Air Jordan 13: Cape Town's Cult-Favourite Jordan

The outsole is shaped to resemble a panther's paw, and the heel features a holographic "eye" showing the number 23, a basketball, and the Jumpman logo. Underneath the design language, the 13 also packed real innovation for its time: a carbon fibre plate and Zoom Air cushioning, a first for the line.

Five high-top models and two low-top models released originally between 1997 and 1998, retailing for $150 and $130 respectively. It's also worth knowing the 13 has a bittersweet distinction in Jordan's career: it was the last shoe he wore for a complete season with the Chicago Bulls, during the 1997-98 "Last Dance" season. He'd briefly wear the Air Jordan 14 in the NBA Finals that followed, and later return to the league in the Wizards' colours — but the 13 is the shoe that closed out the Bulls era.

The Air Jordan 13's place in pop culture was cemented in 1998, when it appeared in Spike Lee's He Got Game. Denzel Washington's character, Jake Shuttlesworth, has a memorable scene where he buys the sneaker and wears it for most of the film — a piece of product placement that's held up as one of the most iconic sneaker moments on screen, decades on.

Here's the part of the story that explains a lot about the 13's popularity in Cape Town specifically. Yes, prior to 1997 Jordans were already popular in Cape Town — the line had built a following through the Jordan 4 to Jordan 12 era. Lemkus received the original Air Jordan 4 in 1989, the shoe's global release year, and only after that did older stock of the original Jordan 2 and Jordan 3 arrive in our stores between 1990 and 1993, followed by the first retros in 1994. That steady build-up, riding the wave of Michael Jordan's championship years, is what gave the Air Jordan name real roots in Cape Town. But it's because of Jordan Brand standing alone that the 13 took things to another level. In 1997, Nike and Michael Jordan made the decision to let the Air Jordan line operate as its own fully independent entity: Jordan Brand. It was a bold move, made heavier by the fact that the '97-98 season was widely believed to be Jordan's last, and Nike needed the world to know the Jumpman wasn't going anywhere without him.

To make that stand-alone brand work, Jordan Brand signed its first group of athletes outside Jordan himself — Vin Baker, Eddie Jones, Derek Anderson, Michael Finley, and Ray Allen, later nicknamed the "Class of 1997." The result was a wall-to-wall marketing push: the Air Jordan 13 was front and centre of it, constantly on TV, in magazines, and in ads introducing the world to Jordan Brand as its own force. Even Michael Jordan's September 9, 1997 interview on The Rosie O'Donnell Show — where he introduced Jordan Brand to the world — aired on South African TVs, putting the new Jordan Brand name directly in front of local audiences here in Cape Town. That saturation is a big part of why the 13 landed so hard in markets like Cape Town — it wasn't just a shoe on Jordan's feet anymore, it was the face of a brand relaunch, everywhere you looked.