The 10 best Air Jordan sneakers of all time

Shenita J. Livingston / Jordan sneakers / 0 comments

August 18, 2021

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The GOAT label is a distinction that has lost its luster in recent years. It is thrown too casually. But in the case of Michael Jordan, the acronym for “greatest of all time” continues to shine brightly. The retired basketball player is permanently fixed in the firmament of not only sports stars, but also pop culture icons. You don’t need to have watched a game or know anything about basketball to understand its impact. It’s a legend in every sense of the word. And the sneakers that bear his name have the same status.

It was 1984, and Nike, then a struggling supplier of running shoes (crazy, right?), Was looking to rebrand itself as a go-to brand in sports. Jordan, a rookie with the Chicago Bulls and the most prominent player, seemed like the perfect man to partner with on a shoe line. It was a slam dunk on paper, but he initially turned down the Swoosh, preferring Adidas. He also tried going out to Converse, the maker of his sneakers at the time, but neither could match what Nike was offering. It was a contract worth $ 2 million, an astronomical and record amount in the 1980s. It also came with some controversy; the red and black Air Ship sneakers Jordan initially wore on the court in ’85 were against NBA regulations.

Still, MJ and Nike persevered, building the Air Jordan line to become the GOAT of sneakers. This not only revolutionized marketing as a whole, but also the scope of shoe design. Talents like Peter Moore and Tinker Hatfield, with guidance from Jordan, have continuously introduced new styles to the collection, tweaking the silhouettes, colors and materials over the years. Today, there are 35 Air Jordan models on the market, each with their own limited edition re-releases and collaborations. Indeed, there is an array of players and, like any team, some simply shine more than others. Below we’ve rounded up the 10 best Jordan sneakers, all different, all pushing the limits and all legendary.

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Air Jordan I

Original version : 1985

That’s it, folks: the one who started it all. You could argue all day about which sneaker makes the most claim to creating sneaker culture as we know it today, but if that argument doesn’t really focus on the Air Jordan I, you’re doing something. of badness. From the then revolutionary air cushion to the wing logo that represented the high-flying recruit, the AJ1 continues to be the holiest of the grails among collectors.

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Air Jordan III

Original version : 1988

The Jordan I is hard to beat, yes, but the Air Jordan III certainly comes close. It was the first design of Tinker Hatfield, who took the reins from Peter Moore. And boy did it start with a bang. Not only did Hatfield continue the Swoosh-less design introduced with the AJII, promoting the Air Jordans as a category in their own right, but he also added eye-catching elephant print panels to the black or white uppers. It was architectural. He broadened the scope of sneaker design. But what really puts the shoe in the pantheon of the greats is the introduction of Jordan’s gravity-defying silhouette as the logo, now known as the Jumpman.