How did the Air Jordan's first originate ?
 |
|
Early winter 1984, Nike (a struggling shoe company then) had to find another selling segment as the running-shoe craze began to wind down. Nike thought MJ was the man to save the company, hoping that the other products he was already endorsing would rub-off on the shoes. But MJ, a rookie, just out of college didn't like Nike. He liked Converse, the shoes endorsed by North Carolina and coach Dean Smith. But Converse already had great players like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson on their payroll. They weren't prepared to offer a better deal than Nike. The other company MJ was interested in, was Adidas. However Adidas did not show much enthusiasm for this rookie, and in fact gave him a worse deal than Converse!! David Falk (Jordan's agent) wanted Jordan to sign up with Nike because Nike was prepared to give MJ his own line of shoes, called the "Air Jordan". MJ didn't see the significance of a shoe deal. A shoe is a shoe after all, you sign-up and get paid for wearing them. There's no positive spillover effect from a big shoe endorsement back then. No company was willing to hedge their bets on one athlete, to promote their business. But Nike knew Jordan was something special, he was a champion with a big heart, and they put the company on the line for him. MJ was nonchalant towards the whole deal. However, after much "persuasion" from Falk and MJ's parents, the reluctant rookie got on the plane to Nike headquarters in Portland for a special video presentation. The video presentation had slow-motion clips of Jordan's college moves and some of his Olympic dunks played to the hit music "Jump" by the Pointer Sisters. Peter Moore(Nike's Head Designer) showed a few sketches of AJ1 shoes, jumpsuits, and sports apparel with the BLACK AND RED colour. "I can't wear that shoe, those are Devil colours" MJ remarked. Throughout the meeting MJ showed no emotion, in fact he seemed disinterested. Then as he and Falk walked out of the meeting, MJ said to Falk, "Let's make the deal." There you go, the Genesis of Air Jordans. Peter Moore gave us the first AJ Logo which was a basketball with wings lifting it. After MJ won the 1986-87 Slam Dunk comp at Seattle Colliseum, the logo metamorphosised into the Jumpman Logo we all now know. Nike signed Jordan to a US$2.5 million deal for 5 years, plus royalties and other fringe benefits.
|
|
Source : "Bull Session", Johnny Kerr & Terry Pluto, Bonus Books Inc, Chicago, Illinois, First edition 1989, pg. 42-43 |
| 84 - 86 AIR JORDAN I | Banned by the NBA because of the "devil" colours. | |
|
"Yep. At
this stage in his career, he's doing more than I ever did. I couldn't
do what he did as a rookie. Heck, there was one drive tonight. He
had the ball up in his right hand, then he took it down, then he put
it back up. I got a hand on it, fouled him, and he still scored. And
all the while he's in the air. You have to play this game to know
how difficult that is." |
||
| 1985 Black/Red | ||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| 1994 Retros Black/Red | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 1994 Retros White/Red | |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 2000 Retro Grey/Silver (Japan Ltd ed. to 2001 pairs) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 2001 Retros Black/Varsity Royal Blue-White | |
 |
|
|
Price : Packaging : 2002 comes with "Jordan face box", chrome-plated Jumpman keychain and retro card "limited" to 60,000 plus pairs for the black/red!!! 50,000 plus pairs for the black/navy!! Colorways & pics (from www.air-jordans.com
, www.niketalk.com
, www.promo-shoes.com
and www.ebay.com
) Re-Retro 2001 Re-Retro + Re-Retro + 2001 Edition (Japan Exclusives) Re-Retro + 2002 Nu'Retro 2002 Re-Retro + 2003 |
|
Youthful looking MJ in a pair
of custom-made Orange Nike Blazers or maybe AF1 or Vandals. They were
made from "basketball" materials. FYI these ain't AJ1.
 |
Head
Designer :