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Before ‘Beyond’ was the calling card for Jordan Brand’s worldwide expansion into cleated categories, runway fashion, and hoop forays unshadowed by weighty nostalgia, the Jumpman empire was simply a subsidiary looking to stand on its own two feet.
Well positioned in basketball and already owning equity in lifestyle, Michael Jordan and Phil Knight’s pet project looked to corner and create a category hiding in plain sight: Trunning.
Jordan, famous for his breakfast club workouts with trainer Tim Grover, was well versed in the art of waking up at 5 AM, traversing the track, treadmill, and weight room for hours on end before ever hitting the hardwood. This combination of feathery footwork and pushing heavy ass weight called for a shoe more nimble than the Nike Air Metal Max and more supportive than the Nike Air Mayfly.
Oh yeah, it also needed a Jumpman on it.
Enter the Jordan Trunner: a hybrid sneaker light enough to hit high knees in and sturdy enough for the squat rack.
Aligning with the expanded Jordan Brand roster and built on the idea of the modern professional athlete—with equal weight applied to each aspect—the Trunner range was marketed across sports on the likes of world champion boxer Roy Jones Jr., MLB All-Star Derek Jeter, and NFL phenom Randy Moss.
Over four decades of Jordan Brand, the Trunner series has changed shape, style, and tech, remodeled recently as the Jalen Hurts-endorsed Trunner O/S and revered in LX retro form by the likes of Travis Scott and Drake.
As the latest and most lauded Jordan Trunner in years arrives at retail, we recount the 15 best Jordan Trunners ever made.
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Year: 2002
Metallic hits, clean leather toe boxes, and exaggerated midsole structures drove much of the design language for Jordan Brand in 2002. The Air Jordan 17, Jumpman Pure, and Jumpman J’Madness all carried said qualities on court while the Jordan Trunner Smash took the same brief to the gym.
A sculpted collar expanded on day one Trunner ethos while a perforated leather sockliner shell was inherently more lifestyle—or at least weight training—than previous pairs. The final effect is something that looks more made for poolside chilling or country club sports than that of the track, which makes sense given the resort vibes, summer hoops circuit, and luxury lens Jordan Brand was tilting into at the time.
The real kicker on the Trunner Smash is the midsole: extending almost to the eyelets on the midfoot and appearing as two-piece from the lateral side. A dozen years later, Rick Owens and Adidas would play with similar ideas, adding hindsight credence to how aspirational the early JB product was.
Year: 2020
An increased interest in football—particularly through the sponsorship of marquee schools such as Michigan, Oklahoma, and Florida—resulted in the revival of the Trunner franchise. 2020’s Jordan Zoom Trunner Ultimate rinsed all intended nostalgia for a straight-ahead look at what offseason workouts could be.
Departing from the tried and true slip-on structure of early entries, the Zoom Trunner Ultimate offered a modern running shoe on trend with the minimal upper/maximal midsole models made by Hoka and other competitors. Perhaps too tippy to go lateral in, the exposed and enhanced Zoom cushioning was enough to have college athletes at Jordan schools staying on brand and on track, not needing to ask the equipment managers for Vomeros or Cliftons for speed work.
Year: 2000
Strikingly similar in branding and stance to that of Eddie Jones’ beloved Jumpman Pro Quick, the Jordan Trunner Streak sent mesh on holiday for a full-grain leather look, and showed just how wide the line was willing to go.
Replacing the carbon fiber caging of previous Trunners with that of a half-hidden TPU midfoot panel attached to the lace loops, this wavy, tumbled, and embroidered model appeared aerobic in palette—even if its name was straight from the gridiron. Peep the tongue tagging and triangular touches on the heel logo.
Year: 2001
Early aughts Air Jordans were defined by shrouds, gaiters, straps and all imaginable ways to spat or cover the laces. The Jordan Trunner 24/7 bent into such ethos, doing away with laces all together—a common thread amongst Trunners—but bending the way such closure literally came together.
Zagging from the X-straps on the Air Jordan 8 or straight bars seen later on the Jordan Trunner Condo, the 24/7 employed a sideways V-shaped system that was quite literally greater than the simple velcro seen before. Renowned for its comfort and downhill stance, these looked like a real workout shoe while also showcasing the dash font of the period-appropriate Air Jordan 16.
Year: 2004
Rarely are sequels as good as the original. The Jordan Trunner LX2, released four years after the original, pales in comparison to the seminal style, but isn’t without merit.
Incredibly angular and almost architectural in scope, the sloping stance of the LX2 removes the tactile materials of its predecessor for smooth finishes and new age branding. The 23 on the toe box and cursive script on the ankle strap mirrored Team Jordans of the era as the empire approached an expanding roster and life without Mike on court.
Year: 2003
While a timeline won’t prove it, the Jordan Trunner Fly is essentially the midpoint between the 1999’s original Trunner and 2025’s Trunner O/S. A low top look, sculpted collar, and midfoot cage all straddle the line between function and fresh, made with the materials and finishes en vogue aesthetically at time of launch.
Pebbled leather, speckled laces, and a translucent midfoot with bubble pattern all appeared sporty but lived with one foot in the lifestyle lane, foreshadowing where the Trunner franchise would turn. Bonus points too for each OG colorway paying homage to the Air Max 1.
Year: 2002
An enormous hole was left in the basketball market when Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls for the second time in 1999, filled largely by AND1.
Revamping Rucker Park highlights as a DJ Clue tape on DVD, the intermingling of hoops and hip-hop played without supervision as basketball’s most polished player hung up his Airs. For a few years, this underground energy was driving dunk contest exploits and upending basketball camps. Commercially, AND1 Trash Talk tees and mixtapes inspired the Nike Battleground series. Perhaps, the success of AND1’s ToChillin’ slip-on rerouted the Trunner franchise as well.
In 2002, Jordan Brand brought out a handful of Trunner models, each angling away ever so slightly from the original workout intention. The Jordan Trunner Condo, a laceless slip-on model made entirely of mesh on the upper, was strikingly similar to that of the ToChillin’, all the way down to the grey launch colorway. Backed by buckle straps and a sturdy sole, these were much more business oriented than the streetball meets sideline shoe introduced by AND1, but perhaps a step towards chasing the youth.
Year: 2000
It’s hard to explain just how much marketing equity the term ‘2K’ had at the turn of the century. The bold expression of the ‘90s quickly gave way to the futurism of the early ‘00s, sold in through tactile tech and modern fabrics that felt advanced even if they’d been around for decades.
Such was the case on the Jordan Trunner 2K Turbo: a madlib model that merged the best elements of the original Trunner and the LX for an edgy advancement on the still-young series. Aggressive toe box dextailing and a semi-translucent cage added bite to the trademark sculpted angle. The real kicker on these? The exaggerated midsole that’s a slight nod to the Air Jordan 15, stripped down to expose a shank plate of sorts.
Year: 2000
By the year 2000, Jordan Brand was actively servicing athletes across almost all major American sports. The Jordan Trunner Mid met this new reality with an increased onus on weight training, essentially making a mid top running shoe stable enough to train in.
Sporting a thicker sole, higher cut, and layered leather upper, the Trunner Mid was more sneaker as advertised, almost appearing in stance as a hiking boot. This hilly look caught on quickly with the mountain-made Jordan Expedition trail trainer sharing much of the same design language.
Year: 2002
In the early ‘00s, Jordan Brand was dabbling in both deep ends of sport and luxury. While pinnacle product like the Air Jordan 16 and Air Jordan 17 intended to marry both, triple-digit priced Team Jordans played with performance specs while elevated lifestyle dress shoes from the Two3 line leaned all the way into dinner attire.
The Jordan Trunner Shift intersected the bottom bracket of both buckets, offering a sport loafer look in line with what much of the market is making now. In some ways it was a metallic mesh update to the Trunner Streak, and in others, it was a cross training exercise akin to Air Jordan 16 Low and Air Jordan 17 Low. Its bubble branding, caged Zoom heel, and metallic hits all work aesthetically even if they don’t appear as fast or foundational as other Trunners.
Year: 2000
Before Gilbert Arenas was a footwear free agent on the move from DC to Orlando, he was a college athlete with a wild side in Tucson. In two years at the University of Arizona, the California kid with a penchant for high school hooping in the Nike Air Max Plus would go bananas with his NCAA kicks on court.
Patent leather Nike Air Flight 89s and Nike Air Trainer SCs bucked basketball trends, but it was getting buckets in the Jordan Trunner 2000 Mid that took trolling above the rim. Popping out at the Maui Invitational as a sophomore starter in the techy Trunners, the black and volt model couldn’t have matched less with Lute Olsen’s navy and red uniforms.
College cameo aside, the Trunner 2000 Mid is an ill shoe on its own. A sports utility vehicle of a sneaker, the above-ankle Trunner merged Huarache lessons and Air Max Pillar extraness for a loud look that popped on a shoe wall. Brazenness at its best.
Year: 1999
The original Jordan Trunner, later rereleased, revised and rebranded as the Alpha Trunner, still stands as ahead of its time yet of the era. Arriving on the heels of the new millennium and on the feet of Roy Jones Jr., the sculpted stance and basically unbranded upper were in line with that of the flagship Air Jordan 15 but completely different in texture and task.
A mixed material upper gave way to hero treatment on the carbon fiber midfoot cage, allowing familiar yet funky technology the space to speak as a performance proposition. The cut and composition were a far cry from the boxing boot leaning Jordan Trainer that released a year earlier, flowing futuristic into an era of plyometric training, incline treadmills, and Jammer machines.
Most notably, the OG Jordan Trunner allowed the Jumpman—though barely embossed on the heel—to lead the conversation on cross training. Across campus in Beaverton, the eerily similar Nike Air Trainer Swift and Alpha Project-designed Nike Air Cross Trainer II—both awesome attempts at rebranding Bo Jackson’s beloved multi-use category—released right after that of the Trunner.
Fortune favors the bold, and timing is everything; Jordan Brand got it all right on this envelope-pushing introduction.
Year: 2025
When a pair of barely branded ACG-toned trainers surfaced on the page of @sneakerdenn in July 2025, the pick-up across footwear blogs and social media accounts was almost akin to a signature shoe leaking at Team USA practice. The Jordan Trunner O/S, a modern reinvention of the totem training-meets-running line from JB, cut through in the dog days of summer by injecting a smidge of sporting nostalgia into the ultra-popular mesh sneaker space.
Plainly put, Jordan Brand has one here. Existing in a post-Roshe world, it’s tough to say that the Jordan Trunner O/S is the type of shoe Super Bowl champion Jalen Hurts would wear when doing down-ups in a humid Houston warehouse gym. Rather, it’s been confused with Dior trainers or a weapon in the arms races against ASICS and New Balance’s firm grip on the youth.
A dad shoe of sorts, the Jordan Trunner O/S does not scream performance like early entries. However, it’s already worn well amongst ambassadors of various sports, gaining engagement when worn casually or smartly styled in the wild. Perhaps the line meant to assist preseason workouts is now finding footing for pregame arrivals?
Year: 2001
By the year 2001, Trunner was not a new concept amongst retail employers or Eastbay buyers – even if no one ever claimed they were ‘going Trunning.’ Unproven in pop culture colloquially but in dialogue with baggy sweats, Nike’s Presto franchise, and the juxtaposition between extreme coziness and high intensity exercise, the Jordan Trunner Bubble popped at the perfect time.
The return of the mid-foot cage was less a nod to the past but more so a wink. Translucent, removable, and heavily branded, a convertible approach played less to enhanced support on shuttle drill sprints and more so to sportswear’s increased curiosity surrounding dyes.
An incredibly Y2K coded upper sported matrix webbing and slip-in styling. Many makeups featured a gradient mesh approach akin to the Nike Air Max Plus or FUBU football jerseys of the time. Still, a sharp White/Gold colorway went without such frills and was perhaps the best.
Backed by Zoom Air—hence, “Bubble”—and aligned with top Jordan Brand athletes of the time, it was the rare non-basketball model made by MJ that wowed with aesthetics with no need for nostalgia.
Year: 2000
The term ‘Trunner’ instantly evokes images of the Jordan Trunner LX. Released between Bulls and Wizards action during the silver faced box era, the angular approach introduced on the preimminent Trunner was rendered laceless and rounded out for a decidedly more lifestyle stance.
Aesthetically, it worked. Appearing as if Polo Sport produced a sneaker, the Trunner LX blurred the lines between tactical and practical, introducing a shoe that looked like it could work for underwater runs and mainstream outfits.
Once again, Roy Jones Jr. was tasked with leading the model in advertisements, leaning into the serious nature of his combat sport while allowing the branding room to breathe. 3M hits, velcro closure, and high contrast colorways all played well with the intermingling of fan gear and urban wear hookups that drove street fashion in 2000.
When reworked as a retro, the Trunner LX became the olive branch for Travis Scott’s departure from Reebok and arrival at Air Jordan. La Flame’s first PE essentially turned the Y2K Trunner into a Raf Simons Ozweego, repositioning the retro as a symbol of niche taste. OVO exclusives, NCAA colorways, and even a mid-top extension added to the allure of what was perhaps the true Trunner proposition all along: make a Jordan cool that’s completely untied to basketball.
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