Collaborations brought the brand back in late , and it's still having a moment today. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In , Nike teamed up with Michael Jordan to launch Jordan Brand, a brand of shoes and athletic wear built around the player. At the time, Nike was a struggling brand selling running shoes with an idea to reinvent itself as a company for athletic stars. Unfortunately for Nike, Jordan really wanted to work with Adidas.
But, Adidas wasn't really an option for Jordan, as the company was undergoing a leadership shift at the time. Converse, the shoe Jordan wore while playing for the University of North Carolina, wanted to sign Jordan, but it already had celebrity athlete endorsers in Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Converse made Jordan an offer, but he reportedly wasn't excited by it and didn't know where he would fit in the brand's already star-studded lineup.
Still, Jordan made one last attempt at his dream company, taking Nike's offer to Adidas and asking them to come "anywhere close" to the offer. It didn't work out with Adidas, and Jordan ultimately signed with Nike. Nike wanted to build an entire line around Jordan's almost-superhuman ability to dunk, according to ESPN.
Once Jordan was on board, he began wearing the brand's shoes on the court. The very first pair that he wore from his eponymous brand was called Air Jordan I. It caused a lot of commotion both on and off the court. The shoes were originally released to stores in April , and they were an instant hit. Nike cofounder Phil Knight called the success of Air Jordan I "the perfect combination of quality product, marketing, and athlete endorsement.
Athlete endorsement is a strategy that many companies have employed over the years. From burgers to cellphones, NBA players are great at selling just about anything. Naturally, when one of the best players of all time — arguably the best athlete of all time — started selling sneakers, his fans wanted to get their hands on them.
Fans saw Jordan do things his own way when it came to playing the game, but this was the first time they saw him make what was essentially a huge fashion statement, Matt Cohen, VP of business development and strategy at GOAT Group, told Business Insider.
Two longtime Air Jordan collectors and members of the sneaker community told Business Insider their love for the brand started when they were kids watching MJ play ball. The longtime collector used to visit family in Chicago, and after the Bulls won their first "three-peat" — the famous back-to-back-to-back championship — she started paying attention to Jordan, the man.
Mandapat started collecting Air Jordans in the year , when she was a junior in high school. That was the year that Nike started to "retro" — or bring back into the market — certain Jordan styles. Her very first pair were the Air Jordan XIs. Mandapat worked in retail — sneaker retail, of course — so she could put herself through college and afford to build up her Jordan collection. She said she became friends with other people in sneaker retail and they formed a sort of community, often calling on one another to help them get a new pair that was coming out.
Both Mandapat and Cohen identified the s as an era of "everything throwback. Cohen has been collecting shoes since the late '90s, when he was in his early teens. For him, "it was about always wanting that shoe. Demand for each season's Jordans was high, Cohen said. At that point it was great — you only had to get there three hours early, waiting for that shoe to release," he said.
I was two hours late, but that's neither here nor there, don't tell my teachers. It's been ingrained in Cohen since he was a kid, and he's not the only one.
This phenomenon gave Nike the opportunity to successfully employ the idea of a "retro. When a style was retro'd, that meant it was an older style — likely from the days Jordan was playing ball — that was revived and re-released into the retail market. It cause a lot of conflick. There were 2 versions of the first jordans, i. Instead, at home he would typically don the the version shown in the 2nd pic with the black front.
This version however, was not available to the public. I had a pair of every style 1- My favorites are the 2, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, Thats it. I have four Jordan, and let me just say that I would never trade any of them, no madder how much money they offer. Love the 13 felt so good on my feet and they were crazy when it came to the look.
Ya heard. Name required. Mail will not be published required. Share 3K. Pin But, when it comes to Air Jordans' popularity, the rest is history. The shoe became a must-have status symbol of the late '80s and '90s—and it's still a street style staple today. It was more than a status symbol—you knew that this guy was the guy. For his last game playing at Madison Square Garden as a Bull, Jordan chose to wear his Jordan 1s, the first shoe he wore to play at MSG, his favorite place to play, he says in the documentary.
Of course, it didn't quite go as he had hoped—"by halftime, my feet are bleeding," Jordan says in the doc, admitting that "innovation has taken a long turn"—but he stuck through it. The Air Jordan has now seen numerous iterations, but the Air Jordan 1 remains iconic, which is why the original version is still being produced today. And after watching The Last Dance , I've officially been influenced into investing in a pair of Jordans of my own.
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