“The Design and Cultural Impact of the Air Jordan 1
The Air Jordan 1 is more than just a shoe. It’s the embodiment of today’s sneaker culture, the jumpstart of Nike as the most dominant sports apparel brand, and the liftoff of Michael Jordan’s illustrious basketball career as the greatest player of all time. We will explore how this shoe took flight 35 years ago and how it still continues to soar as the most iconic sneaker ever.
The Origins of Flight and His Airness
It started off with the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, Michael Jordan. Fresh off of his 3-year career at NCAA powerhouse University of North Carolina and his Olympic gold medal in the summer of 1984, Michael Jordan was a highly-touted prospect with high expectations and hopes to be the best there was to ever play. Nike saw that vision, but they didn’t just take a chance on Jordan–the young superstar, who initially favored Adidas, took a chance on Nike with a deal he couldn’t refuse.
Nike’s creative designer, Peter Moore, took on the challenge of designing Michael Jordan’s signature shoe, which started with the Air Jordan logo. Moore sketched out the famous Air Jordan wings on a napkin on a flight, after seeing a kid wear a pair of replica pilot wings. Through this sketch, Moore realized his vision in creating a shoe for a high-flying athlete like Jordan. In sharing and deliberating initial logo and sneaker sketches, Jordan requested for a shoe that was different and exciting to wear. Something revolutionary enough to boost the reputation of Jordan–and even the reputation of Nike.
However, pleasing the young superstar wasn’t going to be that easy.
With these directives, Moore developed the first model of the 1’s featuring a red, black, and white colorway, representative of the Chicago Bulls’ color scheme and famously touted as the “Bred” (black and red) colorway. This design was the exciting and revolutionary umph that Jordan needed, as most basketball shoes of the 80’s, like the Converse All Stars, featured a black and white colorway. But Jordan wasn’t necessarily a fan of it:
“We did a bunch of color-ups, like a coloring book. I showed him a whole bunch of those pages. At first he was very leery of red, black and white. He did not like those, as has been quoted. He called them ‘the Devil’s colors.’ He wanted to wear Carolina blue. I told him, you’re gonna have to talk to the guy that owns the Bulls.” — Peter Moore, quoted by Max Resetar in “Introducing the Icon: How the Air Jordan I Came to Life”
The solution? Moore worked to develop 13 more colorways that season, including the simple but sweet Carolina blue colorway. Yet, still, Jordan was not satisfied with the shoe’s design due to the thickness of the sole caused by the large Air unit.
At the time, Nike had released its new innovation for running shoes, called the Air soles, which placed air in the soles for cushioning. This technology was conceived in 1977 by aeronautical engineer Frank Rudy. It would eventually be used in the conception of Jordan’s shoes and inspired the iconic name “Air Jordan.” However, this Air unit resulted in a thick sole that didn’t meet Jordan’s needs of a shoe that was low to the ground, as a means of preventing ankle injury and having a stronger feel for the basketball court.
The solution? Moore took significant cushioning out of the shoe without sacrificing the Air unit, which was placed in the shoe’s rubber midsoles. To further enhance comfortability, Moore implemented a premium leather upper that could provide a worn-in feel from the moment Jordan inserted his feet into the shoes. The shoes also featured a perforated toe box and a new traction pattern. While Jordan dawned a very similar shoe in the Nike Air Ships during the production of the Air Jordan 1’s early in the regular season, Jordan would eventually flaunt his signature shoe on during the season.
The shoe was the perfect fit for Jordan. An over-the-top shoe with a flashy colorway and high-cut silhouette was meant for the gravity-defying, electrifying basketball player that was Michael Jordan. Winning the Rookie of the Year honors, becoming an All-Star in his mere rookie year (a rare feat), and the leading the league in scoring in 1985, Jordan took flight early in his career dawning the Air Jordan 1’s, a sight that fans couldn’t resist.
However, Jordan’s shoes were met with controversy, as the “Bred” Jordan 1’s violated league uniform policies requiring basketball sneakers to be more than 50% white. The NBA sent Jordan a letter condemning his actions and fined him $5,000 each time he wore the shoe, a price that Nike was willing to pay to increase the shoe’s publicity. Nike further capitalized on this by creating an ad for the shoes claiming that while the NBA bans the shoe for its basketball players, the NBA cannot ban regular people from wearing them everyday. The masses were sold, as Bred 1’s, retailing at $65, sold out across America. They wanted to fly with Jordan.
The early success of the Jordan 1’s can only be shown by the numbers: Nike had projected to sell 3 million dollars from sales in Air Jordans within four years, but in year 1, Nike netted an astounding 126 million dollars.
New Iterations of the Air Jordan 1’s
Soon after the wildly successful campaign of the Air Jordan 1’s, began a line of Jordan shoes that continued the legacy of Air Jordan from the original Jordan 1 up all the way to the Jordan 31, which in fact was a different take on the “Banned” 1’s. However, some would argue that Jordan Brand continued its dominance into the present due to notable Jordan 1 retros (re-releasing of original shoes) and Jordan 1 collaborations with different designers, artists, and brands.
First, let’s talk about retros. Some of the most prestigious retros include a variety of colorways, including the “Fragment,” “UNC,” “Chicago,” “Banned,” “Shattered Backboard”–named after the 1’s that Jordan wore when we broke the backboard in a game– and many more. Jordan 1 retros didn’t necessarily mean that they reiterated on the original (“OG” in sneakerhead terminology) colorways; while some, like the “Chicago” and “Banned” colorways were OG, retros comprised mostly of newer colorways created after Jordan retired, like the “Fragment” and “Shattered Backboard” 1’s. Bringing out these retros eased the pressure of designing a completely new shoe with a new silhouette and new technology. And consumers were okay with that because they just couldn’t get enough of the silhouette of the Jordan 1’s.
Yet, when given the need or space to innovate, using the Jordan 1 as a canvas was more than enough to do so. Jordan Brand has collaborated with several notable designers and artists to stretch the canvas of the Jordan 1 into something never seen before.
Take the Off-White Jordan 1’s for example. Designed by Virgil Abloh, the CEO of designer brand Off-White, these Jordan 1’s gave sneakerheads a deconstructed take on the famous OG silhouette. While most of the shoe’s construction resembles the leather-y OG 1, it features some details that give the shoes a loose, exposed, and prototyped feel, most notably, the oversized swoosh that seems loosely stitched on. Another popular collaboration is the Travis Scott Air Jordan 1, which features an inverted swoosh, an unprecedented design choice for Nike shoes. Coming soon is the Air Dior Jordan 1, featuring a swoosh with an all-over “Dior” print and “Air Dior” text that replaces the “Air Jordan” text on the logo. Some viewed these new takes as sacrilege to an already beautifully constructed pair of shoes, while others embraced it for its aesthetic innovations.
These fresh retro colorways and innovative collaborations became some of the most prestigious shoes in Nike and in the sneaker world in general. In fact, the shoe can be a symbol of status. Something can be recognized immediately and universally in street, sneaker, and fashion culture. When you walk into a building with Jordan 1’s on, the first thing that people will look at are the shoes. They are undeniably revered in culture. While it may be a symbol of status, it doesn’t discriminate against status.
“The guy who’s bagging your groceries and Jay-Z are wearing the same shoe,” says Lena Waithe, the writer and actor. “Michael Jordan means just as much to the person bagging the groceries as he does to Jay-Z.” — Justin Sayles in “The Once and Future Sneaker King”
Its sleek build, its comfort, and its subtly flashy design allows for it to be an extremely versatile shoe for anyone in any occasion to wear. As Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker said in an interview with The Ringer, “you can play basketball in it, you can skate in it, you can wear it to a fashion show–I mean, you can literally wear it anywhere.” Even despite a young male-dominated sneakerhead culture, the Jordan 1’s (and any other Jordan for that matter) give the space for women and older folks to rock the shoes: “I saw a lady the other day, she was like 60 or 70 years old, and she had a pair of Jordan 1’s on. It was like somebody’s grandma, it’s unbelievable” said Tucker. Although anyone can easily rock the Air Jordan 1’s, it doesn’t mean that everyone can easily get them.
The Price to Pay to Fly with Mike
So how can one get their hands on some of today’s most highly anticipated shoes like the Air Jordan 1’s? Before the rise of technology, people would camp outside of sneaker stores like Foot Locker, who sold the shoes on a first-come, first-serve basis, reminiscent of Black Friday sales. But there have been countless headlines of violence and murder emerging from sneaker releases. For some, it came down to, as Sports Illustrated quoted, “Your Sneakers or Your Life.” A life for a pair of some Air Jordan’s.
Nowadays, many sneakerheads don’t have to make that decision due to the rise of technology, allowing businesses like Foot Locker, Nike, and many others to host shoe sales on a first come-first serve basis or via raffle. Of course, this online market has its own inherent problems, including the use of bots to automatically purchase a shoe or to make dozens of online accounts eligible for raffles. Well, what’s the point in going through all this craze if I could save up a couple more dollars to buy them for resale? You actually might want to think about that first before doing it.
Supply and demand is the game. It is the game that has dramatically driven up the prices of Jordan 1’s and other sought-out sneakers, and it is the game that has driven “the resale market into a $2 billion dollar industry whose value is expected to triple by 2025,” per the Portland Business Journal. In fact, those Off-White Jordan 1’s can currently be seen at prices of about $6,000 after three years of release when they only retailed for $190.
Sneakers as a product for fashion and street culture can now see itself in a new light: as stocks. Nowadays, many consumers purchase the Jordan 1’s, and many other “hype” shoes, in order to flip them, or to sell them at a higher price. This defining practice of the reselling market can easily be done on online platforms like the auction site eBay, which, for a while, was the most dominant online platform. However, amidst fears of fake versions of those shoes, sites like StockX and GOAT were created to act as a middle-man between buyer and seller by providing verification services. Still, platforms like eBay, Instagram, and Facebook still serve as a space for sneakerheads to thrive as individual resellers.
Some sneakerheads don’t view these shoes as stocks, and some don’t even wear them because they regard the shoes as cultural artifacts. Whether it be the rarest shoe on Earth, or from a childhood memory, or representative of a special moment in sports–some shoes carry a strong historical significance that sneakerheads want to preserve. A prime example of that would be the 1985 “Banned” Jordan 1’s. A shoe that Jordan took flight in, dominated the NBA in, and, of course, got banned by the NBA at the time. It is the pioneer of sneaker culture and market.
“The first Air Jordan also paved the way for a lot of people who never designed a shoe or played basketball to get very rich, and continues to do so. Even 35 years later, as the industry it reinvented has grown to include thousands of other shoes and a resale exchange covering millions of sales each year, the AJ1 maintains a special place in the sneaker resale market. And in many ways, it’s still defining it.” — Justin Sayles in “The Jordans Rule: The Heart of Today’s Billion-Dollar Sneaker-Collecting Boom Is 35 Years Old”
Before Michael Jordan, basketball shoes were only seen on the court. But all of a sudden, basketball shoes became an integral part of fashion and street culture.
Growing up, when I was just heading into the seventh grade, I needed a new pair of shoes that would adhere to my school’s dress code policies. So my mom and I went to the local mall, where she picked out and bought me a pair of all-black, mid-cut Air Jordan 1’s at the store Sheik. Neither of us knew about anything of its history or significance, yet my mom still somehow managed to pick out the most impactful shoe in sneaker culture for a boy who was in love with basketball. There must’ve been something magical about the allure of the Air Jordan 1. And I must’ve been the flyest kid in the seventh grade, even with the dress code in place.
Referenced Articles
https://purpose.nike.com/air-sole-innovation
https://www.slamonline.com/kicks/introducing-icon-air-jordan-came-life/
https://www.complex.com/sneakers/2015/05/why-the-chicago-jordan-1-matters
https://www.cityblueshop.com/blogs/news/air-jordan-1-bred-through-the-years-1985-vs-2001-vs-2016
https://www.cityblueshop.com/blogs/news/air-jordan-1-bred-through-the-years-1985-vs-2001-vs-2016
