Air Jordan
Air Jordan is a line of basketball and sportswear shoes produced by Nike, Inc. The shoes, related apparel and accessories are now 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.
History
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 " 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, Jordan signed a five-year, $2.5 million deal with Nike, three times more than any other deal in the National Basketball Association at the time. In addition, Jordan would get royalties from products sold by Nike with his name, which was at the time considered an industry disruptive move. 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.
NBA policy stated that the shoes must be 51% white and consistent with the shoes that the rest of the team wore. Failure to follow this policy resulted in a $5,000 fine per game. 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 of the initial 50,000 pairs and ultimately generated more than $150 million in sales.
In 1997, Jordan and Nike introduced Jordan Brand. 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 Jordan under his deal with Nike.
Logo
The "Jumpman" logo originated from a photo shoot Michael Jordan did for Life magazine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 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.Models
Other shoes from the Air Jordan line
The Jordan Packages
; "Spizike"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 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.
;"Defining Moments"
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.
;"Defining Moments II"
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.
;"Defining Moments III"
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.
;"Defining Moments IV"
;Retro 6 Infrared Pack
The Jordan 6 white/infrared and black/infrared was released February 14, 2013, at a retail price of. 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.
;"Old Love New Love"
2007 brought the release of the Jordan Brand's second two-pair package named the "Old Love New Love", which was released on April 21. The pack featured two colorways of the Air Jordan I Retro - the original White/Black-Varsity Red 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.
Jordan "6 Rings" shoe
The Jordan 6 Rings 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.
Controversies
The polyurethane 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 Wireds 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.