“Kamala Harris’ nephew-in-law gets photographed at the inauguration wearing Dior Air Jordans that retailed for $2,000, but are reselling for $10,000 on the secondary market,” says Roberto “Berto” Fontanez. He pulls one from the shelf at his storefront, 9/10 Sneaker Boutique, in South Baltimore. “If you can find them,” he adds, pausing and smiling. “They’re limited edition. Demand increases. That’s my business model.”

Fontanez lifts another shoe, a colorful, $2,800 LeBron James-inspired “What the MVP” high-top from the shelf and explains how the secondary market works for special-edition shoes like Air Jordans and Yeezys—Kanye West’s popular Adidas collaboration. Essentially, it goes like this: Someone gets their hands on still-in-the-box, super-fashionable sneakers, which they’ve purchased after winning a virtual raffle (nobody camps out in line anymore when shoes drop) or acquired through other fortunate circumstances. Then, they bring them to 9/10 for resale. On rare occasion, a relative of one of the city’s NBA stars or an area DI college ballplayer drops by with in-demand shoes to turn around a quick buck.

Buyers and sellers can post or find sneakers on Instagram or eBay. It’s just more fun to come to 9/10. On the television, there’s a steady loop of ’90s videos from artists like Nas and DMX, there’s a legit mini-Michael Jordan museum in the window, and along one wall, there’s a lineup of retro video games, the epic Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam, among them.

With the back-and-forth conversation, braggadocio, and trash talk—“I sold those shoes to that dude and I don’t even work here”—the vibe is more corner barbershop than Dick’s Sporting Goods. In fact, there is a leather barber’s chair here. It’s used, like an old shoe-shining chair, for a fast, professional sneaker clean. (Shoes can also be dropped off for reconditioning.)

Ravens and Orioles have shopped here, but sneakerheads come from everywhere. “China, Brazil, Australia—they’re visiting Baltimore, the Inner Harbor, they follow us on Instagram and stop by,” Fontanez explains.

If it’s not clear, yet, these basketball shoes are not for playing basketball. They’re for a date, a party, prom, or simply a post to Instagram. The only real time a problem arises is when a kid drags in his mother, whom he hasn’t informed, naturally, that this isn’t a regular mall shoe store. Mom gets a look at the prices—most range between $200-400 and others more than $1,000—and freaks out.

The origin story of 9/10, whose name riffs on would-be sellers hyping the condition of shoes they want to sell—“9/10” unofficially means worn a max of five times—begins with Fontanez and his mother. He was born in 1980 in Chicago and well, do the math, Jordan had led the Bulls to six NBA titles and launched a cultural revolution with Nike by the time he graduated high school.

Fontanez’s parents, both Puerto Rico natives, worked two jobs, and along with his siblings, he got one pair of new shoes each year. Except in ninth grade, when his pleading convinced his mother to buy him Nike’s new Diamond Turfs that year, thus setting a life course in motion. At 19, he began working at the sporting goods store Finish Line.

Five years ago, after moving to Baltimore and managing several of their local stores, Fontanez decided he’d had enough of the corporate world. He went out on his own, initially opening in a tiny space in downtown Towson. Then, he relocated to Pigtown and finally, Light Street.

“I was nervous about moving to the city into a bigger space,” Fontanez says. “My partner quit right before we opened in Towson and stayed with Finish Line. I was married with three kids.”

He soon received a sign that eased his anxiety, however. Shortly after opening in Pigtown, someone cleaning out a nearby home asked if he bought memorabilia. Fontanez told him he did not. The guy described the Michael Jordan poster he’d found anyhow. “I had a lot of Jordan memorablia, but I didn’t have the ‘Jordan Wings’ poster, a horizontal poster that is two-feet tall and six-feet wide. Framed originals today go for a $1,000 or more. That’s the one he’d found.

“That poster was in my dentist’s office in Chicago when I was in school, and I’d stared at it for hours over the years,” Fontanez continues. “The guy who randomly brought it in? He didn’t know what it was worth. He asked for $20. I gave a $100 and had to force him to take it. It’s in the window.”

Writer, director, producer, visual artist, the newest male face of Nike.

Add that last one to the list of achievements by filmmaker and Baltimore icon John Waters, one of three celebrities chosen to be in a new joint promotional campaign for Nordstrom department stores and Nike—the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel.

The campaign, which is called “No Cover” and launches this month, touts a collection of five classic Nike sneakers, each reimagined with new prints, colors, and materials. It also includes 16 apparel and accessory pieces. Nike and Nordstrom have collaborated before, but this is the first collection designed for Nike by Olivia Kim, Nordstrom’s vice president of creative projects and a luminary in the fashion world.

Instead of going with all athletes to represent the collection, Nike and Nordstrom enlisted a more diverse team of celebrities. Aside from Waters, the list includes Megan Rapinoe, co-captain of the 2019 World Cup champion U. S. Women’s soccer team, and supermodel Leona Anastasia “Binx” Walton.

“The collection, in a sense, very much matches the personalities of these people who inspire me,” Kim says on Nike’s website. “It’s amazing to have Megan Rapinoe, John Waters, and Binx Walton as faces of the campaign.”

When addressing why Waters was a good fit for the project, Kim said: “I’ve always been inspired by John, because he’s always pushed the boundaries in his work. He tells simple stories in a humorous, thoughtful, and provocative way.”

Nordstrom x Nike shops are in New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Vancouver, and Toronto. Sales will expand to other Nordstrom locations, including the store at Towson Town Center, on November 8.

Initial photographs released for the campaign depict a rave set in 1990s New York, and the three celebrities are all participants seemingly caught mid-pose. In one photo, Waters is shown with his head encircled by a garland of what appear to be silver Christmas tree bulbs. Walton is lounging in a blue chair with her legs crossed, and Rapinoe is crouching like a tigress.

According to Nike, the collection is meant to evoke “90s New York street fashion” and free-spirited nightlife at a time when some clubs had no cover charge.

“The assembled pieces form a perfect confluence of classic Nike and Jordan designs and Olivia’s style—which is rooted in the rave and hip-hop styles defining 90s New York,” the company says on its website. “The collection’s name, ‘No Cover,’ is somewhat of a double entendre to a cover charge one would associate with New York nightlife. In Kim’s eyes, this collection is meant for everyone—men and women, the young and the old—in order to promote no judgments and no rules.”

At the heart of the collection are Kim’s remakes of Nike’s Air Force 1, Air Mowabb, Air Footscape, Air Max 98, and Air Jordan IV models. No Cover is one of the first Nike promotions since the company’s 2018 “Believe in Something” campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the former pro football quarterback who became famous for protesting systemic oppression by kneeling during The Star Spangled Banner.

It places Waters, Walton, and Rapinoe in a pantheon of celebrities who have represented Nike, including Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Serena Williams, Lebron James, Derek Jeter, and Kobe Bryant.

Waters, 73, who just completed a speaking and book-signing tour in Australia, declined to comment about his new role as Nike pitchman, saying in an email that he’d need to check with the company first. Although he isn’t generally recognized for his athletic prowess, he is known for wearing sneakers on late night TV appearances and even the cover of his latest book, Mr. Know It All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder.

He has also weighed in on sartorial matters in his films and books, such as raising the issue of whether it’s proper to wear white after Labor Day, in Serial Mom. In his latest book, he advises men above a certain age to stay away from T shirts. “A T-shirt on any man over forty only makes him look fifty,” he warns. “Avoid the T-shirt look even if the temperature outside is ninety degrees.”