At the time when the very first Jordan basketball shoes came out, they were very different times. It all began in 1984 when Michael Jordan was actually trying to convince his agent that he should sign with Converse with the deal they were offering him for basketball shoes. One of the biggest reasons for this is that Michael Jordan wore Converse basketball shoes during his days at UNC, as did most basketball stars of that era. Had Michael signed with Converse we would never have seen the Nike Air Jordan shoes that we have today.

But in the end, Nike offered Jordan the best deal and it was an offer of 2.5 million for 5 years that Michael could not refuse. With great anticipation the first Air Jordan basketball shoes, the Air Jordan I's, were released and met with great controversy as the NBA banned the shoes because they were in violation of NBA color rules, being red and looking like "devil colors" as it was put. This gave the Air Jordan shoes even more publicity, boosting their popularity. Michael Jordan though, was the one who ultimately made the shoes popular and found himself on many posters wearing the shoes. Soon, Jordan fans everywhere were lining up to pick up the first Air Jordans.

These original shoes were actually made again in retro models in 1994, again in 2001, 2002, 2003, and in 2004. These Jordan retro shoes were usually very popular because of collectors getting as many as they could. 23 different colors were made during these times.

In the beginning, the original Jordan's had the wingman logo on the ourside of the shoe on the heel. Two pair of laces came with the original Jordan basketball shoe as well.

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