Why Nike Are Still Top After All These Years
It’s fair to say that Nike Air Jordan shoes have been one of the best selling shoes of all time.Nike first released their Air Jordans for sale in 1984, and it all took off from there. The shoe did almost more than anything else to change Nike’s image away from the “white man’s jogging shoe” and cement their reputation as being one of the top shoes for basketball, and leisurewear in general. They also changed the traditional color of basketball shoes from white to whatever color you want. This came originally at a cost to Nike, as the NBA banned the Air Jordan (and the Nike Dunk) from its matches, and fined any player wearing them $5000 per match. Michael Jordan was notable in his flouting of the rules, and his fines were met by Nike, who, it must be said, probably recouped far more back in shoe sales. Nike never looked backed after that, and the shoe today is in its 18th incarnation, with sales running into the millions (not bad at $190+ per pair). Nike as a brand rose solely on the shoes and escaped the financial troubles they had in the early 80s due to its image change from the Air Jordan shoes.
Today, even after 25 years, they’re still one of the best selling shoes around. Very few of the people wearing Air Jordan shoes actually play basketball, but it gives the aspiration to people, and the feel that they can buy in to the whole culture helped by Nike.
