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Year Founded
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1997 | |
| Jordan Brand |
Website
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www.jumpman23.com | |
| 1 Bowerman Drive |
SC Rating
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9 | |
| Beaverton, OR 97005 | |||
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Jordan I
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Jordan II
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Jordan III
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Jordan IV
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Jordan V
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Jordan VI
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Jordan VII
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Jordan VIII
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Jordan IX
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Jordan X
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Jordan XI
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Jordan XII
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Jordan XIII
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Jordan XIV
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Jordan XV
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Jordan XVI
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Jordan XVII
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Jordan XVIII
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Jordan XIX
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Jordan XX
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Jordan XX1
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Jordan XX2
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Jordan Samples & Player Exclusives
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Jordan Brand: Becoming Legendary
Words by Nick DePaula
It’s become a global phenomenon, the likes of which we may never see again. The perfect team assembled from the start: the alpha player in Michael Jordan, a corporate maverick savvy enough to leverage the young star in Phil Knight, and an architect-turned-designer in Tinker Hatfield eager to redefine the industry with his problem-solving approach to footwear. It was a time when the sun, moon and Mars aligned, and the dominance that Michael Jordan displayed nightly as a young Chicago Bull captured the imagination of adoring fans across the globe. Chicago soon began to beat, repeat and three-peat against the competition, twice, and the innovation making its way out of Beaverton was unparalleled across the footwear industry, marking both aesthetic and athletic firsts, as both the legendary Air Jordan shoe and Michael’s playing career itself reached mythical status.
As MJ continually torched his opponents while leading the unproven Bulls through the ranks of the league during the latter half of the 1980s, it was his footwear that also began to earn a mystique of its own. Donning his Air Jordan signature shoes from the start, his Rookie of the Year campaign was met with fan intrigue immediately once the legend of his aerial artistry was born, as well as constant talk about his perceived-to-be-selfish approach to the game, his longer shorts and, of course, his black and red shoes. “Banned,” they said. Too colorful. “Not enough white,” stuffy league brass determined. And so, the legend of the Air Jordan was born. Pairs flew off the shelves. The Italian-made II was an instant hit the following year, and the introduction of the Jumpman logo along with visible Nike Air cushioning in the ensuing four models created a cult following that would never turn back.
As Michael’s commercial and on-court success increased exponentially once the 1990s began, he was soon everywhere. Massive posters of Jordan engulfed Barcelona street corners during the 1992 Olympic Games. From Asia to South America and all throughout Europe, the name Jordan meant basketball. The game was now global, and Jordan was to blame to the delight of millions. He was featured in prime time commercials selling shoes, batteries, hot dogs and cheeseburgers, energy and soft drinks, underwear and whatever else it was that MJ felt you needed in your life. And while he wasn’t hawking endorsed products for globally renowned corporations, it was his penchant for carrying his name and aura in his own commercials that elevated the visibility and glory of his own signature shoe line. “Absolutely integral to the success of this line is the entire program of communication,” reflected Tinker Hatfield. “I thought that was brilliant work, and then everything that followed…[was] all interesting and new approaches to story telling - sometimes funny and sometimes in a tear-jerking, emotional way.” By positioning Michael as more than just an athlete from the start, Nike was able to tap into his core values and create an iconic figure that people could look to for inspiration, guidance and insight. He was driven, sharp and relentless. He tirelessly worked towards improvement. He bettered his game, perfected his flaws and mastered his opponents. But most of all - he demanded greatness from himself and those around him.
As Jordan’s second tenure with the Bulls neared an imminent end, it was decided that his impact on the athletic and footwear worlds deserved to be immortalized beyond his playing days, in a move that would forever change the footwear landscape and the fortunes of Nike. The Air Jordan line was decided by Nike Inc. to be so historic, so legendary, that in 1997, he was given his own subsidiary within Nike, full with plans for branded footwear, apparel, accessories and more. His own leg of the company - his own brand. The original team of employees was made up of several Nike veterans, including marketing executive Greg Johnson, longtime Nike executive Howard White, who took on the role of VP of Sports Marketing, Nike Basketball’s Gentry Humphrey, who oversaw footwear and marketing and Tinker Hatfield, who remained the lead designer. “In starting a brand, it was really about the commitment that was made to Michael,” explains Humphrey. “When Michael signed in 1985, he was always under the impression that one day there would be an opportunity to take it even a little bit further than just a signature shoe.”
As the Jordan Brand came to fruition, along with it came a stable of up and coming NBA players that would represent the Brand’s first foray into team product for the 1997-1998 regular season. Ray Allen, Derek Anderson, Vin Baker, Michael Finley and Eddie Jones represented the next era of players that Michael hand-picked to wear Jordan Brand. While the Jumpman Pro is technically the first non-signature Jordan shoe and released the previous season, Michael’s fave five would wear the Jordan Team during the first official full season under the new subsidiary. From then on, team footwear came packaged in exclusively Jordan-branded boxes, and while the tooling carried over Nike’s familiar Air-based cushioning systems, there were no swooshes of any size to be found on the shoes. After the Jordan Team debuted for the first half of the season, both Eddie Jones and Vin Baker were treated with shoes of their own for the remainder of the year in the Jumpman Pro Quick and Jumpman Pro Strong, respectively. What began as a small core of players became an ever growing roster of future greats and excitable young rookies, head-tapping into a younger consumer that maybe hadn’t seen Jordan play, but had heard of his legend and achievements, and could now learn about the brand through the next class of players. Every season, team footwear drafted off of the game shoe, and the brand’s apparel business and overall market share continued to grow.
Just a decade after its inception, the brand would grow to over an $800 Million business, along the way selling out countless colorways of Retro Air Jordan models of past fame, growing a loyal Team product consumer base, as well as continuing to elevate the Air Jordan signature line. Under the guidance of Category Business Director Humphrey and Josiah Lake, Footwear Product Line Manager, the Retro business became Jordan Brand’s largest revenue generator, as an amalgamation of every colorway under the sun was released in several of the most popular Air Jordan models, creating weekly frenzies for increasingly limited versions and every ensuing release. With the introduction of Retro+ colorways meant to allow for new interpretations of original models, there seemed to be no limit to the endless combinations of stylings and colorways that would make it to retail. On the signature side of things, we were introduced to potential gimmicks like Tech Flex, lace covers and gaitors, overdone packaging, Independent Podular Suspension and later interchangeable IPS, ankle leashes and the like, but still the brand was relying on the same daring approach that made it unlike any other, and it’s undeniable that the performance of the Air Jordan line continued to evolve while the brand tried new things. After some bumps along the way like unsuccessfully delving into lifestyle men’s clothing and footwear with two3, and later folding their women’s lifestyle apparel category, by 2008, the brand seems to have learned from their past mistakes and is ready for a new outlook. The brand now has a consumer base larger than ever before, and there’s even a Jordan boutique open to the public in Beijing, as well as a twenty-five member roster of professional athletes spanning basketball, football, baseball, boxing and track & field that wear Jordan Brand apparel or footwear in competition.
From the outside looking in, it appears that Jordan Brand has had a consistent level of stability during its ten-year existence. In the first half of 2008 Jordan Brand underwent its most active structural changes from a corporate standpoint. As former President Larry G. Miller, head of the brand since 1999, left to take on the same position with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers last fall, just this past May, Nike veteran Keith Houlemard was named as President to replace him, after Garry Cook held the position for just several weeks before abruptly leaving. Houlemard is a former US Sales Director and US Footwear Director at Nike, and he also was the Apparel Director at Jordan Brand in its earlier years. Another notable Nike veteran, Mark Smith, of laser fame and formerly Creative Director of Special Projects in Nike’s secretive Innovation Kitchen, has also just joined the Jordan Brand side of the company, taking on a position specially created just for him - Global Creative Director. He’ll help set seasonal themes for footwear designers and also bring forth new design approaches and ideas as the brand inevitably evolves beyond its Retro reliance.
While Smith brought laser etching to the forefront of footwear graphic design while working in the Kitchen, he’s also had a hand in the Air Jordan line as Tinker Hatfield’s go-to graphic artist. His first Air Jordan project was designing the outsole and heel globe of the Jordan IX, and from there he went on to advise or help design nearly every graphic seen on Jordans X-XV. When it came time to design the Air Jordan XX and XX3, Mark was even more involved in the process, creating graphic icons for the lasered midfoot strap of the XX and creating the look of the TPU chasis of the XX3 and the way in which the heel geometry had a gem-like appearance. Smith also brought the computerized stitch patterning to life along the XX3’s dominant overlay and designed the series of M and J letters on the frenzied Titanium colorway. It’s his personal relationship with Michael and fondness for all things Jordan that makes him a great fit as the brand looks to continue its market dominance well into the next decade with more inventive designs and less retro-driven models. It realistically will be another year before you’ll see Smith’s direction take effect, but there’s already been a fresh new design team in place for over a year. Kim Glover, Octavio Lubrano, Jason Mayden and Justin Taylor make up the design team along with Design Director D’Wayne Edwards, and collectively the group will be pushing each other as the Team line continues to advance with Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony headlining the player roster.
Even though the Air Jordan line has grown with the booming footwear industry for over two decades, from the days of cupsole construction, to bulky strapped high-tops, and on to today’s more sleek and defined silhouettes, the Jordan Brand is just now turning a corner as it moves beyond the numbered signature Air Jordan that has rendered the brand such acclaim, as it aims towards the $1 Billion revenue mark. We’ve witnessed countless innovations over the years, both subtle and revolutionary, such as the rubberized tongue and heel tab found on the VI, the introduction of a Carbon Fiber midfoot shank plate in the XI and the ever-flowing transitionary Independent Podular Suspension introduced in the XX. With Smith and Houlemard now at the helm, a team of young designers thinking progressively, as well as a new team in Jordan apparel, you can expect to see a consistent emphasis on innovation and evolution as the brand plans for longevity and continued relevance among the most loyal of fan bases.
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Pros and Cons
Pros of the Brand: There’s simply no other brand that holds the aura of excellence and luxury of the equity found in the Jumpman. With that comes a sincere effort every season to truly try something new from an innovative outlook to try and make the Air Jordan game shoe the industry’s latest and greatest basketball shoe. This year that goal was never more clear, as the storied design tandem of Tinker Hatfield and Mark Smith worked along with Developer Jeff Spanks to build an honest and ground-breaking shoe that had a look all its own and a message towards improving the environment in accordance with Nike’s company-wide Considered initiative. Whereas the Air Jordan in the past used Carbon Fiber or Tech Flex as a way of showing off its prowess, the Considered-construction of the XX3 and the environmentally preferred materials it incorporates are not only visually impressive, but on a more fundamental level in terms of the at-times harmful footwear manufacturing process it is equally commendable. While other areas of the brand like the disconnected apparel line have become outlet fodder, thankfully you can always count on the Air Jordan game shoe to be a measuring stick for the new season of footwear.
Cons of the Brand: It’s no secret that there’s some unruly unrest among many of the company’s most loyal collectors and avid Jordan Brand followers. Most of that can be attributed to a perceived continual decline in quality in just a five year window. It’s a complaint that’s arguably entirely tangible and not just perception. From the 2003 White/Cement Grey Jordan Retro 3 to the 2007 White/Fire Red Jordan Retro 3, there’s an undeniable drop-off in build quality and material selection. Never was this lack of quality more apparent than on September 9, 2006 when the Off-white/Military Blue Jordan Retro 4 released. And go figure, ‘cause I love that shoe so damn much I bought three pairs. And therein lies the largest dilemma for the Jordan Brand. As the quality declined, sales actually increased and profits soared to record highs. Some would argue shrewdly that Jordan Brand simply played their cards right, picking and choosing when to cut corners by using cheaper materials on models that were obviously going to sell out. White/Fire Red Retro 4’s, White/Grape Ice Retro 5’s and White/Fire Red Retro 5’s each flew off the shelves at an already inflated retail price, and with dreadful leather quality only seen in budget chain sneakers. After establishing itself upon quality products inspired by the greatest basketball player ever, Jordan Brand has considerably been slacking in its retail line quality. The XX3, however, used remarkable leathers, materials and was expertly crafted and constructed. So, it appears those finer leather swatches are indeed available, and here’s to hoping the Retro line ahead takes a more careful look at not just the appearance of the original model, but both the shape and feel as well that made the Air Jordan the industry benchmark for quality and performance innovation.
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