’90s R&B group Boyz II Men are finally getting some love from Jordan Brand after wearing the sneakers at concerts, music videos and in public for years. In July, they began documenting their collaboration with Jordan on a special release Air Jordan 11 collection. And, oh boy, these sneakers look amazing! They’re going to sell fast.
The video series begins with the group revealing a decades-old story that their formalwear pairing with the model helped settle an argument between Michael Jordan and Tinker Hatfield over whether the shoe could work off the court. Guess who was right?
Now the new videos are meant to pull back the curtain on how the sample process works and how the shoes are actually created. The group’s latest video shows them receiving new pairs and sharing their opinions on what could be improved and what they love about the special collab sneakers.
RELATED: Every Air Jordan 11 Drop That Mattered
Inside The 6 Boyz II Men Air Jordan 11 Samples That Almost Made The Cut
A first wave of Air Jordan 11 sneaker samples surfaced on July 21, and they’re all built around a rippling sound wave graphic running across the one-piece toe box and side panels, a direct nod to the group’s music. But they don’t all look alike. Jordan Brand mixed in accent treatments across the sockliner and ankle collar. Two pairs kept the sound wave theme going in blue or black, two more swapped in plaid, and a pair of polka dot options leaned into a flipped, Concord-style black-and-white split.
The one thing they all have in common is that they all carry Boyz II Men branding on the tongue tag and insole and, of course, the sideways JUMPMAN text near the ankle has been swapped out for “BOYZ II MEN” text.
The newer footage catches the group and Jordan Brand’s team actually working through those options in person. And there was plenty of debate around what works and what doesn’t. “They look a little thick,” one member says early in the clip, sizing up the bubble-front pair before someone else jumps in to reassure the room the foam “just don’t look bad” once it’s on foot.
The gel-soled pair with a Sean-approved polka dot print gets pulled out next, with the room settling in fast: “Okay, that’s the one they’re going to make that prototype with.”
Why Boyz II Men Ditched The Jumpman For Their Own Logo
Most of the back-and-forth in the video centers on two things: how tight the white sound wave paneling should sit, and where exactly the branding should be on the Boyz II Men Air Jordan 11 sneaker. “The white one, a little tighter together, just a little,” someone notes while comparing pairs, before the group circles back to the polka dot options. “I don’t know why, but we’re going to have the white polka dots,” one voice says, with another calling the sample “phenomenal” on sight.
The Rejected Gray Air Jordan 11 Sample Fans Wish Was Real
The most surprising moment in the clip isn’t a pattern at all, it’s a colorway. Midway through, the group tries on a gray sample that doesn’t match anything else in the lineup, and the reaction surprises everyone. “This colorway I don’t see in Jordan at all,” one member says, pointing out that the Air Jordan 11 doesn’t typically get released in gray in place of its usual white. “They’re doing 11 of them,” comes the reply, framing the run size as a nod to the group itself. Someone else compares the finish to Batman once the light hits it, and by the end of the exchange, the room has more or less talked itself into wanting the gray pair distributed wider than a one-off sample.
As for the pair that actually made it to Philadelphia: Boyz II Men settled on a black upper with a white patent leather mudguard and icy translucent accents, closer in spirit to the sound wave and polka dot hybrids than the gray sample or the plaid options — you can see the full behind-the-scenes video here.
For now, however, there’s no retail release date for any of the pairs shown in the video. There are four members of Boyz II Men, so don’t rule out four individual pairs down the line, one for each member. It’s possible. We’ll have to wait and see.
