American sportswriter Roland Lazenby released Michael Jordan’s biography, “Michael Jordan: The Life,” in 2014. Among the many innumerable things that the book revealed, Jordan’s initial hesitancy towards Air Jordans was also talked about. Michael Jordan initially did not want to sign for Nike. His agent was managing meetings with Adidas and Converse as well. As it turns out, Michael Jordan was not happy with Air Jordans initially and thought that the “fad” would die out.
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However, after a projected $million revenue in the first year, Air Jordans netted Nike around $165 million in the first 3 years. Jordan confessed to Lazenby that the numbers were “outrageous,” with Air Jordans netting the Chicago Bulls legend an estimated $1.3 billion until now. It was designer Peter Moore who designed the shoes, along with Jordan’s agent David Falk who came up with the idea of the name “Air Jordan.” The term obviously pays homage to Jordan’s swashbuckling, almost flying playing style.
Michael Jordan was not optimistic about Air Jordans initially
Initially, Michael Jordan did not have too much optimism about how fans would receive Air Jordans. The 6-time NBA champion burst out laughing when he first heard the term “Air Jordans.”
Other off-season commitments evidently bogged down Jordan, making it all the more difficult for Nike to sign him. What’s more, the player reportedly liked Adidas and had Converse as his second option.
Nike had initially estimated that Air Jordans would get them a business of around $4 million the first year. However, the series exceeded expectations and made $165 million in the first 3 years. Looking back at his initial reluctance, Jordan claimed the numbers were “outrageous”:
“First I thought it was a fad. But it’s far greater now than it used to be. The numbers are just outrageous.”
Why Nike replaced its famous Swoosh with the Air Jordan logo
Apart from not being too keen to sign with Nike, Jordan had issues with some of the shoe designs. He liked Air Jordans 1 but was unhappy with the design of AJ2.
For the third edition of the shoe, Nike signed the esteemed designed Tinker Hatfield, who suggested that Jordan was more than just a player. Hatfield made Nike replace the Swoosh with the Air Jordan logo.
The idea was well-received by the player himself, and the decision continues to bear rewards to this day. The Air Jordans are one of the biggest factors behind Michael Jordan’s current net worth of around $2 billion.
Initially, Air Jordans also came with the swoosh until the 7th edition. However, since then, the Air Jordan. The story of how Air Jordans came about has also been told in the 2023 drama “Air,” which stars Ben Affleck.
