Air Jordan

Air Jordan is a line of basketball and sportswear shoes produced by Nike, Inc. Related apparel and accessories are marketed under Jordan Brand. The first Air Jordan shoe was produced for basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls on November 17, 1984, and released to the public on April 1, 1985. The shoes were designed for Nike by Peter Moore, Tinker Hatfield, and Bruce Kilgore. The Jordan Logo, known as the "Jumpman", originated from a photograph by Jacobus Rentmeester, taken before Jordan played for Team USA in the 1984 Summer Olympics.
As Michael Jordan entered his rookie year in 1984, he was approached to sign a shoe deal with Adidas, Converse, and Nike. In their meeting with Jordan, Nike centered its presentation around a highlight video of Jordan's various slam dunks, scored to "Jump (For My Love)" by the Pointer Sisters. Nike showcased the first design of the shoe, but Jordan criticized its colorway. While other companies saw Jordan as a figure for promoting preexisting shoe lines, Nike took Jordan's criticism into account to make him "a stand alone star and give him a signature shoe line."
On October 26, 1984, Michael Jordan signed a five-year, US$2.5 million deal with Nike, three times more than any other deal in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the time. Nike released the Air Jordan sneaker line in April 1985 with the goal of making $3 million in the first three years. Sales greatly exceeded expectations, earning $126 million in one year.
The NBA policy stated that the shoes must be 51% white and in accordance with the shoes that the rest of the team was wearing. Failure to follow this policy resulted in a $5,000 fine per game (equivalent to $15,000 in 2024). Nike designed the Air Jordan I based on the Chicago Bulls' red and black team colors with only 23% white, which violated the NBA's policy. Nike agreed to pay each fine, garnering both controversy and publicity around the shoe. Fines imposed by the NBA on Jordan for wearing the shoes bestowed upon them an iconic brand and was later regarded as groundbreaking in part due to its defiance of NBA regulations. Nike also took advantage of this marketing opportunity with the Air Jordan I "Banned" advertisement, which stated "On September 15th, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18th, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can't keep you from wearing them. Air Jordan. From Nike." The shoe sold out at 50,000 pairs and generated more than $150 million in sales.
On September 9, 1997, Michael Jordan and Nike introduced Jordan Brand (originally called 'Brand Jordan'). The brand has built a sustainable business model by releasing Air Jordan shoes and apparel, and collaborating with popular artists. In 2022 alone, Jordan Brand brought in $5.1 billion to Nike. Of that, a reported $150–256 million went directly to Michael Jordan under his deal with Nike.
The "Jumpman" logo originated from a photo shoot Michael Jordan did for Life magazine at the University of North Carolina campus before he played for Team USA in the 1984 Summer Olympics, photographed by Co Rentmeester. Jordan posed in a manner identical to the grand jeté ballet technique, while holding a basketball with his left hand, and wearing his Olympic jumpsuit and New Balance shoes. Moore, who was in charge of the design team, came across this Life magazine issue and had Jordan replicate the pose, this time in Chicago and wearing his Bulls uniform and Nike Air Jordan shoes. The "Jumpman" logo has developed and gone through different changes and can be seen on sneakers, attire, hats, socks, and other forms of wear. It has become one of the most recognizable logos in the athletics industry.
The Jordan Spiz'ike shoes were released on October 21, 2006, as a tribute to Michael Jordan and Spike Lee's relationship. The relationship began when Mars Blackmon (a character from Spike Lee's film, She's Gotta Have It) became a pitchman in Nike commercials for Air Jordans. The Spiz'ike is a blend of the Jordan III, IV, V, VI, and XX shoes. Only 4,032 pairs were made of the original release, with the proceeds going to a new film institute at Morehouse College.
Released in 2006 retailing at $295 containing the sneakers Michael Jordan wore during his first championship of his two three-peats. The Retro 11 Concord contains a gold Jumpman on the side, but originally was meant to also have gold eyelets spelling out Jordan. This was changed because of color bleeding. The retro 6 Black Infrared replaces its infrared for gold as well. Both shoes contained dog tags to reference the title won and a booklet showcasing a slam dunk highlight of the game and concept art of the shoe. Some of the original DMP Retro 11 Concords have surfaced and are considered some of the rarest Air Jordans.
The "raging bull pack" retailed for $310 and drew inspiration from the running of the bull that takes place every year in Spain. The pack contains two Air Jordan 5s; the Toro Bravo and the 3m. The Toro Bravo is a red suede sneaker, one of the first of its kind, and it takes inspiration from the red bandanas worn by the runners. The second pair, the 3m, is named after its reflective coating. Both shoes come in a wood gate exterior graphic box with double sided slide out, originally released in 2009.
The Jordan Brand released a third "Defining Moments" package on July 11, 2009. The 60+ Air Jordan Retro 1 Package is inspired by Jordan scoring 63 points on the Celtics in a double overtime playoff game during his second year. The Air Jordan Retro 1 60+ Package features a re-release of the sneakers that Jordan wore during that game, and a Retro Air Jordan 1 inspired by the Celtics colors and the parquet floors from the old Boston Garden.
The Jordan 6 white/infrared and black/infrared was released February 14, 2013, at a retail price of US$170. This is the second of the same colorway retro in Jordan Brand history. The first time retro on both colorways were in 2000, they were retro separately. This time, the retro was distinguished from the previous release by using the Jumpman logo instead of the Nike Air logo on the heel.
2007 brought the release of the Jordan Brand's second two-pair package named the "Old Love New Love" (OLNL), which was released on April 21. The pack featured two colorways of the Air Jordan I Retro - the original White/Black-Varsity Red (Black Toes) and a new pair in Black/Varsity-Maize/White. The pack represented Jordan's two main passions, the old love being basketball the new love being motorcycle racing. The Old Love New Love package was sold for $200.00. This release marked a comeback for the Air Jordan 1 paving the way for a slew of colorways, including the modified "Phat" version with additional padding.
The Jordan 6 Rings (aka Jordan Six Rings, Or Montells) is a combination of the seven Air Jordan shoes that Michael Jordan wore during his 6 championship seasons. That includes the Air Jordan 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14. The Jordan Brand company released the 6 Rings shoes starting in September 2008.
Jordan Brand released colorways representative of each team that the Chicago Bulls defeated in their six championship seasons during the 1990s: The Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics, and Utah Jazz. The shoes include laser-etched graphics detailing specific aspects about that particular championship series and the city of the competing team. Many other colorways exist.
There also exists a "winterized 6 rings" which are a modified 6 Rings shoe turned into a durable boot designed for the outdoors which changes some of the design and placement of the parts.
The polyurethane (PU) material in the soles of many Air Jordan models can break down over time, and many collectors find that their vintage pairs are often unwearable. Known as PU degradation, polyurethane soles are susceptible to hydrolysis and oxidation, and shoes with this material have been found to have a poor aging performance. Nike does not provide information as to the type of PU they use in their Air Jordan lines, and have avoided answering questions in the past, as was the case in Wired's widely cited article on the PU controversy within the sneaker community, "We asked Nike about PU degradation and what might be done about it, but the company declined to comment."
The Air Jordan line has been associated with riots, assaults, robberies, and murders. Fifteen-year-old high school student Michael Eugene Thomas was choked to death by one of his peers for a pair of Air Jordan sneakers in 1989. In 1988, principal Dr. Robin Oden of Mumford High School in Detroit mentioned that clothing-related violence had reached a point where he felt it was necessary to ban certain items of clothing, including the Air Jordan sneaker, from school grounds. This ban was the first of many dress codes implemented in schools after a wave of robberies, beatings, and shootings over possession of Air Jordan sneakers and other items of clothing.
Nike owns none of the factories where Air Jordans are produced and contracts the work to various factory owners. Company officials say that they only design and market the shoes. However, Nike dictates production terms and standards to the contractor, often without questioning labor or safety practices. In April 1997, 10,000 Indonesian workers went on strike over wage violations at an Air Jordan factory. The same month in Vietnam 1,300 workers went on strike demanding a 1-cent-per-hour raise, and a year later in 1998, 3,000 workers in China went on strike to protest hazardous working conditions and low wages.
Air Jordans have become a status symbol in sneaker culture and are worn all around the world today. The impact of Air Jordans has expanded from basketball and sports into fashion, pop culture, and hip-hop. Air Jordans are a major staple in casual wear and streetwear culture. The popularity of the sneaker has risen from its connection to the hip-hop scene since 1985. Rappers in the 1990s including 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Ice Cube, and Jay-Z mention Michael Jordan's sneakers and success in their music. They have also been seen on many hip-hop album covers including Eazy-E wearing Air Jordan III on the Eazy-Duz-It album cover and music videos including "Otis" where Jay-Z and Kanye West are seen wearing the Air Jordan I and Air Jordans VI. The shoes have also been seen worn by many artists and celebrities on a casual and everyday basis. Collaborations between hip-hop artists and the Jordan brand have also driven popularity, including Travis Scott's "Cactus Jack" collaborations with the Jordan Brand and Nike. With the Jordan Brand having a huge impact on hip-hop culture, it has become a status symbol.
The shoes have had a large impact on the rise of "sneakerhead" culture. In the 1980s, collecting sneakers became more common, as well as trading and reselling them. As new models came out, more Air Jordans have become in demand and a significant shoe to have in collections. Reselling Air Jordans have become highly profitable and hundreds or thousands of dollars are spent on rare sneakers, including the original 1985 Air Jordan I on StockX selling up to $20,000. Upon the height and rise of the sneaker community, the resale market is estimated to be worth $2 billion and is expected to gain $4 billion more by 2025. The growth is due to collaborations, limited editions drops, and other factors. With the sneakers evolving over time and introducing new models, the sneakers have been rising in value for collectors and becoming a staple in their collections.
Air Jordan has collaborated with many brands and artists, including celebrities Drake, Billie Eilish, J Balvin, DJ Khaled, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Future and Mark Wahlberg. After a collaboration with Nike on its Air Force One in 2017, rapper Travis Scott partnered with Jordan Brand to design "Cactus Jack" iterations of the Air Jordan 1, Air Jordan 4 and Air Jordan 6.
Air Jordan has worked with streetwear brands, fashion houses, and soccer clubs. Collaborations include Virgil Abloh and his brand Off-White, Supreme, Commes de Garcons, Kaws, Dior, and Paris Saint-Germain.
The Air Jordans have been seen throughout television, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where Will Smith wears different models of the shoe throughout the show including the "Metallic" Air Jordan Vs in the pilot episode and the "Colombia" Air Jordan XI in the last episode of the series. With the impact that the show made on the Jordan Brand, they released a few pairs of Air Jordan Vs that associate to the show.
There are films that have influenced the Air Jordan's design. In 1989, the film Do the Right Thing portrayed a character "Buggin Out" (Giancarlo Esposito) in a clean pair of Air Jordan 4s that became scuffed. Jordan brand released a Jordan 4 that was designed as a replica of the scuffed ones that Buggin Out wore. Air Jordan sneakers have been featured in other films, including He Got Game (1998), White House Down (2013), Uncle Drew (2018), and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and the documentaries Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1 (2018), One Man and His Shoes (2020), and "Episode V" of The Last Dance (2020).
On January 26, 1992, Jordan Brand debuted a commercial during Super Bowl XXVI which showed Bugs Bunny enlisting the help of Michael Jordan to outsmart a bullying rival team using cartoon gags. A second ad premiered in 1993 featuring Bugs and Jordan facing off against Marvin the Martian. The ads inspired Jordan's agent, David Falk, to pitch a film starring Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters. The pitch resulted in Space Jam (1996), a commercial success which grossed over $230 million at the box office and generated over $1 billion in merchandise sales. The success of the advertising campaign and the film contributed to the popularity of Looney Tunes and other cartoon characters as motifs in street fashion through the 1990s and 2000s. A sequel to the film, Space Jam: A New Legacy, was released in 2021, with LeBron James in the lead role.
Air is an American biographical sports drama film directed by Ben Affleck. The film is based on true events about the origin of Air Jordan, when Sonny Vaccaro, a Nike employee, seeks to strike a business deal with rookie player Jordan. It stars Matt Damon as Vaccaro.
Like Mike is an American sports comedy film released in 2002. It stars a teenage orphan who gains basketball abilities when he wears sneakers inscribed by Michael Jordan. Upon gaining these powers he is offered a chance to play in the NBA.
In 1997, Air Jordan selected the first three collegiate sponsorships for the Jordan Brand: Cincinnati Bearcats, St. John's Red Storm, and North Carolina A&T Aggies. North Carolina A&T, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), ended its sponsorship in 2003 when it signed with Russell Athletic. Since then, Jordan Brand partnered with Howard University Athletics, another HBCU, in 2022 for all their programs except the men's and women's golf teams, which are already sponsored by Stephen Curry's Curry Brand.
Starting in 2016, Air Jordan became the sole equipment provider for the Michigan Wolverines football team. This marked the brand's first venture into a sport besides basketball. As of 2023, Air Jordan is the equipment provider for the North Carolina Tar Heels, Oklahoma Sooners, Florida Gators, and UCLA Bruins football programs.
In 2018, the Jordan brand sponsored an association football (soccer) club for the first time in its history, when French club Paris Saint-Germain F.C. displayed the Jumpman logo on their third kits, worn in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League.
In 2023, the Jordan brand signed AL 2022 MVP Aaron Judge to an endorsement deal.
The Jordan brand also sponsors 23XI Racing, which is co-owned by Michael Jordan in the No. 45 Toyota Camry driven by Tyler Reddick in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The Jordan Brand partners with the UNCF and others to fund the higher education of underprivileged youth.
The Jordan brand also focuses on philanthropy with many large donations throughout the years to communities, athletes, and schools. The brand pledges to help with pressing issues in black communities through grants to the communities focusing on economic justice, education, social justice, and Narrative changes to the youth.