1985 Air Jordan 1
by Drew Hammell
Nike couldn’t have come up with a better marketing strategy if it had tried. When the Beaverton, Oregon–based sneaker company launched the Air Jordan 1, it changed footwear. The man promoting it, Michael Jordan, was mesmerizing, both on the court and off. And the NBA banned one of the colorways, a combination of black and red sitting atop a white midsole, which drew more attention to the sneaker, upping the intrigue around and demand for a $65 basketball shoe. That model launched what is now a multibillion-dollar business for Nike and Jordan Brand and marked the dawn of contemporary sneaker culture. Never had the world become so enamored of an athlete and the shoes on his feet. For anyone who collects sneakers, the Air Jordan 1 is an absolute must-have—both to wear and to hold. Year after year, Jordan Brand drops both new and original colorways, and they sell out every time. It is a sneaker that has become timeless, a shoe that transcends fashion and looks good no matter what is currently trending. It was air personified, and the story behind the AJ 1 is as deep and complex as the man himself.
It begins at the 1984 NBA Draft, when the lowly Chicago Bulls selected Michael Jordan with the third overall pick. To say the Bulls were lucky to grab Jordan with that pick is one of the biggest understatements ever. The NBA was a big-man’s league back in the ’80s, so players like Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie went before Jordan, mainly because teams prioritized centers above guards. Though Jordan wasn’t the first pick, the Bulls were confident in his abilities and signed him to a seven-year, $6 million deal—the third-highest contract in league history at the time, behind Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. The Blazers, who had the chance of a lifetime to draft Jordan, needed a center. It didn’t make sense to them to pick the 6'6" Jordan when a big man was more of a priority. “So you play him at center!” former Team USA coach Bobby Knight once famously quipped.
After the draft, the race was on for the top sneaker brands to sign the Bulls’ flashy new star. Nike was the top contender, though there was plenty of opportunity for Adidas and Converse to move ahead as well. On Nike’s side, several key figures heavily influenced Jordan’s decision to sign with the brand. Sonny Vaccaro was one of them; Vaccaro made a name for himself in the college basketball world by convincing coaches to ink deals with Nike so that big-market teams would wear the brand’s sneakers and apparel on national TV. For a period, Vaccaro’s advice was gospel for Nike, and he was all in on it signing Jordan. One of Nike’s creative directors at the time was Peter Moore, who led the design of the first Air Jordan sneaker and the “Wings” logo. If you notice similarities between the Air Jordan 1 and the Nike Dunk, it’s because Moore led the design of that, too. Jordan’s agent, David Falk, was a brilliant negotiator and made sure Jordan was getting the best deal. Another key figure in the Nike deal was Donald Dell, who was the president of ProServ. ProServ was a sports management firm that Nike worked with for the Air Jordan line initially.
Jordan was the real deal, but nobody knew for sure how great he would really become. Falk was confident and demanded a high price for whoever wanted to sign the prized guard. Nike certainly didn’t have the deal in the bag at first, since Jordan was a big fan of Adidas (he loved the way the leather was broken in right out of the box). Jordan was ready to sign with Adidas, but Nike’s team was more prepared and saw the huge potential of signing him. Converse certainly wanted to add Jordan to its strong arsenal of stars, which included Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. But Converse wanted to market Jordan alongside Bird and Magic, not set him apart. Nike’s commitment to Jordan went so far that it even created a sneaker just for him, which was not common back in the ’80s for basketball players. Only a chosen few athletes in any sport had their own sneaker, so the fact that Nike was willing to make one for a player who hadn’t even stepped on a professional court yet proved how much it was willing to invest in the star.
Nike’s connection with ProServ and Donald Dell was important because Dell was a professional tennis player; back then, tennis players were marketed more strongly than basketball players. For example, Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith both benefited from Dell’s promotional prowess. Dell wanted to showcase Jordan in a similar fashion. Along with this approach came the signature sneaker Nike created for Jordan—a sneaker tailored just to him, down to a size 131/2 for his right foot and a size 13 for his left. Nike and Dell threw around names for the shoe before they met with Jordan; one possibility was the “Prime Time.” Obviously that name didn’t work out, and the group agreed that “Air Jordan” was the best option.
The sneaker deal landscape of the ’80s was far removed from what it is today. The biggest names didn’t have the signing power that star athletes have now, and sneaker companies didn’t have massive budgets for marketing, either. In 1984, Nike was a $25-million-a-year company, and it had about $2.5 million to spend on marketing. Like its competitors, Nike was considering signing multiple basketball players to promote the brand, but Vaccaro told Strasser to give Jordan everything. Nike listened but was somewhat skeptical, since it was such a huge risk.
Jordan was hesitant to sign with Nike as well—so much so that he wanted to cancel his meeting with the brand the night before he was scheduled to fly out to Oregon. Jordan’s mother, Deloris, convinced him to get on the plane and listen to Nike’s pitch. Phil Knight, Nike’s cofounder and chairman, was kept abreast of the negotiations but was never all in on Jordan, either. In the end, though, he stayed quiet and allowed the deal to be done.
After Nike pitched its campaign along with the new sneaker just for Jordan, Falk went back to Adidas and Converse to see what their counters were. Jordan himself went to a Converse rep and told him it had to get close to what Nike was offering in order for him to sign it. But neither of the two brands was willing to offer what Nike could for the future superstar.
Eventually, the deal between Nike and Jordan was signed: $2.5 million over five years, along with the agreement that Jordan would receive a 25 percent royalty for every Air Jordan sneaker sold (the originals retailed for $65). It was a huge amount of money for a rookie athlete, and it would mark the beginning of one of the greatest athlete/brand relationships of all time. After the Air Jordan sneaker released, Nike sold one million pairs in the first two months alone.
What a lot of people don’t realize, though, is that MJ didn’t start wearing the Air Jordan 1 at the beginning of his rookie season. He wore several models, with the Air Ship being the one in which he was most frequently seen. During a pre season game against the New York Knicks on October 18, 1984, Jordan sported the Air Ship in black and red. David Stern, commissioner of the NBA at the time, was at that game and apparently didn’t like that Jordan’s sneakers clashed with the primarily white and red models the rest of the team was wearing. The league threatened him with a $1,000 fine if he wore that color scheme again; the penalty would grow to $5,000 if he continued.
In the ’80s, it was the norm for NBA players to wear primarily white sneakers with one additional color to match their jerseys. Because basketball is a team game, no one deviated from this, and it was understood that players’ sneakers should match each other’s. Jordan, with a little nudge from Nike, didn’t seem to care. He valued camaraderie, and even went so far as to call the black and red sneakers “the devil’s colors,” but he also didn’t mind standing out. The Bulls organization was concerned about this statement and the message it sent to the league. Did MJ think he was better than everyone else? With these revolutionary colors, what was his agenda?
According to sources, Nike planned to feature two primary Air Jordan colorways during Jordan’s rookie season: the white/black/red model (now known as the “Black Toe”) for home games and the black/red model (now referred to as the “Bred”) for road games. The first models Jordan wore for a photo shoot with Chuck Kuhn had the words “Air Jordan” written by the ankle, as the classic “Wings” logo was not yet featured.
The “Chicago” colorway, which was primarily white and red, was apparently not intended to be an original color option. Because of the threat of being fined, Nike was forced to design an alternate colorway that met the NBA’s strict sneaker regulations. Officially, Jordan first rocked the AJ 1 in the NBA on November 17, 1984, in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers. As the season progressed, Jordan went back and forth between the Air Ship and his signature model.
The legend of the “Banned” colorway has grown greater and greater over time. During the All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk contest in February 1985, Jordan broke out the black and red colorway and controversy ensued. Nike and Jordan knew he couldn’t wear those colors in an NBA game, but the Slam Dunk contest didn’t count, so he got away with it. On February 25, however, the NBA commissioner’s office sent Nike another reminder that Jordan was not authorized to wear this colorway in any games. Nike took advantage of Jordan’s rebellious nature by hyping up the warning in a commercial. As Jordan stands against a gray backdrop, handling a ball, the camera moves down him as a voice-over explains: “On September 15th, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18th, the NBA threw them out of the game.” With that, black bars appear over Jordan’s sneakers to the sound of a thud. The voice-over concludes: “Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them. Air Jordans, from Nike.”
Jordan continued to wear the Air Jordan 1 into his sophomore season in 1985–86, but he broke his foot three games in. Nike tinkered with the model to help with his recovery by creating a hybrid Air Jordan 1 with an Air Jordan II sole and an Air Jordan 1 with a Dunk sole. It also designed a model just for him with special straps for added support.
Some thirty-five years after the inaugural Jordan’s release, the “Chicago,” “Black Toe,” and “Banned” versions have proven to be the most popular Jordan 1 colorways of all time, though the “Shadow,” “Black/Royal,” and “Carolina” models also hold a special place in a lot of sneakerheads’ hearts. The exact number isn’t known for sure, but there were at least twenty-three different Air Jordan colorways released originally. Nike came out with low-cut models, metallic-colored Jordans, baby models, and a canvas version called the AJKO (some believe it stands for “Knock Off,” and others believe it stands for “Knock Out”—a nod to canvas and boxing).
Nike waited ten years before releasing Air Jordan 1 retros, which came out late in 1994 and early in ’95, with the return of the “Chicago” and “Bred” colorways. The first retro was not very popular, since most buyers still wanted shoes that were new, with updated designs and technologies like Air Max and Zoom Air cushioning. Jordan Brand waited another six years—after becoming a subsidary in 1997—to release the 1 again, and also released a new mid-top version.
Today, though, it’s hard to keep count of the number of Jordan 1s to come out each year; there are hundreds of colorways. The model has seen serious collaborations, with figures like Travis Scott, Virgil Abloh, Dave White, and Anna Wintour, as well as brands like Levi’s and Fragment Design, putting their stamp on it by way of some of the most coveted makeups to release. And even if you can’t get those versions, you definitely have a go-to. It’s a shoe that’s become exclusive yet remains inclusive. The player who wore them first has inspired millions. But his footwear was more than an emblem of his achievements. The Air Jordan 1 signaled the beginning of athletes transcending the court—or field, or diamond—and influencing culture as a whole through their dress and taste. It must have been the shoes.
Honorable Mention
Nike Dunk
by Brendan Dunne
Never has a shoe been so simultaneously unremarkable and bold as the Nike Dunk. From a design standpoint, the sneaker wasn’t entirely unique when it arrived in 1985. It owed many of its clean lines and roomy, uncluttered panels to the Air Force 1, a genre-defining performance basketball model that preceded it by just a few years. Those same lines overlapped closely with the Air Jordan 1, a shoe that arrived a few months before it and one that has long eclipsed the Dunk in many ways. And still, the Dunk is an indelible icon that has been a cultural canvas for different generations that understand the power of footwear.
Where the Jordan 1 splashed a few colors across the league, the Dunk, a collegiate model dubbed the “College Color High” before its release, painted the entire NCAA with its full palette. Thus was born Nike’s “Be True To Your School” series of Dunks, an original set that remains the most recognizable of the franchise. There was a black pair shining with a school bus yellow made for the University of Iowa. The Kentucky Wildcats version, a rare iteration of which featured the team’s logo on the tongue, had a rich blue. And well before the Fab Five made Michigan’s Wolverines a household name, the 1985 Dunk designed for the school made maize and blue a potent mixture for footwear.
The Dunk would have been a significant shoe if its legacy ended there, at the conjunction of collegiate sports squads and sneaker sponsor money. For a while, it looked like it might—the shoe disappeared in 1988 and didn’t pop back up until 1998, when it found a home in Nike’s burgeoning retro offerings. It was then that the Dunk unlocked its true potential as a vehicle for collaborations and projects that just didn’t make sense on other silhouettes. The Wu-Tang Clan flipped the original Iowa colorway into a grail by adding its logo to the heel. This blueprint would resurface endlessly through Nike SB, Nike’s skateboarding division, which leveled up the Dunk by soaking it in ever more colors. Certain pairs referenced musical artists or adult beverages without proper legal clearance, creating a new lane for storytelling in sneakers and a cottage industry of resellable releases. The Jordan 1, too indebted to its own heavy history then to be quite so playful, couldn’t do it. Nike’s other basketball shoes from 1985 and beyond, mostly forgotten in retro runs, couldn’t do it. The Dunk did it.