Nike, Converse, Jordan Use MLK Day to Release New Shoes

It seems like some sports apparel companies are using the platforms holidays afford them to release new shoes. On Christmas, we had Nike debut special shoes for Kobe, LeBron, and Kevin Durant. Now they’re using Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month as an excuse to try and get us to buy more gear. It’s really no different from the hideous red, white, and blue hats MLB has all teams wear on Independence Day and other holidays, but it doesn’t erase the feeling I have that these companies are using meaningful days for nothing more than capitalistic purposes. It makes me feel dirty in a way, but then again, this is America, right?

Here are some of the shoes you may have seen worn by players during one of the several games on Monday, via Sneaker News:

Those were the Jordan and Nike versions of the MLK shoes. One nugget about those Nikes is that the tongue of the shoe has the initials “BHM,” standing for Black History Month. If the object of the shoes was to create equality, then Nike should have shared some of their secrets with small time Converse.