The partnership was the result of Nike’s effort to help professional sportsmen in their carrier. Nike has always been a promoter of sports and sportsmen, probably because while they helped athletes, they could also benefit financially from the huge publicity athletes could bring them in return.

Michael Jordan Sneakers

Michael Jordan sneakers were a huge success since they were first released in 1985 because everybody loved Michael Jordan. Every season he would score more points for the Chicago Bulls than ever before in basketball history.

Every kid wanted to be just link him and Michael Jordan sneakers were sold like fresh bred. He was everybody’s idol.

Although quite expensive, many youngsters were making economies to be able to buy themselves a pair of Michael Jordan sneakers. There were even cases where parents were complaining about that. And that was all because Michael was the superstar of the day.

Over the years, Nike released twenty Michael Jordan sneakers models, the last one being launched in February 2005. Every new model was a huge hit with the public.

Michael Jordan sneakers are very popular even today, years after the retirement of the huge basketball star.

Jordan sneakers are the best known items in the most popular of Nike’s product lines, the Air Jordan colection.

In an attempt to help professional athletes in their career and promote its brand, Nike signed contracts with top sportsmen in the 80’s. One of these was Michael Jordan, the best basketball player in history. This partnership led to the creation of the Jordan line, to which, Jordan Sneakers were added in 1985.

Jordan Sneakers

The first Jordan sneaker, the Air Jordan 1, was released in 1985, being received very well by the basketball fans all over the world. The blue and back or blue and white sneakers became a very common wear for children all over America.

The Air Jordan 2 sneakers issued in 1986 were manufactured mostly in Italy. A distinct trait of this pair was that the famous “winged basketball” logo, present on the back area of the Air Jordan 1, was moved to the top of the tongue.

Of course, the line didn’t stop at these two Jordan sneakers models. The latest model is the Air Jordan 20, launched on 19 February 2005. Interesting design features include a “halo” encircling the ankle and a laser-engraved vamp with dozens of symbols engraved in the vamp.

Nike is preparing a new model, Air Jordan 21 sneaker, which will hopefully be launched this year.

Here’s what Nike has to say about Air Jordans:

“The history of flight. The man that changed the game and the shoes that bear his name.”

“We all dream of flight. Releasing ourselves from the shackles of gravity to soar up into the blue. A dream that is embodied by Michael Jordan – not only through his transcendent game, but the rarest of abilities to rise above all challenges in life. And so his namesake Air Jordans become more than just shoes, but an ongoing legacy to the potential that lies within all of us to fly”

Here’s a lit of all the Air Jordans that were released over the years:

Air Jordan I – 1985
Air Jordan II – 1986
Air Jordan III – 1988
Air Jordan IV – 1989
Air Jordan V – 1990
Air Jordan VI – 1990-1991
Air Jordan VII – 1991-1992

To find a good pair for yourself, take a look at this selection of Jordan sneakers at Amazon.com.

Michael, wearing the number 9 on his T-shirt, and his “Dream Team” of 1992 went on and won the final match against Angola at 116-48 and received the gold medal. Wearing the Air Jordan VII, Michael also earned his second MVP award in his carrier.

The seventh sneaker in the Air Jordan line was designed by none other than Tinker Hatfield. While he was working on it, Michael sad down with him and said he wanted the shoe to “stay young and interesting, while remaining sophisticated”.

Air Jordan VII

The technological revolution this shoe introduced was the new Huarache technology that allowed manufacturing a shoe that molded perfectly on your foot and stuck there.

The shoe was also much lighter than previous models, making it easier to take up speed and jump.

A thing one can say about Tinker is that he can get inspiration from anything. All the lines on the Air Jordan 7 were influenced by Western African tribal patterns, which he found on a poster promoting Afro pop music in Portland.

What made many Air Jordan customers frown was the fact that the visible air sole, the Nike Air logo and the sole that would turn yellow after a while were now gone. Well, things are supposed to evolve. The sneaker also featured a neoprene sock liner which was the first of its kind.

For the Olympic event, Nike released the Air Jordan 7 in a special “Olympic” color way, made of the official Olympic colors and Michael Jordan wore them and brought back a gold medal for the United States. Also, the now familiar number 23 on the back was replaced with 9 to correspond with the Jordan’s number in the Dream Team.

Air Jordan VII Olympic

Of all Air Jordans, the AJ VII was definitely the most controversial, being both acclaimed and hated by its buyers. Most previous models were criticized for something, but the scale of the criticism for the Air Jordan 7 was unprecedented. It probably had to do with the fact that by now Michael Jordan was an international superstar and the audience these shoes got was larger than ever.

And speaking of audience, the Air Jordan 7 was supported by a marketing campaign in which Michael Jordan was joined by new other than Bugs Bunny. They would once again star in the movie “Space Jam” four years later. Thanks to this campaign, the sneaker was nicknamed “the Buggs”.

Air Jordan 7 Retro

Despite the love/hate relationship with its customers, the AJ 7 has many fans and each of its retro releases receive lots of attention.

The first Air Jordan 7 Retro was released in 2002 in two color combination. For the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Nike released a retro in Olympic color ways.

In 2006 they released the Air Jordan VII retro in White/Black-Cardinal color combination, along with three other combinations.

After loosing the first game, they won four straight games and people realized that the Bulls were the strongest team in the NBA in a long time.

The Air Jordan VI sneaker was designed, once again, by Tinker Hatfield. This time, Michael Jordan got more involved and specifically ordered to have clean toes. As a result, this was the first air Jordan to have reinforcement around the toe.

Also, on past models, Michael Jordan complained that he had troubles when putting the shoe on, so this time Hatfield added two holes on the top of the tongue and a loop (or a “spoiler”) on the back. He used the concept of clear rubber soles and lace locks from the Air Jordan 5, but the look and the feel of the new shoe were completely different.

Air Jordan VI Olympic

The Air Jordan 6 was the second model to have the clear rubber sole. Many parent complained that the soles of the previous air Jordan 5 were collecting dust and making the shoe slippery, many of the kids ending up on the floor. The Air Jordan 6 got this problem solved with a much more solid rubber.

Michael also made sure to specify that he wanted the heel tab to have a design that would make it not hit his Achilles tendon. Thus, the Jordan 6 was the first shoe to have the structure of the back molded on the foot of the player.

Another design element that was incorporated the number Michael’s player number. If you looked from different angles, you could distinguish the number 23.

Air Jordan 6 Retro

Before an Air Jordan 6 Retro was ever released, Nike published a few designs of the black/black-infra-red model with reversed midsole colors. Collectors all over the world immediately started complaining, claiming that Nike butchered a classic.

Nike took notice of this and released an Air Jordan 6 Retro that looked just like the original. The “butchered” were still released, but in a much smaller number and are now sold for over five times the price of the regular retros.

For the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Nike released a special Air Jordan VI Retro in Olympic colorways. There were only 3000 pairs ever made and they were sold for a fortune.

In 2005, Nike released a special Black/Gold Air Jordan 6 Retro, together with a White/Black/Gold Jordan 11 in a “Defining Moments Package”, to celebrate the defining moment of Michael Jordan’s first championship.

The new model rolled outin a season when the head coach of the Bulls, Doug Collins, was replaced by Phil Jackson, a move which would give the team the best season since Jordan joined them, setting a franchise best record at 55-27. This was also Michael’s best year in his career, scoring 69 points against Cleveland.

It was circulated the Hatfield was inspired by the WW2 Mustang fighter when he designed the Air Jordan 5, mainly because of the clearly visible shark teeth on the midsole.

Air Jordan V Sneakers

The designer took some elements from the previous Air Jordan IV, but there are clearly major design innovations. The most distinctive are the reflective tongue and lace locks.

The Air Jordan V was the first in the Air Jordan line to have a clear rubber sole. They gave the shoe a new look and provide better traction, but had a flaw that would make them turn yellow over time. Some collectors turned to drastic actions like keeping them in 0 humidity environments to preserve their original color.

The Air Jordan 5 model is considered to have the best structure and design for basketball games and sold the most pairs of shoes from the Air Jordan line. The lace locks on the Air Jordan 5 made strapping on the shoe easier and it was considered that it was the best basketball shoe at the time.

Air Jordan 5 Retro

Air Jordan V was first retroed in 1999 in the White/Black-Fire Red and Black/Black-met silver color combinations and as expected, they were in high demand. A second retro release was done in 2006 in the popular LS “Grape” V’s, LS “burgundy” V’s and Fire-Red” V’s color ways. The black/metallic/fire red color combinations were later released in 2007.

One of the Retro+ models that were released featured Michaels high school colors(Laney High School).

When first released in 1990, the Black/Black-Metallic Silver and White/Fire Red-Black combinations were available only in 100 pair that were either given to less privileged children or auctioned.

The Air Jordan 4 was supported by Spike Lee’s now famous Can/Can’t TV commercial and he also featured it in his 1989 movie “Do The Right Thing”, in which there’s a scene where the character “Bugging Out” cleans his pair of Air Jordan 4s with a toothbrush, after a bicyclist accidentally runs over his shoes.

Air Jordan IV Sneakers

Being inspired by Michael Jordan, Tinker Hatfield wanted to reflect in the new model the changes Michael’s personal and professional life.

By this time, Michael was married with Juanita Vanoy and was a father, not just a basketball player and thus the style of the shoe had to change. Both Jordan and Hatfield wanted MJ and Tinker wanted to go back to the original draw board.

The old Air Jordan 3 was more luxurious and classy, so the sudden change to a more functional and utilitarian shoe was received with plenty of initial criticism. By all standards at the time, the new sneaker was ugly. The plastic stabilization lace straps and the “trapezoidal” multi-port lace-locking system didn’t look good but rather cheap.

With all the fuss created around its apparent ugliness, it took everyone by surprise when it became an international bestseller. It looked like exactly the uniqueness of its ugliness made the shoe so appealing. Today, looking back, it doesn’t look that ugly at all. There are uglier sneakers out there these days.

On this new model, the Michael Jordan “Jumpman” logo is featured on the tongue. This and features like the capability to lace the shoe in 18 different patterns enabled people to adapt the Air Jordan IVs to their own style.

The utilitarian aspect of the Air Jordan IV sneaker comes from the use of an over-molded mesh that improves breathability and reduces its weight. The new cushioning sole also helped the shoe become a bestseller.

It was reported that just like Air Jordan 3, the Air Jordan 4 sneakers have a tendency for the midsole to crack around the AIR hole.

Air Jodan 4 Retro

Air Jordan IV Black Cat Retro

The Air Jordan 4 retro came in 1999 in black/cement and black/white color combinations. All stores ran out of them in just a few hours. The reissue replaced certain plastic components in the original with leather.

Nike later released the Air Jordan IV Retro+ which was received with lots of criticism for replacing the Nike Air logo on the back with the Jumpman logo. Everybody complained that Nike has “destroyed a classic”. Nonetheless, this new release was also sold out within hours.

An Air Jordan 4 Laser package was released in 2005 with a t-shirt and hat that retailed for $200, and later that year Nike released a black color way of the laser IVs.

Air Jordan IV Retro Black-Cement-Grey

Nike added a few new color combinations in 2006, including the “Military Blues”, “Mars Blackmons”, “Thunder and Lightning” and all white and all black. Still in 2006 a pair of “Rare Air” IVs released with a price tag of $125.

For the new Air Jordan 3, Nike hired a new designer, Tinker Hatfield, who would later design all Air Jordans up to 15.

He’s also designed the Air Jordan 22 and other athletic sneakers including the world’s first “cross training” shoe – the Nike Air Trainer. It is also rumored that he will design the upcoming Air Jordan 23.

Hatfield is a former athlete who also has an architecture background. Realizing that his knowledge could also be applied to footwear, he designed a sneaker unlike any of the ones before.

Air Jordan III Sneakers

With a rather strange look, the Air Jordan 3 was created as a multi-sport sneaker, because, the designer claims, people usually buy one pair and use it to all sorts of activities, although they aren’t appropriate.

With the new model, this problem is solved because the sneaker now combines the specific qualities of the shoes used in the different sports, while allowing medium to high performance for all.

Air Jordan III was the first sneaker to feature the Jumpman logo, which is now one of the best known logos in the world. Nike dropped the Wings-logo featured on the first two Jordans.

The III’s are also famous for the humorous ads depicting Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon, the commercial featuring him being the most appreciated by the Jordan line fans.

Air Jordan 3 is probably the most popular sneaker in the line and Michael Jordan himself is reported to have said the that the III’s are his personal favorite. This shoe is one of the reason the whole line is so successful.

Air Jordan 3 Retro

The Air Jordan III was retroed for the first time in 1994, but just like all the retros of ’94, it performed poorly and stores had a hard time selling them.

But the Air Jordan 3 Retro of 2001 was a huge success and Nike decided to do another release, with new color combinations, in 2003.

In 2007, the Jordan brand will collaborate once more with director Spike Lee to release a limited pair of III’s in a special colorway for the Do The Right Thing movie poster.

2007 also saw the ‘retroed’ versions of the Jordan III’s in 2 monotone colorways, all black and all white, nicknamed the ‘Black Cat’ and the ‘Pures’, respectively.

The designer of the Air Jordan 2 is either Bruce Kilgore or Eric Huber of King’s College. So far, there’s no official source to confirm any of them as the real creators. The low-tops were very stylish, produced in Italy and were far from the ordinary basketball shoes.

In a season where Michael Jordan became the first player since Wild Chamberlain to top 3000 points in a single season, setting a new NBA record of 61 points against the Atlanta Hawks, Nike came with this new model in 1986, the Air Jordan 2, which unfortunately, thanks to its 100 dollar price tag, never came close to the popularity of its predecessor.

Another hit came when Michael Jordan broke one of his ankles while wearing one of the Air Jordan II’s, which let many potential buyers to think that the shoes were to blame and think of them as potentially dangerous.

Air Jordan II Sneakers

Air Jordan 2 Retros

Air Jordan 2 also performed poorly when retroed the first time, in 1994-1995. But just like the Air Jordan 1, in the 2004 re-retro release, the sales were astonishing.

The best performance of all was that of the white/black-red colorway model, which led Nike to include a black-suede in all retros they’ve made since.

The Air Jordan 2 is the last shoe in the line to feature the “Wings” logo on it. It’s interesting that it’s the only Air Jordan that was never released in an ‘all black’ model, in spite of numerous sketches and prototypes that suggested it might happen someday.

That ‘someday’ took place in 2004, when Nike released the Air Jordan II as a re-retro in a black version that looked astonishing, which let many to wonder why they didn’t do it from the beginning.

In the mid 80’s, Nike was watching closely the basketball scene, looking for a name that would gracefully label their next footwear line.

Surprisingly, Michael Jordan was initially only their third best option.

Air Jordan I Sneakers

But after seeing him perform marvelously for three years in North Carolina and then winning the gold medal as co-captain of the Olympic basketball team in 1984, they realized that he was preparing beautiful surprises in the near future, so Nike immediately had him sign a contract to create the next generation of basketball shoes that would be known as Air Jordan.

The Air Jordan 1 sneaker was designed by Peter Moore. It had a huge yet unexpected publicity boost when the National Basketball Association banned it for violating the league’s ‘color’ rules.

They were seen for the first and last time in an official NBA court on November 17, 1984 during a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Philadelphia 76ers, where the bulls wore these black/red sneakers that did not meet the criteria that specified that they should have at least some white on them.

It is said that Michael Jordan himself didn’t like the black/blue model that much, calling it ‘devil shoe’.

This incident was so well covered by the media that when the Air Jordan I was first released to the public in the next spring, it sold out in a matter of hours.

Colors

An interesting fact is that the Air Jordan I was the shoe that was released in the widest array of colors of the whole Air Jordan sneakers line. 23 color combinations, to be precise.Each pair has a combination of two and comes with two sets of colored laces, to match one of the colors the shoe is made of. For instance, the black/blue model comes with a set of black laces and a set of blue laces.

Besides the official palette, various enthusiasts opened customization shops where they could replace the original colors with any kind of weird combinations they could think of.

Air Jordan 1 Retros

Over the years, Nike reintroduced the Air Jordan I’s, with various success.

The first release of the Air Jordan Retro 3 in 1994 performed poorly. Demand was so low that some stores sold them for as low as 20$.

In 2001 however, the story was different. They were reintroduced as Retro sneakers and the public loved them. They sold out immediately, at prices that defied any common sense.

In 2003, Nike released a leather version of the Air Jordan I, and 2004 saw the release of the Air Jordan 1.5 which may sound like a combination between Jordan I and II, though it looks like none of them.

According to Wikipedia, in 2007 we’ll see a new retro that will include a version of the rare black/red/white model, as part of the “Beginning Moments Package” (BMP).

Carmelo Anthony has been involved in basketball since a kid and this year he helped the US Olympic team win a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

D’Wayne Edwards, Jordan’s footwear design director, collaborated with Anthony to design a shoe that is more complicated but still allows performance.

Jordan Melo M5

He made sure to understand exactly what Carmelo’s needs were and to incorporate them into the sneaker. D’Wayne Edwards was the one who designed all the Melo M Jordan sneakers.

Anthony said that “The Jordan Melo M5 incorporates my personal sense of style and mixes it with support and comfort that allows me the explosive power necessary in today’s game.”

The official launch of the Melo M5 sneaker will take place tomorow during a red-carpet event hosted by the Jordan brand in Hollywood with many athletes and celebrities present.