Reggie Saunders talks how his favorite Eminem Air Jordan 4s were created

In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Reggie Saunders’, the Vice President of Entertainment Marketing at the Jordan brand of Nike, takes us through his life in sneakers and shares his experiences working with some of the biggest names in entertainment including Travis Scott, DJ Khaled, Eminem and more.

“Let’s go Eminem. My brother. Slim Shady! It was actually 10th year anniversary of 8 Mile. That’s what these shoes were originally for. We missed the date and then I think it was 12th year anniversary of Shady Records. The first sample we got had Chrome back here. And Marshall wanted to keep it. Him and Paul Rosenberg, we played off the Chrome here. They wanted to keep it cohesive. Em’s really good at that. Paul Rosenberg’s really good at that. So we changed the tabs to black and that’s why this tab is what I had to sent to them to get approved. Em’s backwards E there.” – said Reggie Saunders

Then he continues: “Carhartt material never done before. It was supposed to be for 8 Mile. The designer and I who no longer works here, we sat down and watched 8 Mile together. And then we sat down and watch 8 Mile separately. He’s like ‘I watched it like 8 times man.’ I said ‘me too.’ I said ‘the only consistent theme I’m seeing is that Carhartt jacket and he’s like ‘Yeah! do you think we could get Carhartt?!’ And then Carhartt folks sent the Carhartt material over to the factory and we made 23 pair of these. This is the original sample Looksy, actually, the tag is still there. Legal might go crazy but I don’t think we a contract with Em. WE just shook hands and said ‘we are gonna do it.'”

“Just the way this shoe, what it means to sneaker game, like I charge this one to the game, it’s like keep people dreaming. Keep people thinking, like, what’s next?! Nobody knew they wanted wanted a Carhartt material type of shoe. And now I think company like, you know, Nike Inc., we have done some shoes with Carhartt as well. So, this is a legacy piece.” – he added.

You can watch the interview below: