Back to the Swoosh: Introducing the Air Jordan XXX1

The XXX1 is the latest Air Jordan, and it's a welcome return to Michael Jordan's controversial roots.

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Complex Original

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When the Nike Swoosh was eliminated from the design of the Air Jordan II, it was a revolutionary act—taking Nike’s most familiar symbol off their flagship basketball shoe at the same time that its price was nearly doubling, from $65 to $100. The 1987 release of the Italian-made sneaker did not cause the same frenzy as its predecessor, but nonetheless, when new designer Tinker Hatfield sketched out the Air Jordan III, there was no Swoosh on it either. Years passed, and by the time Jordan split from Nike and became its own brand, it appeared that the Swoosh was gone for good.

Until now. With the Air Jordan XXX1, revealed on Wednesday ahead of its September release, the Swoosh returns to the flagship Air Jordan for the first time in over 30 years. It’s a nod to the beginnings of both Air Jordan and Michael Jordan’s NBA career, something of a new start after 30 previous models. It’s proof that old can become new again, a fresh take of a classic style—and that while Jordan himself might be retired from the game of basketball, he’s still very much involved in the creation of his signature shoe.

It all began when designer Tate Kuerbis—who previously designed the Jordan XVIII and worked on the XIX—went to Jordan’s basketball camp in Santa Barbara, Calif., to discuss concepts  for the Air Jordan XXX1. “He had the idea of looking back at all the game shoes,” Kuerbis says of Jordan. "We’ve done so many amazing game shoes, so maybe there was something we could take from them to inspire the XXX1.”

 

 

 

Kuerbis returned to Nike headquarters and went about as far back in the Jordan lineage as you can, to 1985’s Air Jordan 1, specifically to the original black and red colorway that was famously banned by the NBA for not complying with uniform regulations. “The 1 of course was where Michael started everything,” Kuerbis says. “With the ‘Banned’ colorway, there was so much history. The 1 kind of started sneaker culture.”

But it went deeper than just the culture. It’s difficult to imagine now, with all of the advances in technology and design, but back in 1985, the Air Jordan 1 was a performance basketball model. It didn’t have much of an Air bag — it was nothing like the Air Force 1, but that was by design. “What I keyed on were the three performance features that [MJ] really liked,” Kuerbis says. “Being low to the ground, forefoot containment and then the heel lockdown—and then the idea of ‘limitless,’ because the 1 brought color to the court and you could do so many colors.”

Then there’s that Swoosh, which blends into the Flight Weave upper. That idea, too, came from something Jordan told Kuerbis in one of their sessions. “MJ was like, ‘You know, looking back at the 1, at the beginning, I was wearing a Swoosh,” Kuerbis says. “‘It could be pretty cool if we took the Swoosh and maybe it fades out and becomes the Jumpman, because now we’re the Jordan Brand, and I stand on my own. So it could be a cool play to the history of where it all started.’” Kuerbis’s early designs featured an even less prominent Swoosh, but Jordan himself requested it be a bit bolder.

The design may have classic elements—look for an embossed ball and wings logo on the medial ankle collars—but underneath it’s all modern, with a Flight Weave upper (that blends into leather at the heel) and the newest implementation of Flightspeed coupled with full-length 8mm Zoom Air. “It gets you really low to the ground but still gives you the maximum amount of propulsion and cushioning,” Kuerbis says. That XXX1 outsole also features prominent BANNED lettering underneath the traction pattern, in direct tribute to the black-and-red 1 that inspired it.

The Flight Weave is similar to that of the XXX1’s predecessor, the Air Jordan XXX—Flight Weave 2.0 is coming, but not quite yet. The primary difference is the way it fades from toe to heel and blends into synthetic leather. “We talked about the performance features of the XX9 and the XXX with the Flight Weave being a great performance thing for Jordan,” Kuerbis says. “Players immediately liked it. You could put on the shoe and didn’t have to break it in. So we felt, ‘Let’s stay with the Flight Weave, but let’s find out a way that we could somehow magically blend it into this leather that gives you that premium lux feel.’”

For Jordan VP Howard White, who’s been involved with Jordan since its inception, the XXX1 stands for something more than just the continuation of a signature line. He refers to Nike’s “rebel-ish” attitude and how Jordan himself personified it, from wearing his own gear in the 1985 Dunk Contest to his original black-and-red shoe getting banned by the NBA. But over the years, Jordan and the sneaker that bore his name came to symbolize something more than just rebellion.

“When there’s something that represents far more than just that individual, that’s what moves the world forward,” White says. “There is Michael Jordan, and if that’s all there was, [the brand] would have stopped as soon as he stopped playing ball. But it’s an ideology that moves on far beyond that. People need hope. They need heroes. MJ fit that bill pretty nice.”

Adds White: “How do you champion a new era? Every era has to move forward. The 31 is a departure from ‘Can we do this all over again?’ Let’s kind of start where it started from.”

There are other somewhat traditional inspirations to even the most modern attributes of the XXX1, including segmented ankle and Achilles cushioning taken directly from the racing-style seats in Jordan’s new Ferrari LaFerrari. The traction pattern is a modified herringbone developed by looking at cross-sections of bird’s bones and gecko’s feet. It’s a continuation of the XX9 and XXX, but not really. It’s an evolution of the 1, but not entirely. “I really didn’t want it to be too linked to the 1, taking [Jordan’s] input of performance insights and just injecting it into the product,” Kuerbis says.

Hatfield, who was responsible for all of the Jordans from III to XVI and then several after (including the XX8, XX9, and XXX), was not involved with the XX1. But that didn’t mean Kuerbis didn’t seek his counsel from time to time.

“We check in with [Hatfield] a lot, just because he’s kind of the godfather of all the game shoes,” Kuerbis says. “He’s still very passionate about it. Tinker has a way of going this way when everyone else is going that way, which has made things successful for the game shoe and Jordan. For me, it’s tough because I have my own style, my own way of designing; it’s not like I’m trying to duplicate what Tinker does. I try and put my own thumbprint on it.”

There is, of course, one thing that’s never changed—and that’s whose opinion matters most. “As long as Michael feels good about the product,” Kuerbis says, “I feel like I can sleep at night."