![]() On my way to a Bermudian cooking class in Lower Manhattan, I almost collided into an office worker (both of us deep in our iPhones) wearing a charcoal overcoat, dad jeans, and white and pale gray Jordan 1. I was recently taking an afternoon walk in my New York City neighborhood and I noticed a young girl wearing a navy plaid Catholic school uniform paired with navy and white Jordan 1 mid. These days, it feels like I see the Jordan 1 everywhere. Its popularity created an intrinsic sense of belonging-a lighting rod of hope. Like Converse Chuck Taylors, Levi’s 501s, or the Apple iPhone, the Jordan 1 is a classic American invention, its design, form, and function exploding into a cult of personality that is bigger and broader than anyone ever expected. Jordan 1 collaborations with pro BMX biker Nigel Sylverster and Houston rapper Travis Scott has engaged young influencers to endear even younger consumers to this now legacy brand.ģ9 years later, Jordan 1 still symbolizes all these things for me, but has now become iconic for so many people globally. Collaborations with luxury fashion brands like Off-White, Comme des Garçons, and Christian Dior have given Jordan 1 fashion caché. Now, these actions occur on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, at retailers like Flight Club and Stadium Goods, on websites like StockX, Grailed, and Round Two, or applications like GOAT. Enabled by eBay, sneakerhead culture gave consumers the opportunity to buy, trade, and resale sneakers. In 2020, Sotheby’s auction house sold a pair of Jordan 1s for $560,000. The result is that the Jordan 1s are some of the most coveted shoes today. The infamy and the instant cool-factor of the Jordan 1, and later Air Jordan, was a fashion and marketing alley-oop-the pinnacle for an athlete branded product and a feat that wasn’t surpassed by anyone else. Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.”īy the end of the season, Jordan became the NBA Rookie of the Year-and Jordan 1 sales total $126 million. 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. A Nike commercial featuring a young Jordan bouncing a basketball with censor bars over his sneakers. Nike, a relative newcomer to the world of athletic shoes with cutting edge technology and out-of-the box marketing strategies, turned the $5,000 fines into an opportunity to community-build an even larger fan base around the latest NBA star and ignite the idea of revolution in young people in the U.S. The shoes subsequently became known as “BANNED” -and Nike, smartly, decided to make lemons out of lemonade. Each time Jordan laced up his Jordan 1, he was actually fined $5,000.00 per game. Bold and braggadocious, the Jordan 1, like the player who wore them, received a lot of attention. Because of this colorway, the Jordan 1’s nickname became “BRED”. Moore pushed this idea by creating Jordan 1 in red, black, and white-the Chicago Bulls colors. Occasionally, the sneakers were white with the accent color of the team. In 1984, most NBA regulation basketball sneakers were simply all black or all white. Aside from the innovative construction-the fixed straps to the forefoot and ankle for more stability, a heel cup for extra support, padded ankle collars for a more comfortable fit, air cushions, and the winged logo on the upper part of the high tops-the most notable innovation of the Jordan 1 design (and the most disruptive) was the color. I put a basketball in the middle of them.” “She gave me the wings, and I sat down and started drawing the wings. “The flight attendant had just given it to him, so I said, ‘Can I have a pair of those wings?’” Moore told Slam magazine in 2018. As the legend goes, in a meeting in Washington with Nike executives, David Falk (Jordan’s agent) suggested the name Air Jordan because of Michael’s ability to gracefully soar through the air while making his famous dunk shots.Īllegedly, after the meeting, Moore sketched the winged logo on a cocktail napkin during a flight back to the Nike HQ in Beaverton, OR, after seeing an attendant handing out a winged pendant to a child. The answer is Peter Moore, the first Creative Director for Nike who designed the Jordan 1. So how does a utilitarian sneaker become iconoclastic?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |