Jordan Air Ship

It's one of the most famous moments in sneaker history – the Jordan "banned" saga. As the story goes, in the lead-up to his rookie season in 1984-85 Michael Jordan was sporting a pair of Nikes in black and red. The lack of white on them breached the NBA's strict uniform guidelines, leading to them reportedly fining Jordan $5,000 each time he wore them on-court and eventually leading to a letter being sent to Nike from the NBA after MJ wore them against the Celtics in '84. This iconic moment would only add to the lore of the Air Jordan and the "banned" commercials Nike made off the back of this saga cemented the Air Jordan 1 as the must-have sneaker.

The only problem, is that Jordan never wore the AJ1 in 1984... Indeed MJ never even wore the famed "banned" Jordan colourway on-court during a game. So what's the deal? Instead of his debut signature model, in 1984 Jordan was wearing a black and red version of the Nike Air Ship complete with "Air Jordan" branding on the heel tab. To be more specific, Jordan was wearing custom one-off versions of the Air Ship with different collar heights and a rotation of different outsoles which were all part of Nike both trialling ideas for MJ and also due to supply chain issues. History is a funny thing, as the internet has been illuminated to the fact thanks to the work of people like Marvin Barias the myth still persists.

This historical inaccuracy has plagued the Air Ship’s legacy — creating a sort of block on peoples ability to appreciate what could be one of Nike’s most important basketball shoes. Indeed the Air Ship was the second Air-equipped basketball sneaker ever. Designed by Air Force 1 designer Bruce Kilgore, the Air Ship was made in response to athletes concerns over the weight and instability of another shoe he designed called Air Force 1… The high-stack midsole of the AF1 wasn’t great on the court, so Kilgore went back to the drawing board and with the help of an engineer friend developed a midsole with pillar cushioning and an Air bag in the heel. The result was a shoe which was lower to the ground which still possessed the fantastic cushioning which made Air sneakers so popular.