Who's first signature shoe was the hardest??? [PART 1]

1. Michael Jordan

First Shoe: Air Jordan 1

Facts about the shoe:

1) The Highest Selling Pair of Shoes: Apparently, the auction occurred around the same time as the popular Netflix docuseries, The Last Dance . The series chronicled MJ’s career including his shoe deal and shoes. This helped drive up the price at the auction.

A pair of signed AJ1’s auctioned for a record breaking $560,000

2) The iconic logo came later: The icon AJ logo wasn’t added until the Air Jordan III where the “Jumpman” symbol was added to the tongue and rear of the shoe.

3) The NBA Banned the First Air Jordans: The shoe was first released in 1985, back when the NBA had a very strict uniform policy. The black and red Air Jordans didn’t fall into the approved color criteria so Michael Jordan was fined $5000 every time stepped on the court with the shoes. However, the controversy was an awesome marketing scheme for Nike and they didn’t mind covering the fees.

4) The design inspiration comes from everywhere: There are 35 different Air Jordans, all very unique in their own way. Some inspirations have been drawn from things such as sports cars, fighter jets, and a black mamba.

5) MJ's agent coined the shoe's name: Originally, the young ballplayer had his heart set on a shoe deal with Adidas.

Michael Jordan didn’t even want to sign with Nike. So his agent, David Falk, had to get together with Michael’s parents and convince him to take the Nike meeting. Nike ended up signing MJ to a deal and the rest was history. They brainstormed in a meeting for the shoe’s name, falk came up with the idea of “Air Jordan.” The term combined the shoe tech of Nike and the name brand of MJ.

2. Scottie Pippen

First shoe: Nike Air Flight

1) His first shoe actually wasn’t with Nike: Scottie Pippen’s first shoe was actually the Avia 855 as he was part of their roster of NBA athletes back in the ’80s. In 1990, we saw Pippen strap on some Nike Air Flight Lite Low, but he wouldn’t make the permanent switch to Nike until 1991.

2) Pippen had several signature Nike shoes throughout his career: Of all Pippen’s signature shoes throughout his career from the Nike Air Flight Lite Low to the Air Maestro, the most popular shoe, in terms of lifestyle, was the Nike Air More UpTempo.

3) Scottie helped popularize the Air Huarache: Designed by Tinker Hatfield, the Huaraches were originally a running shoe that was retooled to become the basketball model known as the Air Flight Huarache, the basketball variation of the kicks popular among sneakerheads.

4) The birth of the Nike Air More Uptempo: During the 1995-96 season, Pippen strapped on the Nike Air Wayup, variation to the Nike Penny 1’s little, and the even more popular Nike Air Max Uptempo. It was during the 1996 Playoffs that Pippen would show the sneaker world one of the most iconic shoes of all time, and definitely one of the most “90s things” ever with the Nike Air More Uptempo’s.

3. Gary Payton

First shoe: Zoom ‘Glove’

1) He wore many other shoes on court: Know for his first signature shoe, there were other great shoes he wore like the Air Alarm and Maestro '96, and he also had a few sweet Jordan IX Low PEs and other XIIs, but we kept this strictly to his very best on-court kicks. Nike Air Much Uptempo. Some others notables include Nike Zoom GP III and IV, Jordan Team Flow, Nike Air 2 Strong, Nike Zoom Flight 2K3, Air Jordan XIX & XIX SE

2) It’s gotta be the shoes! Rumour has it, according to confidant to MJ and former NBC sideline reporter, Ahmad Rashad, that Gary Payton asked for Michael Jordan’s shoes after Game 1 of the 1996 NBA Finals. Payton’s numbers for that game were questionable since he did earn a double-double but shot an ugly 35.3 percent in Game 1.