~23 History~

It’s Not Enough To Be Casual

kimster09 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:57:21 +0000

Not only are they seen running down the court, but also dashing along the track, tackling in the football field, cantering around the bases, pacing to the soccer goal, and shuffling in the ring. These are merely a few examples of what Air Jordans can do outside of the casual wear. In 1993, Michael Jordan retired from the basketball world to pursue a career as a major league baseball player. His late father, James R. Jordan, who was murdered earlier that year, always envisioned his son would be a professional baseball player, so Jordan tried to pursue his father’s dream. He shocked the world when he attended Spring Training for the Chicago White Sox, a minor league team, in March of 1994. He later appeared in the major leagues as No. 45 for the Birmingham Barons. In 1995, he stated in a press conference that he was returning to the NBA to play once again with the Chicago Bulls, but this time when he stepped on the court he would be showcasing his baseball number. Also in 1995, Jordan released a new sneaker. The Air Jordan XI (1I) heightened the new topic. Rather than sporting the 23 original, it featured Jordan’s new number, 45. The number also appeared on some other Jordan sneakers, but also a few headlined both numbers such as “2345″. The number was not the only change within the sneaker. Throughout the years, recognizing Jordan’s baseball history and football appearances he made at EA Laney High School in North Carolina, the Jordan line released an Air Jordan cleat. The craze then spread throughout other sports and the line got bigger, settling with soccer, track & field, boxing, and even Suzuki bike racing. Along with the expansion came major endorsement deals. Michael took on 17 basketball players, Carmelo Anthony being the most well known, 7 football players such as Terrell Owens, April Holmes from track & field, 2 baseball players like Derek Jeter, 2 boxers, one of which is Roy Jones Jr., and a few more from other sports. The endorsements also grew to a team wide span. Some of my favorite colleges, such as, University of Cincinnati and the University of North Carolina, have taken on the sneaker as well.

Tyler Hansbrough from UNC sports the Air Jordan Sneaker

23 Flavors Bounces Back from Controversy

kimster09 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:16:08 +0000

As the third pick of the NBA draft in 1984, Michael Jordan was the rookie player for the Chicago Bulls. That year marked a big accomplishment when he also signed an endorsement deal with Nike and created his own brand “Air Jordans”. His original sneaker, the AJI, first appeared on court in 1985 with Jordan himself sporting the shoe. They were his trademark colors, black and red, and became banned by the NBA because they were in violation of the on-court dress code. Nike was so determined to create a large franchise that they were more than willing to pay the $5000 fine for each court appearance the shoe made. The dues weren’t a problem though. Nike benefited from the banning and created campaigns with the message of how there shoe got banned because it was so “hot”. The campaigning payed off and a lot of people started buying the shoe. The Air Jordan I was the only kicks to be released in 23 colors, also known as the 23 favors. The most popular colors were the Chicago Bulls team colors, black and red.My favorite color of the 23 flavors is the Carolina blue and white. Carolina blue comes for North Carolina Tar Heels, the college Jordan played for and led to many victories. All the Jordans I own are normally a navy blue, but Carolina blue has always been my favorite. In 1994, the Air Jordans I were re-released as a retro shoe and hardly sold, but Nike didn’t give up on the original sneaker and made a new retro for the sneaker in 2001. The second time was definitely a charm. The shoe was in high demand and some stores sold out of them just minutes after hitting the shelves. I like all the different colors the retro line has. The design is so “different” from the other Air Jordans and more colors can appear on one shoe without it looking tacky. Bright colored retros are my favorite and I like how the first logo is issued in the AJI.

Logo Franchise

kimster09 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:48:14 +0000

Peter Moore, the original designer of the jordan sneaker, created the first logo to be printed on the shoe. The “basketball with wings” was the premiere emblem for the company in 1984. The logo had a quick life span and was only featured in the first two series (Air Jordan I and Air Jordan II).

First Air Jordan Logo

In 1988 Peter Moore left Nike as the creative director, and a new designer, Tinker Hatfield, stepped up to take the position. Hatfield scratched Moore’s designs out of the book and took into consideration of what Michael Jordan would like for his line of sneakers. He incorporated Jordan’s ideas into the shoe and added a ballet move from Michael that then became the new logo for Air Jordans. Since then the “jumpman” has been on every shoe from AJIII to now. Hatfield has designed AJIII to AJXV and returned to design the twentieth anniversary j’s and the final numbered series, the AJXXIII. When the “jumpman” was first featured on the franchise it displayed the word “Air” underneath it, now it has no words and is just the “jumpman” emblem. Many ads have been used to promote the Jordan sneaker, but the most popular advertisement occurred in 1987 when Michael Jordan appeared in an advertising commercial with director/ actor/producer, Spike Lee. Due to a huge hit with sneaker fans, Jordan and Lee continued with a series of commercials and earned the nickname ‘Mars and Mike’. Mars was from the character Spike Lee plays, Mars Blockmon,in the movie She’s Gotta Have It and Mike is just a nickname for Michael. Jordan continued to distribute new ideas into each shoe the brand has come out with. Some of the sneakers aren’t apart of the numbers line, but still feature the brand. The most popular non-signature shoe of the jordan brand is the “Air Jordan Dub Zeros”. The Dub Zeros were first released in 2005 and featured a mixture of jordan qualities within the numbers line. I own the dub zeros and they are the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever owned. I purchased the sneaker in December of 2006 when it was re-released to the public due to a high sale in the first release.

Air Jordans 2009

kimster09 — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:16:02 +0000

The new 2009 Air Jordan sneaker was released to the public January 8. The sneaker incorporates new technology in basketball footwear called Articulated Propulsion Technology (APT). Instead of continuing the numerical names for the shoes such as XXIII (23), the 24 sneaker will start the new names by year “Air Jordan 2009″. The shoe resembles a womens heel in a way, so I’m not really feeling the style yet. I think they look really comfortable though and the black one’s are better than the white so far, but we’ll see what other colors they come out with.

black air jordan 2009

Both foot locker and Eastbay are selling the sneaker for $189.99 which I think is a little pricey for the shoe, but it’s probably that expensive because of the new technology it offers. The Jordan franchise has come a long way since it began in 1984. Before the release of Air Jordan I, Michael Jordan wanted nothing to do with the Nike brand. He was more into Adidas and Converse, but they wouldn’t sign him because he was a rookie basketball player and didn’t want to take the risk. Meanwhile, Nike was a troubled brand and needed to make some major endorsements, so instead of having Michael wear they’re Nike’s, they made him his own sneaker. Jordan signed a major endorsement deal for $2.5 million for the next five years. He was still ‘iffy’ about the sneaker, but Nike kept coming up with new ideas that caught his attention, such as letting him express his own opinions and styles within the shoe. In 1997, Air Jordan became it’s own sub brand to Nike and branched off into a popular fad. I have yet to see anyone rockin’ the new j’s at my school, but I’m sure someone will continue the craze.

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