Nike’s Air Jordan line of athletic shoes, endorsed by former basketball star Michael Jordan, has gone through many designs since its debut in 1985. Retro Jordans are popular designs from the past that have been revived. Despite controversy, the Air Jordan line is still in production.
The Jordan retro are athletic shoes manufactured by Nike as part of its popular Air Jordan line. The shoes are endorsed and named after former basketball star Michael Jordan, whose on-court nickname was Air Jordan. The line has gone through many designs since its debut in 1985. When popular designs from the past are revived, they are called Retro Jordans or simply Retros. The word retro is a neologism that means from the past.
In the early 1980s, shoe maker Nike sought endorsements from Jordan, then a rising star on the Chicago Bulls basketball team. As Jordan’s fame grew, shoes bearing his name became popular items in the United States and around the world. New designs are released every year, many created by designer Tinker Hatfield. Filmmaker Spike Lee, a basketball fan, contributed a series of popular television commercials to promote the line. By 2010, more than two dozen distinct designs had been added to the Air Jordan line, which had been spun off from Nike into a separate corporate brand.
The Air Jordan sneaker was not without controversy; the colorful shoes violated National Basketball Association regulations at the time they were introduced. Jordan was fined $5,000 US dollars (USD) each time he wore the shoes in a game, a penalty the wealthy player and his sponsors could easily pay. During the 1990s, Nike also caused controversy for employing sweatshops and child labor in its overseas manufacturing plants. Despite these drawbacks, the Air Jordan proved so popular that older designs were often revived and reissued. This was the origin of the Retro Jordans.
Retro Jordans were part of a general trend in marketing and advertising to bring back the popular designs of the past. The shoes were the equivalent of footwear from a soft drink manufacturer bringing back an older bottle design or a movie studio re-releasing a classic horror franchise. Most of the Nike Air Jordans produced during Jordan’s sporting career were eventually brought back in retro designs. Fans and collectors of the shoe often say that a particular design has been vintage or throwback.
There are several substyles of the retro Jordan. The retros themselves are almost identical to the original design of the shoe. The retro-pluses are similar to the originals, but also include more modern touches, such as logos or templates. Colorways are retro designs with new colors, often inspired by a cross-marketing promotion with a movie, car, or sports team. Jordan himself retired from basketball in 2003, but the popular shoe line is still in production as of 2011.
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