TIMELESS

THE AIR JORDAN I WASN’T supposed to be around forever. At least that wasn’t the original intent. It was created quickly in order to have something ready for the start of Michael Jordan’s rookie season, and as such it wasn’t exactly a technical marvel. Built to Jordan’s own low-to-the-ground specifications, it featured a smaller Air bag than most other Nike Air shoes, and the upper design wasn’t that far removed from what Nike was doing with their inline basketball product. It was mostly the colors that set it apart from the crowd. That and the ball-and-wings logo on the ankle.

But then a lot of things happened. There was the NBA ban of the initial black-and-red shoe, the all-out ad campaign blitz in the four-month span between the time Jordan debuted the shoe in November and its release in April. And of course