LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- In a rainbow-colored sea of sneakers, Spike Lee identified a pair of Jordans that he just had to have. He found his size, too -- the final hurdle to picking up the perfect footwear. But there was something different about these Jordans, something that you couldn't say about any pair of Jordans in the past.
They were designed specifically for women.
"I saw a joint in the back and it had my size, and I'm wearing it," Lee said at Thursday's Jordan Brand Future of Flight event in Los Angeles. "Women's line -- I'm wearing that joint."
Lee, who's been involved with Nike and Michael Jordan since 1987, was a panel speaker at the event. The main attraction was the unveiling of the 2018 NBA All-Star uniforms, designed for the first time by Jordan Brand, but there were also new collections on display, including Russell Westbrook's first signature shoe.
The collection that drew the most attention, however, was Jordan Brand's first ever women's line -- something that pretty much everyone agreed was far overdue.
Sitting next to Lee in the panel discussion was 25-year-old Aleali May, a model and stylist who was the first female collaborator on a pair of men's and women's Jordans. Her design, the Air Jordan 1 x Aleali May, dropped in October, and she talked about how important it was for women like her to finally have their own Jordans.
"As a young girl, you've always had your brothers or your cousins playing, and they had the new 7s, you know? You're like, 'Oh man, I want a pair. Where can I get those?' Now, years later, we're finally seeing something that's for us," May said.
She was interrupted by Lee, who shared the sentiment that so many others shared throughout the event: "Too many years, right?"
"Right," May continued. "Something that's for us, you know? With this women's launch, it's really great because we have our own colorways, something that the guys can get jealous of -- a little reverse psychology."
It's not like women wearing Jordans is something new -- they've been doing it for decades. Originally women and girls had to seek out smaller men's sizes or children's sizes, but the demand eventually caused the brand to start making women's sizes as well.
Now, for the first time, women will have sneakers designed specifically for them. In order to get the line just right, vice president and general manager of Jordan Women's, Andrea Perez, says that they spent countless hours speaking to the group of women that matters most -- the consumers.
"We need to do shoes that are undeniably for her," Perez said. "That means to think about the materials -- what materials does she resonate with? Think about the fit, the stance, the silhouettes, the ease of entry, and other things that's she's been telling us that she wants and needs. So that's what we're taking into consideration as we design that line."
Perez said that their research has revealed three different types of needs that women consistently express, and sometimes they overlap in the same woman. First, there are women who are about sports and performance, just looking for the best basketball shoe on the market -- girls who "ball hard," as Perez put it.
Second, some women are looking for the same street style that men have worn for years. Perez said it's important for the brand to identify which men's shoes resonate with women, and make sure to produce them in women's sizes as well.
Lastly, Perez's team spoke with many women who are more inspired by fashion -- those ahead of the curve. They're looking for styles that are different and made specifically with them in mind.
May agrees that oftentimes women are looking for a combination of performance and fashion, and don't want to be put into traditional boxes.
"I kind of always wanted to mix the street and also high-end, so that was pretty much my style and take on it. Just showing that you don't really have to just be one," May said. "Especially for women, I just feel like we're more geared to -- we have to wear heels. This is kind of just, I like to do both. I like to wear what I like to wear and be unique and an individual. I feel like a lot of girls can relate to that. They want to wear their Jordans and they want to wear their Chanel bag."
The timing of the release of the Jordan women's line seems fitting, given the current climate in the country. From the women's marches to the "Time's Up" and "Me Too" movements, the female voice is now being heard, perhaps louder than ever before. The inaugural Jordan women's collection is appropriately titled, "The Season of Her."
"I think it just took us time to get to the space where we could do it, and do it right," Jordan Brand president Larry Miller said of the women's line. "We could have done it sooner, and we probably should have done it sooner, but I feel good about the fact that we are where we are now."
