touches that made the events feel like more than a transaction. It was a game inside the launch, a reason to actually be in the room rather than refresh a page later. The carbon fiber thread ran from the XI’s history straight through to the boxes themselves.
It is easy to wish this had been the XI it started as. But the carbon rand and the scattered boxes gave it its own identity, and the people who pulled a carbon box that night got a memory no resale receipt can match.
Were you at the Santa Monica, Chicago, or New York launch, and did anybody you know actually find one of the 23 carbon fiber boxes?
Gallery
Photos by Nick DePaula
Part of The Complete Guide to Sole Collector Collaborations
Sole Collector on the market
As an eBay Partner and affiliate, SoleCollector.org may earn from qualifying purchases.
Were you there? Add your memory
Photos, stories, the pair you still have in the box. This archive grows when you add yours.