Michael Jordan’s first pair of Air Jordans up for auction

NBA great Michael Jordan first donned the famous Air Jordans in 1985, and you can bid on his original pair for a mind-boggling six-figure sum.

NBA great Michael Jordan first donned the famous Air Jordans in 1985, and you can bid on his original pair for a mind-boggling six-figure sum.

Netflix docu-series The Last Dance has kept basketball fans occupied while the sporting world goes into lockdown, with more than six million Americans tuning in to ESPN every week.

The ten-part documentary – which focuses on the career of NBA great Michael Jordan – has been a resounding success, and auction website Sotheby’s is looking to cash in on the hype.

Sotheby’s have put up a pair of the famous Air Jordan 1s, the original design custom-made by Nike for Jordan in 1985, in a stand-alone auction. The vintage red, black and white sneakers – worn and signed by Jordan himself – are expected to fetch more than AU$153,000.

.@Sothebys is auctioning off a pair of game-worn and signed 1985 Air Jordan 1s, which are estimated to sell for $100,000 dollars! pic.twitter.com/sBjF5V5Ypy

— The Supreme Saint (@TheSupremeSaint) May 8, 2020

Shoe collector Jordan Geller, the founder of sneaker museum Shoezeum in Las Vegas, was the previous owner of the Air Jordan 1s.

“With all the excitement surrounding Michael Jordan and The Last Dance, my wife and I decided that it’s time to let the shoes find a new home,” Geller said in a statement.

Upon its release 35 years ago, sneaker connoisseur Bobbito Garcia described the Air Jordan design as “garbage”, but it quickly became a cultural phenomenon.

In episode five of The Last Dance, Jordan’s former agent David Falk spoke about the early success of the brand during the 1980s.

“Nike had just come out with this new technology for their running shoes called ‘air soles’, and obviously Michael played in the air. So it got called Air Jordans,” Falk said.

“Nike’s expectation when we signed the deal was at the end of year four, they hoped to sell $3 million worth of Air Jordans. In year one, we sold $126 million.”

Michael Jordan’s success on the court ensured the sale of Air Jordans skyrocketed.

American rapper Nas said: “For a kid, it was almost like owning a lightsaber from Star Wars. You needed that shoe to be like him.”

The all-time record for sneakers at an auction was $669,000 for Nike’s “Moon Shoe” in 2019, also sold by Sotheby’s.

Bidding for the Air Jordans 1s opened on Friday and will close on May 17th.