Air Jordan 1 (I)

It’s hard to think back to when these shoes first came out. Basketball sneakers at the time were completely different. In 1984 when Michael Jordan and his agent (David Falk) were shopping for a shoe deal, Michael badly wanted to sign with Converse. Michael wore Converse shoes when he played for North Carolina University, and the big stars of the day (Larry Bird, Magic Johnson) both had shoe deals with Converse, not Nike.

However, Nike ended up offering the best package and Michael took it. 2.5 Million for 5 years. Air Jordan 1 was released in 1985. The shoes got some instant popularity when the NBA banned them because they violated NBA color rules. It is my understanding that they did not like the black and red color-way because they were “devil colors”. Michael Jordan also wore these shoes during the 85′ season when he put himself on the map as the new kid on the block. Michael Jordan posterized many unsuspecting opponents while wearing these shoes and, therefore, they gained a lot of instant interest among consumers.

The Nike Air Jordan 1 was produced in retro version in 1994, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. The First retro version in 1994 did very poorly in sales. But since then, these shoes, which are sometimes referred to as OG Jordans, have been very popular among collectors. In total they were released in 23 different color-ways.

The Air Jordan 1 featured the wingman logo on the outer heel of the shoe. The originals came in a cardboard box with a simple shoe tag and two pairs of laces, one for each color in the color-way. The retro versions came in cardboard boxes with the retro card and keychain. There was also a limited release edition in Tokyo in white and grey/silver and came in a metal box.

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