A mother, one “no” too many and a pair of plastic wings. The history of Air Jordans

We owe a lot to him, and not only for having made the world of football even more popular but above all because it is thanks to him that the timeless nike air jordans, the most loved and sought-after sneakers in the world.

How the revolutionary partnership between MJ and Nike was born in the 1980s inspired the new film directed by Ben Affleck AIR – The story of the great leap which places the feat of the then nascent basketball division of the sneaker brand at the center of the film story with the launch of the «Air Jordan» brand.

The pharaonic contract

On the one hand a promising athlete ready to conquer the parquet, on the other a company mostly known for running but who wanted to aim high and «make shoes» for a brand like Conversewhich then sponsored basketball legends such as Larry Bird And Magic Johnson. Michael but he had already chosen, he would sign with adidas and did not even want to hear the proposal of Nike. Only the farsighted intervention of the mother Deloris managed to convince him: «You have to give them a chance. You will go and listen to them. You may not like it, but you will go and listen to them.’

Thanks to the intuition of the agent of the Nikes, Sonny Vaccaro, the company presented the champion with an offer that was difficult to refuse, especially for such a young player, a deal five-year, $2.5 millionwith a few more stipulations: he should have won the Rookie of the Year award, he would have had to be an All-Star or have at least 20 points per game and his shoes, in three years, should have invoiced 3 million dollars. At the end of the first year there were 126 million.

Jordan tried to change his mind adidas: «I was particularly faithful – says the champion – and therefore I returned with the contract of Nike and I told them that if they got close, even in the slightest, I would sign with them. They didn’t and I replied: “Perfect, because this way you make the choice easier for me”». On October 26, 1984 he signed the contract and began one of the most fruitful deals in history.

Done Jordan you have to do the Air

At the start Michael he wore in the pre-season and on his Nike Air Ship, recently auctioned for one million and 472 thousand dollarsand meanwhile Peter Moore was grappling with the design of the sneakers that changed history.

The NBA star and designer they worked closely together to create a product that could satisfy both. In particular Michael wanted a shoe that was also low, more in contact with the ground so that you can better perceive the parquet. Everything was then combined with the revolutionary air sole Nike and it was precisely this detail that gave the agent of the NBA star the idea of ​​the name of the shoes David Falik: «We would call them Air Jordans, because he (Jordan) flies».

Moore’s will was to create a shoe that differed from all those seen up to that moment: «The idea was to break the color barrier in footwear. Before, 99% of the shoes were black or white, so I decided to design a shoe that really captured the color. In this case red, black and white».

A non-random combination since they are the colors of Chicago Bullsbut not at first glance they did not excite MJ who defined the palette as: «The colors of the devil», since they are similar to those of the basketball team of the North Carolina State Universitybitter rivals of the varsity team of Michael. Luckily the colors remained.

An air travel logo

Not just shoe design: Peter Moore in fact he also drew the logo of the Air Jordans, the ball with wings and above the slightly curved name of the footwear (even before the iconic Jumpman which entered the communication of the brand in 1988). How was the idea born? In flight, of course. The designer was thinking about what the logo should look like and had an epiphany on the way home after a meeting at company headquarters. Nike to Beaverton, Oregon.

Among the passengers he saw a boy with a pair of plastic captain’s wings on his shirt, which had been given to him by the stewardess earlier, and he understood that those were the key. She asked for a pair too: ‘The lady looked at me like I was some kind of idiot, but she gave them to me. I sat down and started drawing wings and in the middle I put a basketball. All on a cocktail napkin.’

The launch and censorship

The date that changed the world of sneakers forever is the 1985when the Air Jordan I debuted on the field and on the market priced at $65. But there was no shortage of criticism, especially from the NBA federation.

The color did not comply with the dress code of the American basketball federation. For this they were “banned” and even one was planned fine from 5,000 dollars each time the athlete showed up on the field with shoes. To make the number 23 of the Chicago Bulls continued to wear Air Jordans, Nike took charge of the fines and not only because the controversy was used to create a advertising campaign that became legend and which read as follows: «On September 15, Nike created a new and revolutionary basketball shoe. On October 18, the NBA banned her from the league. Luckily the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them. Air Jordans. By Nike.” How to make a wish in scarce 30 seconds.

Fame and collaborations

By now, however, the stone had been thrown and Air Jordans soon became the object of desire of everyone, sportsmen and fans, kicking off a real cultural revolution through a pair of shoes. Capable of making the big screen fall in love, from Spike Lee in Do the right thing (where Nike Air Jordan IV are framed) up to the latest effort by Ben Affleckbut also to attract stylists from all over the world who collaborated to create their own unique and inimitable model.

There are those who have decided to play with the silhouette of the shoe and those who have decided to play with the colour: hence the encounter with Off White And Virgil Abloh or even with Diorwho made Air Jordans in the famous Dior Grey and embellished the swoosh Nike with the Dior Oblique jacquard pattern.

But there are also models created together with artists such as con Travis Scott or Billie Eilish. In short, there are many testimonies of how Air Jordans have become a timeless element of streetwear that since 1985 still today it doesn’t stop making nostalgic people fall in love with it and Gen Z too. After all, it’s almost impossible not to find a pair of Air Jordans in anyone’s shoe rack. From the neighbor to the celebs in the gallery below.