User:Jason.H29/Air Jordan

Air Jordan is a line of basketball shoes and athletic apparel produced by Nike, Inc. The first Air Jordan shoe was produced for Hall of Fame former basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls in late 1984 and released to the public on April 1, 1985. The shoes were designed for Nike by Peter Moore, Tinker Hatfield, and Bruce Kilgore. The company generated over $5.1 billion in sales, earning Michael Jordan 5% of the revenue, totaling $256 million for that year because of his brand contract.

Air Jordan has also become an iconic cultural symbol. The Jordan Logo, known as the "Jumpman", originated from a photo-shoot done for LIFE Magazine before Jordan played for Team USA in the 1984 Olympic Games, photographed by Jacobus Rentmeester. This photo-shoot was taken before Jordan signed with Nike in 1985, with Jordan wearing his Olympic jumpsuit and New Balances doing a pose identical to the grand jeté ballet technique. Peter Moore, who was in charge of the design team, came across this LIFE magazine issue and Jordan ended up replicating the same pose for the pair of Nike shoes. The “Jumpman” logo has developed and gone through different changes and can be seen on sneakers, attire, hats, socks, and other forms of wear. The logo has also become one of the most recognizable logos in the athletics industry.

The Jordan brand also focuses on philanthropy with many large donations throughout the years to communities, athletes, and schools. The brand pledges to help with pressing issues in black communities through grants to the communities focusing on economic justice, education, social justice, and Narrative changes to the youth.

Background
As Jordan was entering his rookie year in 1984, he was approached by Adidas, Converse, and Nike to sign a shoe deal to play in their shoes. Nike comprised a compelling meeting with Jordan, playing a "highlight video of Jordan’s various dunks and anti-gravitational moves, scored to the 1984 pop song “Jump,” by the Pointer Sisters" as well as giving the first design of the shoe to showcase to Jordan. Jordan criticized the shoe for its color way, however Nike put his opinion and criticisms into a great deal of consideration to create a brand that represents Jordan's identity as a play and create his "real signature shoe". Jordan had many offers however, Nike was the only one that was determined to make Jordan "a stand-alone star and give him a signature shoe line" the other companies saw Jordan as a figure that they could use. Jordan ultimately signed with Nike for $2.5 million for 5 years, in addition to royalties for each sale of his shoe line.

The NBA policy stated that the shoes must be 51% white and in accordance with the shoes that the rest of the team was wearing. Failure to follow this policy resulted in a $5,000 fine per game. Nike designed the Air Jordan I based around the Chicago Bull's colors, red and black, and only 23% white, which was a violation of that policy. Nike agreed to pay each fine, which ended up in a lot of controversy but also gained a lot of publicity for the shoe. With the fines that the NBA placed on Jordan for wearing the shoes, it gave a unique trait to what people associated them with, as ground breaking since it broke the rules of the NBA. They also took advantage of this marketing opportunity with the Air Jordan I "Banned" advertisement, which stated "On Oct. 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On Oct. 18, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can’t keep you from wearing them. Air Jordan. From Nike." The shoe ended up selling out 50,000 pairs and generated more than $150 million in sales.

On September 9, 1997, Michael Jordan and Nike introduced Jordan Brand (originally called 'Brand Jordan') in a press conference he held in New York City. The shoes first appeared on store shelves on November 1, 1998. The brand has built a sustainable business model by releasing new designs, retro models, and collaborating with popular artists including Travis Scott, Eminem, and Drake. Jordan Brand reached over US$5 billion in sales in 2022, of which Michael Jordan made US$150 million—nearly double the US$86.7 million he earned in his entire NBA career.

Collaborations
Air Jordan has collaborated with many brands and artists, having them create a unique Air Jordan to call their own. These include celebrities like Drake, Billie Eilish, J Balvin, DJ Khaled, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, and Mark Wahlberg. After a collaboration with Nike on its Air Force One in 2017, rapper Travis Scott partnered with Jordan Brand to design Cactus Jack iterations of the Air Jordan 1, Air Jordan 4 and Air Jordan 6.

Air Jordan has worked with streetwear companies, fashion houses and soccer clubs. Collaborations include Virgil Abloh and his brand Off-White, Supreme, Commes de Garcons, Kaws, Dior and Paris Saint-Germain.

Social and Cultural Impact
Air Jordans have become a huge symbol in sneaker culture and can be seen worn all around the world today. The impact of Air Jordans has expanded from basketball and into fashion, pop culture, and hip-hop. Air Jordans are a major staple in casual wear and streetwear culture. The popularity of the sneaker has risen from its connection to the hip-hop scene since 1985. Rappers in the 1990s including Notorious B.I.G., Ice Cube, and Jay-Z mention Jordan's sneakers and success in their music. They have also been seen on many iconic hip-hop album covers including Eazy-E wearing Air Jordan III on the Eazy Duz It album cover and music videos including "Otis" where Jay-Z and Kanye West are seen wearing the Air Jordan I and Air Jordans VI. The shoes have also been seen worn by many artists and celebrities on a casual and everyday basis. Collaborations between hip-hop artists and the Jordan brand have also driven popularity, including Travis Scott's "Cactus Jack" collaborations with the Jordan Brand and Nike. With the Jordan Brand having a huge impact on hip-hop culture, it has become a status symbol.

The Air Jordans have also been seen throughout television, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Will Smith can be seen wearing different models of the shoe throughout the show including the "Metallic" Air Jordan Vs in the pilot episode and the "Colombia" Air Jordan XI in the last episode of the series. With the impact that the show made on the Jordan Brand, they released a few pairs of Air Jordan Vs that associate to the show. The Air Jordans have also been referenced in Do the Right Thing, in a scene where the character Buggin' Out, played by Giancarlo Esposito, gets his Air Jordan IV scuffed by a bike on the sidewalk, and then confronts the man who scuffed his shoes and then opens a discussion on gentrification in Brooklyn. This film has impacted the Jordan Brand with the iconic quote that came from the scene "He stepped on my brand-new white Jordans!" and the brand even ended up releasing a replica of the "White Cement" Air Jordan IV in 2017 as seen in the movie, with the custom green, yellow and red laces and the scuff on the side of the shoe. Other sights and mentions of Air Jordans in television and film include He Got Game, the Air Jordan XIII were seen on Jake Shuttlesworth played by Denzel Washington and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, the Jordan Retro Is seen on animated Miles Morales. The Jordan Brand had made many appearances and references in film and television and had a great influence in shaping media and pop culture.

The shoes have also had a great impact on the rise of "sneakerhead" culture. In the 1970s, collecting sneakers have become more common, as well as trading and reselling them. As new models came out, more Air Jordans have become in demand and a significant shoe to have in collections. Reselling Air Jordans have become highly profitable and hundreds or thousands of dollars are spent on rare sneakers, including the original 1985 Air Jordan I on StockX selling up to $20,000. With the sneakers evolving overtime and introducing new models, the sneakers have been rising in value for collectors and becoming a staple in their collections.

Controversy
The polyurethane (PU) material that sits in the soles of many Air Jordan models is a cause of controversy and why many collectors find that their vintage pairs are so often unwearable. Known as PU degradation, polyurethane soles are susceptible to hydrolysis and oxidation, and shoes with this material have been found to have a poor aging performance. Nike does not provide information as to the type of PU they use in their Air Jordan lines, and have avoided answering questions in the past, as was the case in Wired's widely cited article on the PU controversy within the sneaker community, "We asked Nike about PU degradation and what might be done about it, but the company declined to comment."

The Air Jordan line has also been associated with many riots, assaults, robberies, and murders, such as the murder of a 15-year-old high school student named Michael Eugene Thomas who was choked to death by one of his peers for a pair of Air Jordan sneakers in 1989.

In 1988, principal Dr. Robin Oden of Mumford High School in Detroit mentioned that clothing-related violence had reached a point where he felt it was necessary to ban certain items of clothing, including the Air Jordan sneaker, from school grounds. This ban was the first of many dress codes implemented in schools after a wave of robberies, beatings, and shootings over possession of Air Jordan sneakers and other items of clothing.

Manufacturing
Nike owns none of the factories where Air Jordans are produced and contracts the work to various factory owners. Company officials say that they only design and market the shoes. However, Nike dictates production terms and standards to the contractor, often without questioning labor or safety practices. In April 1997, 10,000 Indonesian workers went on strike over wage violations at an Air Jordan factory. The same month in Vietnam 1,300 workers went on strike demanding a 1-cent-per-hour raise, and a year later in 1998, 3,000 workers in China went on strike to protest hazardous working conditions and low wages.

Sponsorships
Starting in 2016, Air Jordan became the sole equipment provider for the Michigan Wolverines American football team. This marked the brand's first venture into a sport besides basketball. As of 2023, Air Jordan was also the equipment provider for the North Carolina Tar Heels, Oklahoma Sooners, Florida Gators, and UCLA Bruins football programs.

In 2018, the Jordan brand sponsored an association football (soccer) club for the first time in its history, when French club Paris Saint-Germain F.C. displayed the Jumpman logo on their third kits, worn in the 2018–19 edition of UEFA Champions League.

NCAA College Football

 * University of Florida
 * University of Oklahoma
 * University of Michigan
 * University of California, Los Angeles
 * University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
 * Howard University
 * University of Houston

Association football

 * 🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain

Teams

 * 23XI Racing

Drivers

 * Kurt Busch
 * Denny Hamlin

National teams

 * Croatia
 * 🇫🇷 France
 * Slovenia

Africa

 * 🇸🇳 DUC

NBA Official Statement

 * National Basketball Association ("Statement" edition, NBA All-Star Game and Charlotte Hornets uniforms only)

NCAA Basketball Teams

 * University of North Carolina
 * University of Florida
 * University of Oklahoma
 * University of California, Los Angeles
 * University of Houston
 * Georgetown University
 * Marquette University
 * Howard University
 * San Diego State University
 * The University of Cincinnati

High school teams

 * Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School

Other teams

 * 🇵🇭 Ateneo de Manila University (Philippine college)

NBA players

 * Bam Adebayo
 * Carmelo Anthony
 * Bismack Biyombo
 * Mike Conley Jr.
 * Luka Dončić
 * Andre Drummond
 * Blake Griffin
 * Rui Hachimura
 * Victor Oladipo
 * Bradley Beal
 * Chris Paul
 * Otto Porter Jr.
 * Jayson Tatum
 * Moe Wagner
 * Kemba Walker
 * Russell Westbrook
 * Zion Williamson
 * Cody Zeller

NFL players

 * Dak Prescott
 * Davante Adams


 * Michael Thomas
 * Stefon Diggs
 * Jarvis Landry
 * Chase Claypool
 * Sterling Shepard
 * Alshon Jeffery
 * Kyle Pitts
 * Melvin Ingram
 * Bobby Wagner
 * Devin White
 * D'onta Hightower
 * Stephon Gilmore
 * Joe Haden
 * Jamal Adams
 * Tyrann Mathieu
 * Deebo Samuels

Jordan Wings
The Jordan Brand partners with the UNCF and others to fund the higher education of underprivileged youth.

Looney Tunes and Space Jam
On January 26, 1992, Jordan Brand debuted a commercial during Super Bowl XXVI which showed Bugs Bunny enlisting the help of Michael Jordan to outsmart a bullying rival team using cartoon gags. A second ad premiered in 1993 featuring Bugs and Jordan facing off against Marvin the Martian. The ads inspired Jordan's agent, David Falk, to pitch a film starring Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters. The pitch resulted in Space Jam, a commercial success which grossed over $230 million at the box office and generated over $1 billion in merchandise sales. The success of the advertising campaign and the film contributed to the popularity of Looney Tunes and other cartoon characters as motifs in street fashion through the 1990s and 2000s.

Television and films

 * Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
 * The Last Dance, sports documentary miniseries,
 * Air (2023)
 * The Last Dance, sports documentary miniseries,
 * Air (2023)