Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, and he forever changed the game. But he also changed the entire shoe industry. In this blog, we’re going to look at how Michael Jordan revolutionized the shoe game.

To start off, let’s just remember how Michael Jordan signed with Nike, because originally Jordan had no intentions of signing with them. He wanted to work with Adidas, and if that didn’t work out, he wanted to join Converse. So how did Nike win over Michael Jordan?

Adidas gave Jordan an offer, but it was a weak offer and didn’t match what Jordan was expecting. Plus, at the time, Adidas was dealing with management issues, so they weren’t focused on signing him. However, contrary to Adidas, Converse did make Jordan an enticing offer and saw him as a future superstar who would be just like Bird and Magic. But that was the problem, Converse saw Jordan as just another star like all their others; they didn’t see him as unique.

But then Nike made their pitch, and just like Converse made an enticing offer with lots of money on the table. Although Nike didn’t see Jordan as just a star, they saw him as the future face of Nike. They even made Jordan his own shoe and his own brand called Air Jordan. At the time, very rarely was someone given their own signature shoe and giving a player his own brand was unprecedented. Thus, Jordan signed with Nike.

When the Jordan 1s got released in 1985, they sold 4 million pairs in the first year alone, which was easily the best-selling shoe of the year. And this was only in Jordan’s rookie year. So imagine how well the Air Jordan brand was performing when Jordan started getting better and better, thus becoming more and more popular. Nike ended up taking over Converse and Adidas as the powerhouse of basketball shoes, and it was all because of Mike. It was also because of Jordan that other superstars started signing with Nike. In the 90s, Nike made shoe deals with big-time players like David Robinson, Penny Hardaway, Jason Kidd, Scottie Pippen and Tim Duncan.

Nike has since signed the best players in the league, including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant.

Jordan also opened the door for other players to have their own signature shoe line. Of course, all the best players have their own shoe, but even lower-calibre players are getting their own shoe. Aaron Gordon got his own shoe with 361, D’Angelo Russell got his own shoe under the Way of Wade brand, and Austin Reaves has his own shoe with Rigorer.

Michael Jordan has transformed the shoe industry in a way that will never be done again. He took a company that was known for their running shoes, and never even considered as a top basketball brand and made them by far the most successful basketball brand in the world.