Air Jordan is probably the most widely known sneaker ever created. Created by Nike and Michael Jordan, the shoes are the signature basketball shoe from the best ever. The first Air Jordan shoe released was the Retro 1 in 1985.
In 1984, a deal was made with Nike and Michael Jordan. Although, it wasn’t a smooth deal. Michael Jordan was told he wouldn’t be priority over other Nike sponsors. MJ wanted to be the center of attention, but that just couldn’t happen. He wanted to go sign with Adidas, although they couldn’t make the shoe he needed. Michael Jordan’s agent David Falk was actually the one to get Michael to sign with Nike, indirectly. He persuaded MJ’s mother Deloris Into believing it was a great deal and she then told MJ “You’re going to listen”.
The name Air Jordan came from the original Nike sneaker “Air Sole“. Michael pieced the name together with the new running shoe, to make the name Air Jordan. After the shoe was created, there was only one issue. The NBA banned them from being used. The sneaker wasn’t the right colors to be league standard. The NBA would fine $5,000 every time MJ wore the Air Jordans. This was no problem to MJ though, he continued to wear the sneakers; giving them the legendary name of the “Banned Air Jordan 1“. Nike’s expectation was for Air Jordan to bring in about 3 million in revenue, they brought in 126 million in the first year. Nike was glad to pay all of MJ’s penalties from wearing their sneaker!
The sneaker kept evolving into 35 different silhouettes. Each number has many different styles of colors as well. Some Air Jordans are very rare, selling for the price of around $5,000. Other Jordans are more widely available and can be bought from just walking into Foot Locker. Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of his time, and his shoe reflects his greatness. We have a lot of different sneakers nowadays, but none can trump the OG Air Jordan.
