Aimé Leon Dore and New Balance focus on playground coolness

The era of Teddy Santis in New Balance is about to start, but in the meantime the creativity of the founder of Aimé Leon Dore offers another incredible gem. The SS21 of the brand that revolutionized the art of collaborations is centered on a street nuance of basketball, that is, both the fashion of playgrounds.

In the new collection there are 2 colors of the legendary P550 Basketball Oxford made with New Balance and to wear them, in the launch video published on social media, there are legends who perfectly embody the playground coolness: Bobbito Garcia, a personality that has elevated the aesthetics of the court at a level never seen before also thanks to his Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, a radio program that over the years has become a cult; Jason Williams aka "White Chocolate", an NBA player who during his 13-year career has always shown more talent than a pro; Charles Oakley, legend of the Knicks and point of connection between the NBA and New York pop culture; Rafer Alston aka "Skip 2 my Lou", the perfect example of how the coolness of the pitch can be a tool to get to play an NBA final.

The main theme of the collection is the celebration of International Friendship Through Basketball, taken up on the items and printed on different shirts with illustrations created by Louie Chin. The soft colors that have always been part of the aesthetics of the Teddy Santis brand are used to represent the historicity and values linked to basketball, which has always been an important social vehicle especially in the States.

The video in which ADL brings together the legends that in different ways are linked to the world of the playground brought to mind another commercial, made by Nike in 2001. Exactly 20 years ago, the Swoosh launched "Freestyle", from which Santis clearly took inspiration for editing and building the video.

The commercial aired for the first time on June 15, 2001, during Game 5 of the NBA Finals between Kobe & Shaq's Los Angeles Lakers and Allen Iverson's Philadelphia 76ers. The commercial was incredibly successful and over the years was also adapted to football with the participation of Ronaldinho, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Shay Given and Tommy Baker.