Jordan 5s

Talk of firsts in shoe lines and you’ll soon find yourself talking of Air Jordan. And Jordan 5 was a master set of firsts.

For the first time in the history of Air Jordan, they had a clear outsole, one that stood out. For the first time in the history of Air Jordan, they had a reflective material on them. And for the first time, they had a molded ankle collar. A hat-trick of firsts already!

But, Air Jordan’s firsts weren’t born out of nowhere. They had a story behind them. These were designed by the same sneaker design genius, Tinker Hatfield, who designed the three releases before them. While designing them, he had an inspiration, a World War 2 Mustang fighter plane’s inspiration.

Hatfield tried to copy the plane’s design on the shoe sole by putting a starburst near the midsole, which brought colors (and of course, a new pattern) to the midsole. In this colorful veritable fighter jet was the pilot, Michael Jordan himself. And he knocked down quite a few enemy lines in them.

Chicago Bulls finished best in the season every year since Jordan had joined the team. Jordan hit his personal best by scoring 69 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers and 92 three-pointers (which was quite impressive given his record of 68 in all the previous seasons put together).

Moreover, Jordan walked out of the season with the best scoring title and an appearance in the All-Star Game. The price for this relic: $225.