The Air Jordan 7

The Air Jordan 7. Michaels second championship, MVP and Finals MVP, and the year of the Dream Team. The shoes were released in the 1991-1992 season where Jordan led his Chicago Bulls to the best  record in the league. This shoe was another Tinker Hatfield design (see a trend?) and proved Tinker could find inspiration from anywhere. As Tinker was in Portland he passed a music shop advertising afropop music and it hit home with Tinker. He purchased this poster and used it to build the Air Jordan 7.

The Air Jordan 7 Sock liner with hits of the Afripop designs Tinker threw into the shoe.
(courtesy of soleredemption)

They used the hurache technology and used a inner sock liner for the shoe and got rid of the visible air unit. They were very light weight and form fitting and designed for a comfortable ride on the court. There was also no signs of a Nike logo on the outside of the shoe. The only place you would be able to find a Nike logo was on the box, or the sole of the shoe. Instead of the Nike logo on the back they added a new Jordan "v" logo with his number in the middle.

The shoe was released in 1991 in 5 original color ways. The Hares, Olympics, Raptors, Cardinals, and Bordeauxs (pictured above). The olympic color ways is one of the most sought after shoes in the Jordan line because it was worn by MJ in the 1992 Barcelona olympics with the "Dream Team".

A new thing for advertising the Jordan Brand shoes this year they used Bugs Bunny in a commercial. Its a great commercial and makes you wonder if they got the idea for Space Jam from the making of this commercial. Bugs is wearing the "Hare" color way which, is expected because he is well...a rabbit, and Jordan is wearing the Bordeaux.

The Air Jordan 6

The Air Jordan 6. A lot came along with the Air Jordan six, including new materials, new technology, and most importantly MJ's first NBA championship! The Air Jordan 6 was one of the first shoes Michael gave his direct orders to Tinker on the design of the shoe. One of Michaels requests was also a first for basketball shoe design. He requested a clean toe, meaning that he wanted a solid to with extra reinforcement. Jordan also had trouble getting his previous models on his foot so Tinker added he two holes in the tongue and a loop hole on the back of the shoe which, he called a spoiler (sneakerfiles). They also added a molded heel tab (another first) to the shoe so it didn't rub on his achilles tendon. They added a solid rubber sole to the bottom because of complaints that kids were falling because the sole on the Jordan 5 sole collected dust on the court.


The Air Jordan 6 released in 1991in five original color ways for a retail price of $125. The color ways it released in are white-infrareds, black-infrareds, carmines, and the maroons. Other notable color ways are the Olympic's. the Lakers, and the DMP pack.

The Air Jordan 6 was also one of the shoes jordan released a specific color way in a package deal with another shoe. The sixes were released with a special color way of the retro 11's. The sixes were released in the pack with a all black with gold hits in the midsole.

Michael and Nike took the advertising route of Spike Lee again. Spike finds a genie and wishes to be Mike.

The Air Jordan 5

The Air Jordan 5 was another Tinker creation. The 5 was inspired by Fighter Planes. Yes, you read that  right, Fighter Jets. Tinker made this shoe to stylize with Mikes play style. The 5 was had a couple or firsts in the shoes makeup. First off it was the first shoe to use a clear rubber sole (which is used heavily today.) Tinker was involved in modeling the Marty McFly's in 'Back to the Future' and used the soles for inspiration on the five. Also, the five's were the first shoe to use molded foam for the upper part of the shoe.  Tinker added the flames in the midsole to coincide with his war plane inspiration. The shoe's tongue also had a very cool 3M material which shined in the light and when the flash of a camera hit it.

The retro 5 was released in 1990 in four original color ways in the classic fire red, black metallic, grapes, and fire reds. The Grapes today are one of the most sought after Jordan's period and are set to release in the beginning on 2013! When the shoe was first released only 100 pairs were released and given to less fortunate children which added more hype to the shoe and helped Jordan brands popularity.

"Raging Bull Pack" (courtesy of Nice Kicks)

The 5's got a lot of attention and were great sellers. Other than the shoes original colors, Jordan created more color ways such as the Wolf Greys, the Laneys, and the Raging Bull Pack. The Raging Bulls pack is very sought after and came with two shoes in a stacked box for at 315 retail price. The pack included a all black 3M color way, and an red/black suede color way called the Toro Bravos.

There was two commercials created for the 5's. One only featuring Mars in his room showing off pictures of Mike's feet dunking all across the globe.

And then, the famous "Is it the shoes?' commercial. The Mar's Blackmon slogan. And Mike's least favorite question. As Jordan says its not the shoes Nike makes one last push to make sure the consumers think it is the shoes. Watch for yourself!

The Air Jordan 4

  Air Jordan 4 was another Tinker Hatfield masterpiece. Instead of looking for inspiration for the shoe, Tinker looked towards the performance aspect in the Air Jordan line. The Air Jordan 4 is one of my personal favorite retro's because of how clean it looks.


The 4's were released in 1989 which was Michaels first year of being a married man, and also a father. (sneakerfiles.com) They released in four original color ways that were, the white cements, black cements, military blues, and the fire reds. (I personally own 3 out of 4 of them!). When first released they didn't have a warm welcome. Many people felt they were ugly, but the shoe grew on people. In recent years, Nike and Jordan brand have collaborated with UNDFTD and Eminem to create special edition colors of the 4s, and also have released many other color ways that were highly sought after including the Thunder/Lightning pack, columbias, and the pure moneys to name a few.

The Air Jordan brand took a new route in advertising this shoe. They kept the Spike Lee 'Mars Blackmon' commercials and used them heavily. The commercial only featured Mike for three dunk scenes and the rest featured Mars above the rim with shoes talking about how "every homeboy has them" and talks quickly about them. Its hard to follow but you can't help but watch and get the words you do understand stuck in your head.

The special advertising spot the four's got was a new turn in advertising for basketball shoes and shoes in general. The shoes got a advertising first in Spike Lee's film "Do the Right Thing". The scene is a sneakerhead classic and almost all Jordan collectors know exactly what scene it is but what shoes they are. The shoes featured in the film are the White Cement color way with wild laces in it. What happens in the scene is any sneaker collectors worst nightmare, the dreaded SCUFF! And its no normal scuff, its a huge black scuff on ALL WHITE SNEAKERS! You can't recover from that. See for yourself in the scene below. (Warning Explicit language)