Air Jordan 10, Retro Air Jordan Ⅹ, Release Dates & History

The Air Jordan X represents an important landmark in Jordan's basketball career. This represents Jordan's first retirement from the NBA. Inscribed on the soles of the shoes is a list of Jordan's accomplishments up to 1993. The list of accomplishments is as follows (1985–1994):

• 85 ROOKIE OF YEAR
• 86 63 POINTS
• 87 SCORING TITLE
• 88 DUNK CHAMP
• 89 ALL DEFENSE
• 90 SCORES 69 POINTS
• 91 MVP/CHAMPIONSHIP
• 92 MVP/CHAMPIONSHIP
• 93 MVP/CHAMPIONSHIP
• 94 BEYOND

This shoe was also known as "the comeback sneaker" because while the Air Jordan X was in the production stages, Jordan was seemingly finished with basketball and had taken up the game of baseball. But as baseball went on strike, Jordan was left with nothing to do and decided to return to the game he had dominated for so many years. He returned to the game of basketball on March 19, 1995 wearing the Air Jordan X’s, but unlike many other of his shoes which had the number “23” engraved in them, the X’s had the number “45” on them because Jordan was forced to wear the number 45 because his old number 23 had been retired. Being the 10th anniversary of Air Jordans, different colorways of the 10s were released in different cities.The Shoe was retro'd in the year 2005 in the following colorways:
Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro Steel White / Black – Light Steel Grey – Varsity Red Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro White / Obsidian – Ice Blue – Varsity Red Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro Black / White Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro White / Linen – University Blue Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro Women's White / Ice Green – Varsity Red Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro White / Varsity Red – Light Steel Grey Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro Women's White / Medium Violet – Light Graphite Air Jordan 10 (X) Retro Black / Dark Shadow – True Red Countdown Pack
The "Chicago Bulls" color way will release in the Fall of 2011.

Air Jordan 9, Retro Air Jordan Ⅸ, Release Dates & History

Originally released in November 1993, the Air Jordan IX model was the first Air Jordan model release after his retirement. It is noted that Michael Jordan has never played a full season of NBA Basketball wearing these sneakers. This model was created in the form of baseball cleats that Jordan used when playing minor-league baseball.

Like the Air Jordan VIIs and VIII model's, the Air Jordan IX model featured an inner sock sleeve and nubuck accents. The sole featured different symbols and languages of different countries.
The Air Jordan IX has been the shoe chosen to adorn Jordan's feet for his statue outside of the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
In popular culture, in the children's movie The Little Rascals one of the bullies, Butch is wearing a pair of Air Jordan IX.
American Rap Icon Tupac Shakur was also known to wear Air Jordans in a popular "Thug Life" photo set in 1993.
Michael Jordan also wore these in the children's movie "Space Jam."

Air Jordan 8, Retro Air Jordan Ⅷ, Release Dates & History

The Air Jordan VIII was released to coincide with the 1992-1993 NBA season.
The eighth model of the Air Jordan was noticeably heavier than its predecessors. Its base was clearly close to that of the Air Jordan VII model, but it had a lot more details, including two crossover straps on each shoe and a jumpman logo. Thus the Air Jordan VIII model became known as the "Punisher" due to its advanced basketball ankle support and superior traction. This shoe contains a zoom air sole, crossover straps (for added support and more custom fit), herringbone midsole and silicon/titanium contrast stitching for comfort all the zones on your feet.

Air Jordan 7, Retro Air Jordan Ⅶ, Release Dates & History

The Air Jordan VII was released in 1991. Tinker Hatfield created the Air Jordan VII which had many similarities with the Air Jordan VI model. The Air Jordan VII was unique because it used some of the Nike Huarache technology to create a shoe that really stuck to the consumer's foot. The visible air sole, the Nike Air logo, and the yellowing soles all were no longer featured on the Air Jordan VII. The Air Jordan VII model is also commonly known as the "Hares" because the commercials promoting the shoe featured cartoon character Bugs Bunny. This was the first Air-Jordan in the line that did not have any distinctive "Nike Air" on the outer portions of the shoe. The "Nike Air" can be found on the in-soles. Nike was unhappy about this, but the designer, Tinker Hatfield, had a greater vision believing that the "jumpman" could stand on its own. A precursor to "Jordan Brand" about 6–7 years down the road.
When Jordan went to compete at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics to play for the US Men's Basketball Team (also known as the "Dream Team"), Nike released a special Olympic color combo of the Air Jordan VII model which featured Jordan's Olympic jersey number, 9 while all of the previous Air Jordan models that featured his jersey number had always been the number 23.
Various retros of the Air Jordan VII were released in 2002, again in 2004, and again with different colors in 2006. Also in 2008 Nike released a black and blue pair owned only by Cheikh Mbacké, ordered for $600.
It has been confirmed the long awaited Air Jordan Retro 7 "Bordeaux" will retro in 2011 along with other Air Jordan 7 color ways.

Air Jordan 6, Retro Air Jordan Ⅵ, Release Dates & History

The Air Jordan VI was released in late 1990 and designed by Tinker Hatfield. Jordan won his first NBA Championship wearing these sneakers. The heel tab of the shoe took inspiration from Michael Jordan's slant-nosed Porsche.

In 2000 an Olympic colorway was released with a mixture of white, royal blue, and a hint of red (lacelocks) to symbolize the U.S.A. colors. This shoe featured a #9 on the shoe(Jordan's olympic number).
In 2008 a second Olympic colorway was released that consisted of an all-white patent leather upper, black tongue, and all of the Olympic rings' colors on the midsole. On the toebox of the shoe is an embroidered Chinese flower as a symbol of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
To celebrate the defining moment of Jordan’s first championship Nike released a commemorative Black/Gold Air Jordan 6 packaged with a White/Black/Gold Jordan 11 sold as the “Defining Moments Package”. It was released on January 28, 2006 and sold for $295.00.
The entire tongue, and part of the lace locks of the Jordan VI were inspiration for the Air Jordan Spiz'ike. The lace locks and back tab of the Jordan VI were also inspiration for the Air Jordan "Six Rings".
Sakuragi Hanamichi wears Air Jordan VI's in Slam Dunk. They previously belonged to the owner of a shoe store (who happened to collect Air Jordans) that he visited and nearly trashed in his excitement. Hanamichi offered the shopkeeper the ridiculous price of ¥30 (about 30 cents USD) for his shoes, which the man accepted, presumably to get Hanamichi out of the store before he caused any more damage.
In 2010, the Air Jordan VI's were retroed, coming out with a Infrared Pack and several new color ways, there were colorways similar to the Infrared known as the Varsity Red. The popular 'Olympic' color way will see a retro release in 2011.

Air Jordan 5, Retro Air Jordan Ⅴ, Release Dates & History

The original Air Jordan V was released in February 1990, again designed by Hatfield. Some elements were the same from the Air Jordan IV, but the Air Jordan V's most distinctive feature is arguably its reflective tongue. There was also another innovation: clear rubber soles. The soles gave the shoe a whole new and unique look, but it yellowed over time when exposed to moisture. To combat this problem, collectors stored the shoes in a cool, dry place with a desiccant at the soles, most commonly silica.

The Air Jordan V also featured a base top with lace locks, making strapping on the shoe easy. The lacelock feature partly inspired the Air Jordan Spiz'ike. The Air Jordan V model is considered to have the best structure and design to wear during basketball games and sold the most pairs of shoes from the Air Jordan line.
Hatfield is believed to have drawn inspiration for the Air Jordan V from the World War II P-40 Warhawk fighter plane; which is most notably visible in the shark teeth shapes on the midsole. The Air Jordan V was retroed in 2000 to great demand, including a new colorway featuring Michael Jordan's high school (Laney High) colors. In 2006 several re-retro V's had released including the very popular LS "Grape" V's, the LS "burgundy" V's, the popular "Fire-Red" V's, the "Green Bean" V's, and "Stealth Blue" V's. Along with the latter, a very limited laser design and the black/metallic/fire red colorways were released in early 2007.
In the month of May 2009, Air Jordan confirmed the release of an "DMP II" consisting of two Air Jordan V's. In March, there has been recent picture leaks of this product, which is also referred as "The Raging Bull" Package. The most of the leaked pictures are of the first Jordan V color way which consist of a composition of buttery varsity red suede on the upper. Paired alongside the eye-catching color is black on the midsole, lace area, tongue and a crystal-clean sole and the classic 3M material tongue. The second color way features a 3M material base with black laces and midsole. The retail price was $310. In Q3 of 2011, it is confirmed that Jordan Brand will be releasing a new Jordan 5 Retro Package consisting of the "Laney" and "Grape" colorways.

Air Jordan 4, Retro Air Jordan Ⅳ, Release Dates & History

The Air Jordan IV shoe was first released in 1989, designed once again by Tinker Hatfield. It became the first Jordan shoe released on the global market, with some exceptions. The Air Jordan IV cushioning sole and design helped to make the shoe an international bestseller.
Spike Lee, the director/actor who helped in the ad campaign for the Air Jordan III, created the Can/Can't TV commercial. Lee also featured the Air Jordan IV in his movie Do The Right Thing in a scene where the character "Buggin Out" (played by Giancarlo Esposito) angrily confronts a bicyclist who accidentally bumps into him and scuffs his Air Jordan IV shoes. After the confrontation, Buggin Out promptly places his shoe on a fire hydrant and cleans it with a tooth brush.
The shoe was retroed in 1999 in a white/black colorway and a black/cement colorway, and stores were sold out of Air Jordan IV within hours of release. However, when Nike released the first Retro+ of the Air Jordan IV, many fans of the shoe claimed that the company had "destroyed a classic" by removing the nets on the shoe along with making some other subtle changes. One example being "NIKE AIR" logo featured on the back of the shoe being replaced with the Jumpman logo.
In 2006, Nike released several variations of the Air Jordan IV, including "Mars Blackmons" ("Red" IV's with Spike Lee's alter ego on the heel),^[2] "Military Blues",^[3] and the $500 "Thunder and Lightning" package. Also released the Mist blue color and all white and all black.
These particular variations of the shoe also takes part in the inspiration of the Air Jordan Spiz'ike (the shoe's side-lace strap).
The Air Jordan Retro 4 in its widely sought out White/Cement color way is rumored to be a 2011 retro release.
The Air Jordan 4 were on Jordan's feet when he made "The Shot" in Game 5 of the 1989 NBA First Round between the Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers.