Chot Reyes at the PBA Awards Night. Arnel Tacson/INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines—Coach Chot Reyes has never been one to hold back when it comes to fashion.
Say what you want about his coaching but one thing’s always for sure, Reyes will do his job and he will do it in style.
So even when the decorated tactician said he had “dressed down” when he pulled up to the PBA Awards Night, his ensemble still didn’t miss.
Reyes drew the attention of several reporters who were very much ingrained with the basketball sneaker culture.
He donned a black silk Dior top and matched it with a pair of black trousers, which wasn’t surprising by any means. This was, after all, the same guy who had an affinity for Thom Browne tailored suits during his 2023 Fiba World Cup run with Gilas Pilipinas.
“This is Dior and these people know my kicks, of course, these people are sneakerheads. I’m not an awardee, I’m just a spectator so I just dressed down,” said Reyes, casually fixing up his collar all the while, on Monday.
Chot Reyes pulls up in style at the 2023 PBA Press Corps’ Awards Night.–Rommel Fuertes Jr./INQUIRER.net
His dress shirt, however, wasn’t the main attraction. The centerpiece of his outfit was on his feet: a pair of sought-after Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 low in the “Olive” colorway–one of the biggest releases of the year.
One would think that someone of Reyes’ stature, he’d get exclusive access to such coveted sneakers.
But he’s just like all most of us. Reyes also couldn’t get his hands on the Travis lows off the shelves for retail. He takes Ls on sneaker raffles, as well.
Fortunately for Reyes, he lucked out during TNT’s trip to Taiwan for the East Asia Super League.
“We went to play in the EASL in Taiwan so I went to Ximending because my favorite Misua soup was there. I had no plans of buying shoes. I didn’t even think the sneaker alleys were still there,” he recalled.
“Then in main street, there was the Mister M store. I used to go there pre-pandemic. When you couldn’t find Off-White, Yeezys and Supremes before, that’s where you go.”
But the sneaker he was wearing wasn’t even in his checklist. He wanted a different iteration of the Travis Scott Jordan 1 low in the “Neutral Olive,” which was a golf shoe.
The “Neutral Olive” was made available just last month and expectedly sold out the moment it was released. Its resell price currently ranges from as low as $915 to $1549 (P50,842 to P86,087) on StockX depending on the size. The pair, however, wasn’t available so Reyes set his sights on the sneaker he eventually copped.
“I looked at it (Olives) and I didn’t get it at first, then I had my misua happily and went back to the players… I told Jayson (Castro) about it and asked me if I had come from Ximending and asked me what I saw. I said I saw some Travis and he asked me how much it was,” Reyes fondly recalled.
Reyes didn’t disclose how much his pair cost, which is currently ranging from P30,000 to P75,000 at the resale market today. But he said TNT guard Jayson Castro was shocked to know how cheap it was at the store in Ximending.
In fact, Castro even accompanied Reyes on his way back to the shop. Unfortunately for Castro, the store didn’t have it in his size.
Obviously, Castro is a sneakerhead himself too. And like Reyes, Castro also wore some heat on his feet at the awards when he rocked the Jordan 1 Retro High OG “Patent Bred.”