In the 1999-2000 NBA season, Vince Carter, who was under a five-year footwear contract with PUMA, decided to break the terms of his agreement and began experimenting with a parade of other sneakers from the various sporting brands at the time, ultimately ending up at Nike. The most memorable of his footwear dalliances of course was the AND1 Tai Chi. Carter wore the shoe at various points during the regular season and catapulted the shoe to high-profile status at the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Above, we take a look at two original Toronto Raptors-based special make-up samples for Vince Carter: A Black/Red style and the famous White/Red model VC wore at NBA All-Star Weekend 2000 in Oakland, CA. Both models feature the embroidered “AND1″ logo on the medial instep (which was common on player edition versions of the Tai Chi at the time but missing from the production runs) and a stitched in number “15″ at the heel. While these shoes were never sold at retail, you can find the re-launched AND1 Tai Chi Mid in stores right now. Check out our in-depth interview with Rob Purvy, AND1 Basketball Company Executive Director, for his plans on the future product lines for AND1.