Jordan 2013 Shoes

[Umbelina Baublitz]

ThiloKunkel, athlete brand development and monetization expert and associate professor at the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, explains what makes the Air Jordan 1 the most influential sneaker of all time in anticipation of the release of Air.

Released on April 1, 1985, Peter Moore, a creative director at Nike, designed Air Jordan 1, which retailed for $65. The Jordan Brand had made Nike more than $100 million by the end of the year. Thus, more brands shifted their marketing focus to individual athletes, not teams.

Thilo Kunkel is an expert on athlete brand development and monetization. Kunkel predicts the new movie Air will cause an increase in Nike sales and Air Jordan 1 price that sneakerheads may stock up on to collect or resell. (Contributed photo)

Years later, Nike signed Jordan to a contract; he is currently entitled to 5% royalties on each Jordan Brand shoe sale. Kunkel explained that more brands now exchange company stock or equity stakes for an athlete to stay with their company. He said athletes also started to be more involved in the design process of their brands. Jordan is involved in the design of his shoes, which keeps him happy as the sponsored athlete and helps increase sales, because consumers have an extra layer of comfort investing in Air Jordans knowing that one of the biggest sports superstars signed off on them.

Today, shoe companies regularly make sneaker partnerships with clothing or other celebrity brands. Rapper Travis Scott released several sneaker lines in partnership with the Jordan Brand and Nike, earning him about $10 million per year. The rise of sneakers in fashion allows brands to sell shoes at higher price tiers, according to Kunkel.

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.[2][3] The shoes were designed for Nike by Peter Moore, Tinker Hatfield, and Bruce Kilgore.[4][5]

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."[6]

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 2023). 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.[9] 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.[10] 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."[11] The shoe sold out at 50,000 pairs and generated more than $150 million in sales.[12]

The "Jumpman" logo originated from a photo shoot Michael Jordan did for Life magazine before he played for Team USA in the 1984 Summer Olympics, photographed by Jacobus Rentmeester. This photo shoot was taken before Jordan signed with Nike and depicted Jordan posing in a manner identical to the grand jet ballet technique, while wearing his Olympic jumpsuit and New Balance basketball shoes.[16] Moore, who was in charge of the design team, came across this Life magazine issue and had Jordan replicate the pose for the pair of Nike 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.[17]

The red and black colorway of the Nike Air Ship, the prototype for the Jordan I, was later outlawed by then-NBA Commissioner David Stern for having very little white on them. (This rule, known as the "51 percent" rule, was repealed in the late 2000s.)[20][21]

Michael Jordan wore the Air Jordan IV when he made "The Shot", a series winner in Game 5 of the 1989 NBA First Round between the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2012 a Cavalier colorway dubbed the "Cavs" was released to honor "The Shot".

The Air Jordan V saw a lot of use in popular sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. During many episodes Will Smith wore the Metallic Silver, Grape, and Fire Red colorways. To pay tribute to his character, Jordan released the Air Jordan 5 Bel Air in 2013 and 2020.[27][28]

When Jordan went to compete at the 1992 Summer Olympics to play for the US Men's Basketball Team (also known as the "Dream Team"), Nike released a special Olympic color combo of the Air Jordan VII model which had Jordan's Olympic jersey number 9, instead of the usual "23" found on other colorways.[23]

Like the VII and VIII models, the Air Jordan IX featured an inner sock sleeve and nubuck accents. The sole featured different symbols and languages of different countries. The Air Jordan IX is depicted to be worn by the Statue of Michael Jordan outside of the United Center in Chicago.[32]

The sneakers were only samples in 1995 when Jordan decided to come back to the NBA. Hatfield and Nike discouraged Jordan from playing in them, but once they were produced, he couldn't resist. Also noteworthy, Jordan violated league dress code by wearing the shoes, as his teammates wore all-black shoes. It wasn't the first time Jordan had run afoul of NBA footwear rules, having broken them with his very first signature shoe in 1985. He was fined $5,000 for not following the Bulls' colorway policy with the AJ XI. After the fine, Nike made him a pair of the shoes in a black/white/concord colorway for the series against Orlando; Jordan wore Penny Hardaway's signature black Nike Air Flight shoes for Game 3 while said colorway was under production. A similar black/white/royal blue colorway was released to the public at the end of 2000. The colorway was changed for the public release because the concord purple had looked like royal blue on television.

Jordan Brand re-released the Air Jordan XIII at the end of 2010, which included the French Blue/Flint Grey, White/Red-Black, "Playoff" color way and the Black/Altitude Green color way. In 2017, Jordan Brand released the "History of Flight" colorway. This colorway is from the 2009 World Basketball Festival, where the "History of Flight" collection was revealed to celebrate Jordan's 25th anniversary.

The Air Jordan XIV co-styled by Hatfield and Mark Smith was made race ready and equipped with the Jordan Jumpman insignia on a Ferrari shaped badge. The color scheme of predominant black accentuated with red was nicknamed "The Last Shot" because Michael Jordan wore them as he hit the game winning shot over Bryon Russell, of the Utah Jazz, in his final game with the Chicago Bulls in the 1998 NBA Finals.

The shoe was designed by Air Jordan Senior Footwear Designer, Tate Kuerbis, who had been part of the Jordan footwear design team since 1999 and with Nike since 1995. The inspiration for the design came from the carbon fiber-based monocoque of F1 race cars,[23] race car driving shoes (rubber heel wrap) and Fine Italian dress shoes (bold stitching on the soles). It was re-released in 2008.

The Air Jordan XIX used innovative materials. The upper section of shoe was developed in collaboration with the global materials consultancy Material ConneXion, who sourced Nike a sleeving normally used in architectural applications for protecting PVC pipes from bursting.[38] In theory, this allowed for a shoe without laces, because the sleeving does not stretch. Nonetheless, the Air Jordan XIX model did include a set of laces behind the sleeve to better secure the shoe. They are the lightest Air Jordans ever made.[citation needed]

The shoes appeared on the sitcom My Wife and Kids, in the episode "Fantasy Camp: Part 2", when the protagonist Michael Kyle (Damon Wayans) steals it from Jordan's hotel room and uses it to play against Jordan himself later in the episode. Michael Jordan wears "AJ IV Cool Grey" in the episode. The shoe was re-released in 2008.

The 2011 has a star-constellation pattern that also serves as ventilation. It uses patent leather wrapped around the shoe. The shoes are hand burnished and crafted. A dress shoe that feels similar to the XI was reportedly the goal.

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.[49] 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.[50][51]

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.[52]

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