Matt Varga Zion Williamson’s love for Naruto was the impetus for a performance-focused run of collaboration on the Pelicans’ star’s first two signature shoes. While still a historical event in and of itself, pairing up two of the most instantly recognizable cultural franchises in business, behind the scenes we almost saw pure pandemonium. New shots of a Naruto x Air Jordan 1 collaboration have now surfaced, shedding light on what could’ve been the most coveted of Mr. Williamson’s three-headed releases.
Built off of the Air Jordan 1 Stash hardware, the added attachments (stash pockets and removable bag) onto the parent AJ1 make for a natural embrace of the “Hidden Leaf Village” theme at work with this shoe. Though the character is elsewhere in the general release collection, it’s relatively apparent that Kakashi Hatake is the inspiration for this combo of olive green, navy blue, and black, embracing off-the-beaten-path materials like canvas heel counters, glossy leather collars, and mesh quarter panels. Silver bangles at the heel, an exposed product tag on the outside collar, and two heel badges express the franchise tags if the overall look wasn’t confirmation enough.
Though Jordan 1 offshoots frequently wax and wane, even relative to other spinoffs, the Air Jordan 1 Stash/utility receded after only about four colorways, its lasting legacy propped up by the coveted link-up with Spiderman for the F&F “Prowler” colorway. Unquestionably, this pair would’ve become both the most high profile release for the model and the standout within the Naruto x Zion x Jordan lineage had it seen release.
@davidgrails, the seller for this pair and our source for these images, notes that the Naruto x Zion x Air Jordan 1 never made it past the sample phase, indicating that Beaverton creatives abandoned the idea early on in the process. Nonetheless, they’re plenty intriguing from a distance — you’ll have to shell out nearly $7,500 if you’re interested in anything beyond simple window shopping. Catch a full suite of images below.
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
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- Zion Williamson x Naruto x Air Jordan 1 High Utility Sample @davidsgrails
