Jordan Brand History

Nike Air Jordan . This is the case when the name speaks for itself, the legendary model of sneakers that came to us from the basketball courts, won the love of millions of people around the world, even far from the popular ball game. Today we dive into the history of this shoe and find out what is so special about it and why these shoes are so popular.

It all started back in 1984. At the time, Michael jordan 1 chateau rouge was new to the NBA and was preparing to sign his first contract with a shoe manufacturer. At that time, the Converse brand was the main supplier of basketball shoes for NBA players and had already managed to sign such legendary players as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Converse also wanted to sign Michael, but he did not agree, as the brand had already signed several star players and Michael decided that he would not fit in. By the way, it was in Converse sneakers that Jordan played for the team of the University of North Carolina.

Jordan's favorite shoes at that time were adidas sneakers, but due to some circumstances, adidas did not sign him to a contract. Why did it happen we wrote in our article 20 amazing facts about adidasWe recommend you take a look. Jordan's agent, David Falk, wanted him to move to Nike, which at the time was better known for its running shoes, but Michael wasn't interested. So Falk turned to Jordan's mother, Deloris. Michael's mom convinced him to listen to an offer from Nike. Nike showed Jordan the entire collection, as well as videos of his highlights. jordan 1 chateau rouge was unimpressed by the presentation and even said that he would not be wearing the sneakers as they were "the color of the devil". David Falk described Jordan's face as "Pokerface" - complete indifference, this continued even when Nike invited them to dinner. As a result, the brand offered him a big contract, unheard of for a newcomer, and his father said that he must be a fool not to accept it. That's what Jordan did.

Nike offered Jordan $500,000 a year in cash for five years. The best players of that time did not receive more than $ 100,000 a year, and Jordan was still a rookie and received a contract of as much as 500 thousand! Indeed, it is hard not to agree. Jordan even brought the Nike contract to adidas and asked them to at least get closer to the Nike contract because he really wanted to play in adidas shoes, but the brand refused.

After signing a contract with Nike, Jordan began wearing the brand's shoes and the first model was not the Jordans at all, but the Nike Air Ship model.

The name Air Jordan came to mind quite succinctly, as Jordan was known for his dunks and high jumps, and Nike recently introduced the Air cushion. And so it happened - Air Jordan. After the appearance of the model of the same name, the sneakers made a splash both on and off the court. In stores, sneakers appeared in April 1985 and immediately became a hit at a cost of $ 65. Nike had sold $70 million worth of shoes by May - just a month after release. And by the end of the year, the Air Jordan brand had earned Nike over $100 million. shopbelart The success was overwhelming, because when one of the best players of all time - perhaps the best athlete of all time - started selling shoes, his fans wanted to get their hands on them. When signing the contract, Nike expected to sell $3 million worth of Air Jordans at the end of the fourth year."

The NBA at that time had a rule according to which all players must play in white or black sneakers that match the team uniform. When Michael first wore black and red, the distinctive colors of the Chicago Bulls, he immediately received a $5,000 fine. But, instead of taking them off, Nike decided it was a great opportunity to promote their brand and paid for all of Jordan's subsequent NBA fines. By the way, he received fines for every game in the sneakers of the same name.

Fans appreciated this act when an athlete does something in his own way, because he really likes it, despite the fines and rules. This added even more popularity to sneakers.

After some time, when Michael Jordan retired, the Jordan brand was not going through the best of times, also because Nike did not develop it much, as the models were still buying steadily. In 2017, the course was taken on collaborations with other brands and famous personalities.

A prime example of this collaboration is the Jordan I Retro High Off-White. Designed with famous, late fashion designer Virgil Abloh

Thanks to numerous collaborations and a large-scale advertising campaign, by 2018 the brand regained its popularity. Last year, the Jordan brand earned $4.7 billion, and MJ personally earned $150 million in commissions. According to reports, if you add up all the other brand clothing that NBA stars sell, only the Jordan sneaker sells more than they do combined.