No sneaker brand on the face of the earth can ever come close to the popularity and quality of Air Jordans.
They popularized and also revolutionized the sneaker industry like none other.
Michael Jordan’s partnership with Nike helped Nike to become the biggest sports brand and the giant they are today.
But how and why is Air Jordans so popular?
Wanna know? Keep reading.
High-Quality Product
Unlike other sneakers, Air Jordans uses high-quality materials such as premium leather uppers and full-grain calfskin.
Along with using premium materials, they provide great comfort and support, have a unique and distinctive look, and create a sense of accomplishment within.
Limited Volume
Air Jordan enjoys exclusivity by selling a limited pair of shoes, creating a high demand for their sneakers.
Resellers wait in line for hours to grab a pair of shoes to make a profit by reselling them.
This limited stock allows Nike to sell out their inventory completely. Saving them space and generating a huge profit. Unlike other sneakers that are left on the shelves in stores for months on end with not-so-fast sales.
Free Advertisement
Air jordans enjoy a massive following and are popular even amongst a lot of celebrities. Many celebrities are often caught wearing them.
Let’s imagine you are a fan of Ryan Reynolds, and he is wearing Air Jordans don’t you think you would want to try it? Anything that is worn by their favorite celebrity is a free advertisement, and this is why Air Jordans are always popular.
Remember Beats By Dre? How quickly they became popular despite the fact they were expensive and sound quality was not like the other premium headphones?
But with Nike Air Jordans, that’s a completely different story.
Nike Air Jordan comes in many price ranges, and they all provide a superior feel and are made of high-quality material.
The other reason for its popularity is they have a unique design and style, and the buyers and sneaker enthusiasts that are looking for quality, comfort, and performance desire these shoes as they are reasonably priced.
To simply put it, no matter how many sneaker brands come up. In the world of sneakers, Air Jordans are the Apple iPhones. They will never go out of style and will always have a high resale value.
Resale Value
Jordan 1 Retro which retailed for $185 in 2014 is being sold for $2,000, meanwhile, In 2016 Yeezy Boost 350 V2 retailed at $220 is being sold at $900.
Retro Fragment resale has grown at least 10 times its original price when compared with its competition. Both these shoes were sold in a limited volume, then how did Jordan’s become so much expensive?
The answer is brand value. And to understand this, we need to go a little behind in history.
Michale Jordan and Nike
In the year 1984, A struggling company Nike who was inches away from shutting down, and a rookie basketball player who was just a 21 yr old came up together and signed a deal. That deal was the richest contract at that point where Mike is making $500,000 every year.
Both not-so-known to the world, Nike and Michael Jordan made history that day.
With the launch of Air Jordan 1, Nike made an unusual move and swapped the white upper with a black one. This violates the NBA uniform policy, which led to Mike paying a $5,000 fine every game he played wearing those.
Despite the fine, Michael Jordan wore them to every game, and fans started liking his rebelliousness and wanted to try these sneakers for themselves. And with Mike winning the rookie of the year, Jordans were selling out like hotcakes, and in the same year, the once-struggling company Nike made $100 million in revenue.
Air Jordans are also considered to be the first sneakers that shook the shoe industry and made sneakers popular.
Air Jordan’s vs Yeezy
Just like Mike’s career and his ups and downs, his shoe line was tested too when Yeezy launched.
In 2013, Kanye West released his shoe line — Yeezy’s. And started to steal the thunder from Air Jordan.
While it was successful, Jordan being Jordan, in a flash of a second stole the ball again.
People started buying Yeezy’s for their unique design, which looks different and trendy and has its roots attached to hip-hop.
To regain market share, Jordans started releasing retro. What is retro? Basically a re-release of an original shoe. Between Sept-Nov of 2017, Jordan’s released a total of 30 retros with a price hike, crumbling its own sales volume.
Nike’s CEO Mark parker realized that instead of working on 350 sneakers ideas, he asked his team to only focus on 50.
Air Jordan again made a comeback in 2018 and started regaining their thunder. Their resale value too greatly improved just as strong as before, if not better.
The Rich History and Legacy in Sports and Entertainment
When Mike was new to the basketball world, Nike was struggling to keep up. With a partnership of the century, they both became legends.
Nike, one of the richest sportswear brands that once struggled to keep up is now all over the world, enjoys great popularity, brand loyalty, and their journey has become an inspiration to many of us.
Michael Jordan the legend on the other hand was constantly fighting battles throughout his life.
From playing basketball then moving to play baseball. Again returning to basketball and doing what he is best at — working hard and winning.
Who would’ve thought 1984 would give us a new world and two legends to talk about?
Conclusion
Unlike the rest of the sneaker brands, Nike Jordans has its history, heritage, and legacy.
They shaped the sneaker industry!
These shoes represent Jordan, and the career he had. It fuels a belief in us, a passion for the drive, and is a constant motivator.
Unlike other designer sneaker brands that sometimes charge an exorbitant amount of money for a product that is too brittle, uncomfortable to wear, or that looks ugly.
Nike Jordans are classic, trendy, comfortable to wear, uses premium material, and charges you reasonably. With this, they have a rich history and legacy following them that is incomparable.