Jordan Shoes
With the four words “lets make the deal”, Nikes best selling sub-franchise Air Jordan was created.
In 1983, Nike invited Michael Jordan to a private meeting to show him the first designs for the Air Jordan 1’s and various other sports apparel. Throughout the meeting Jordan seemed bored and disinterested. When the slide show was over, all Jordan had to say was “I cant wear that shoe, those are Devil colors”, but as he was leaving the building Jordan muttered to his agent “lets make the deal.”
Although he was more interested in Adidas and Converse rather than Nike, he and his agent saw a grand opportunity. An opportunity that they couldn’t pass up. So Jordan signed with Nike to a five year, two and a half million dollar contract.
1984, Jordans rookie year and the debut of the Air Jordan 1. But they didn’t come easy to the NBA. Because of normal uniform regulations, most basketball shoes were all white, so the bold, black and red styling shoe clashed with the league. The NBA banned Jordan from wearing his shoes. Jordan put that aside and continued wearing them. For each game he wore them, the NBA fined Jordan up to five thousand dollars. But because Jordan was such a hit, Nike paid each fine. This sparked publicity throughout the sports community, and after many thousands of dollars in fines, the NBA lifted the ban on his shoes. This made Jordan shoes wildly popular.
In 1985, the Air Jordan 1’s were released to the public, instantly a smash hit. But following the frenzy created by the first Air Jordans was a tall order, but designer Bruce Kilgore took over the second shoe and as intended, went in a new and different direction. After Jordan broke his foot, Kilgore wanted to design a shoe that would be easy on his foot and be comfortable at the same time. With the first visible air unit running all the way down the shoe for his injured foot, allowed Jordan to “walk on air”. Sadly because of his injury, he only wore the shoe for sixteen games in the season.
Then came the most sought after Jordans to ever release. The Air Jordan 3. After winning the 1986-87 slam dunk competition at the Seattle Coliseum, the Jordan logo changed to the familiar “Jumpman” logo of today. Despite the major change in the logo, it came with a new and unique design, elephant print. The elephant print covered the sides of the toe and heels. This new style made Jordan fans go wild, making this one of the top selling Jordan shoes. Still to this day, each time this shoe re-releases, it continues to sell out.
Since then, a new shoe releases annually. While older versions are updated with new color ways and changes. This helps keep Jordans highly popular, but a new trend is arising in this shoe series, the “Retros”. fBut no matter what style or trend is going through the shoe world, Air Jordans seem to be staying popular.
