After almost four decades, the very first shoe that the GOAT, Michael Jordan, wore in the NBA — the Nike Air Ship Pro — finally got released for the first time ever.

The shoe was released in the infamous “Bred” colorway and was made available exclusively at Italian retailer Back-Door Bottega on August 7, 2020.

The shoe has special significance in both basketball and sneaker lore as it was the shoe that Jordan wore at the start of his career, during the 1984-85 season. He wore it for just three games and he was fined $5,000 for every game as it violated the uniform policy of the league at that time.

The shoe’s history is fascinating in the sense that the Nike Air Ship Pro was hastily created by Nike after it signed Jordan prior to his rookie season. The Jordan 1 was still in the works at that time and Nike cobbled the shoe together using the upper from the Nike Air Ship and the midsole and sole from the Nike Pro Circuit tennis shoe. The usual Air Ship sole unit was swapped out as it was too high and heavy for MJ, who typically wore mid or low top design shoes on the court.

Sneakerheads who wanted to get their hands on the rare shoe needed to find a sticker that was hidden in various landmarks in Bologna. The stickers had QR codes that will provide entry into the raffle.

Images From Nike