The first-ever Air Jordan is a stunning piece of footwear. The swoosh is displayed prominently, and toward the top sits the now-famous original Air Jordan logo, which Moore reportedly modeled after a set of plastic pilot wings.
Before the Jordans, signature shoes had been made for NBA icons like Walt Frazier and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but never had one been designed with so much intent, says Elizabeth Semmelhack, the creative director of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto and author of two books on sneaker culture. Russ Bengtson, a former Complex editor who was 14 when the AJ1 debuted, remembers the hype distinctly.
Instead, it shipped 1. But the gambit paid off: The AJ1s set a new standard for sneaker fashion and even found an alternative life as a skate shoe a few years after its debut.
It looked as if man was indeed meant to fly. It just took a bit of fiction to get there. But no one could produce anything of him wearing them in a regular-season game. These were the shoes the NBA referenced in its word note to Nike. They were also an entirely different model: the Air Ships, a general-release sneaker that got a soft push in company ads. Barias, who detailed his findings in a Sole Collector article, started a Change.
The February release included two pairs of sneakers: a set of Air Jordan 1s and the red and white Air Ships.
For Barias, pairing the two models was the best possible option for the Air Ship gaining public awareness. Those also resurfaced this year, but in their original form, when sports agent Aaron Goodwin tweeted out pictures of an autographed set following episodes 3 and 4 of The Last Dance in late April.
True grails! One of the first two pairs of Jumpman23 sneakers Nike gave MJ in In a vacuum, the Banned story is a triumph of marketing—taking one detail and successfully using it to build feverish hype for a new product and face of the company. But its place in the larger Jordan narrative makes it a myth of its own: a sneaker that was so revolutionary that the league had to shut it down, worn by a player who would revolutionize the game itself.
Every legend needs an origin story. The best sometimes have a little bit of fiction mixed in. To this day, he can vividly recall the first time he saw a pair of Jordans: He was in fourth grade when his classmate Tiana walked in wearing the Military Blue 4s. Mayden now had a life goal. Who wants to be part of creating history? Jordans had succeeded over the previous 15 years because of innovation; the original shoes were so successful the Jordan 2 was introduced in late , followed by a new model every year beginning in Each new version brought new innovations: a Nike Air bubble in the 3, a reflective tongue in the 5, a mesh upper and patent-leather mudguard on the The annual updates turned people into collectors, Semmelhack says, but the focus was firmly on obtaining what was new, not what was classic.
With the Air Jordan VI, Jordan specifically asked for a clean toe and Hatfield added a reinforcement around the toe for the first time.
Jordan also told Hatfield that he had some trouble putting on the previous five shoes quickly, so Hatfield put two holes at the top of the tongue and a loop on the back of the shoe.
With the Air Jordan V , Nike designer Tinker Hatfield continues to build up the mythical narrative surrounding Michal Jordan, who is playing better than ever during the — season. These fighter jets were known for looking like sharks and Hatfield wanted to emulate that design in the Air Jordan V.
The Air Jordan V features some firsts for the line, including a bold tongue design that has a reflective 3M coating. This is also the first Jordan shoes to have see-through outsole, which is a really common design element in athletic shoes today.
The Air Jordan IV was released in and is notable for being the first Jordans available to the global market. This time around, designer Tinker Hatfield was interested in a more utilitarian shoe.
The design of the AJ IV emphasized breathability and Hatfield managed to make mesh, which was seen as cheap, into something stylish. When the AJ IV was re-released for the first time in , the Jumpman logo replaced the original Nike air logo and all subsequent releases also feature the Jumpman logo.
While the first two Air Jordan shoes were successful in terms of sales, the Air Jordan III is often considered the definitive shoe in the entire Jordan collection.
Hatfield is also responsible for keeping Michael Jordan interested in making more shoes. According to several sources, Jordan was not happy with the design of the Air Jordan II and was not interested in renewing his contract with Nike. However, Hatfield sat down with Jordan to figure what he really wanted out from his shoes. The Air Jordan II was popular off the court due to its high fashion design. Nike re-released the Air Jordan II for the first time in and most recently in His favorite shoe at the time was actually Adidas, but the brand told him they just couldn't make a shoe work at that time.
Jordan's agent, David Falk, wanted him to go with Nike, which at the time was known more for track shoes, but Jordan wasn't interested. So Falk, appealed to Jordan's mother, Deloris. Nike offered him a great deal, one that was unheard of for a rookie, and his father said he'd have to be a fool not to take it.
So Jordan did. From there, it was all about getting Jordan his own shoe. As legend has it, the NBA actually banned the first iteration of Michael's Jordans, stating they violated the league's rule that a sneaker must be mostly white and reflect the colors of the team's jersey.
But, when it comes to Air Jordans' popularity, the rest is history. The shoe became a must-have status symbol of the late '80s and '90s—and it's still a street style staple today. It was more than a status symbol—you knew that this guy was the guy. For his last game playing at Madison Square Garden as a Bull, Jordan chose to wear his Jordan 1s, the first shoe he wore to play at MSG, his favorite place to play, he says in the documentary.
Of course, it didn't quite go as he had hoped—"by halftime, my feet are bleeding," Jordan says in the doc, admitting that "innovation has taken a long turn"—but he stuck through it.
The Air Jordan has now seen numerous iterations, but the Air Jordan 1 remains iconic, which is why the original version is still being produced today.
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