Born to fly - The history of Air Jordan

On Monday it was announced that LeBron James had signed a sponsorship agreement to life with Nike. Even if the event can sound epic, it is not the first time this happens, neither to a sportsman in general (the first example is the one of David Bechkam with adidas) nor to a player in the NBA (Darrick Rose, always with the German brand) .

The agreement, which apparently will bring LeBron about 500 million dollars, however, proves another important choice: the volunty of making LeBron James the "commercial" heir of Michael Jordan.

Every day, from November 27 to December 26, on Foot Locker's website there will be a unique content that will form a kind of documentary, or at least a collection of memories: The Art of Flight.

There was no official explanation of its reason in November, but if we think over it, November 1985 was the month in which Michael Jordan appeared for the first time on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the famous Air Jordan 1, shoulder to shoulder with Pat Ewing. That version, the black/red one, was worn for the first time by Michael only for the All Star Game in February. Throughout the regular season and playoffs, MJ wore instead the red and white version. Why?

The problem was a kind of rule by David Stern (then commissioner of the league) which prevented him from wearing shoes that were not white for reasons of uniformity with the rest of the team. A rule which continues still nowadays.

Every single day Hypebeast updates its website with a new Jordan release, the result of some special featuring, a restock for fetishists or some prestigious collaboration. Examples: for the release of Spike Lee new movie, Chi-raq, the artist Van Monroe has made a couple of Spikize (Jordan designed by the legendary Spike Lee) with colours inspired by the aesthetic of the film. And then the releases drawn upon the many NBA champions, like Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook.

The personalized edition of the talent of OKC was announced during the first days of The Art of Flight: a customization of THE Jordan XIX, very bright and ultra-light. With a nice video Jordan also announced the return of Jordan 6 "Maroon", those with which Michael won his first title in 1991.

There will be also the launch of the Melo 12, which will be called "The Dungeon", the park in Baltimore where he began playing. Interviewed, Melo said something obvious, but very important: "The Jordan is not unique to the field of sport footwear. Jordan signifies the fall and never give up".

It's the same parable The Art of Flight wants to tell. As the memory of the time when, during an Italian trip to promote the signing with Nike, the then freshman Michael Jordan flew so high that split the board. Or during the 63 points against Boston. The moments to tell would be endless. The whole story of Michael, and consequently the one of the NBA is marked by these shoes. The classic question when it comes to Jordan is "What is your favorite Jordan?"

If the answer is given by Tinker Hatfield, the question is even heavier. But he has no doubts: "The Jordan XIX sneaker is definitely my favorite of all time, and one of the most important in the history of shoe design. Everything was innovative and particularly in the shoe: the carbon fiber, lacing, the strong references to Africa, to the fact that he had retired during processing".