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What’s the best Air Jordan 1 of all time? In some ways, that’s a tough question to consider—the Air Jordan 1 is one of the most prolific retro sneakers in all of Jordan Brand’s catalog, meaning there are a ton of colorways to sift through. In other ways, it’s easy—there are a small batch of original Jordan 1s and retros that are truly iconic.
You have to hold space for the originals that Michael Jordan actually wore. Jordan first wore the Air Jordan 1 (which was back then just called the “Air Jordan” since a sequel wasn’t guaranteed) in 1984; the Air Jordan 1 went on sale for the first time the next April. In this anniversary year of the Air Jordan 1, 40 years after its first release, we sought to parse through all the forms the shoe has taken and rank the very best versions.
These are our results. As usual, there were criteria that excluded some favorites. We’re only talking about Air Jordan 1 Highs here, no Mids or Lows. We’re only sticking to Air Jordans that were actually released, which is why you don’t see any ultra rare samples or friends-and-family Air Jordan 1s here. And in some cases, we condensed a handful of sneakers down into a single entry, as with the “Metallic” Air Jordan 1s, which exist here in the form of one single shoe. Now that those ground rules are established, scroll through to see our picks for the best Air Jordan 1 colorways of all time.
Year Released: 2022
Michael Jordan not only didn’t go to Georgetown, he beat the Hoyas, led by Patrick Ewing, in the 1982 NCAA championship game. That makes for some awkward storytelling that mocks honors one of his biggest rivals, but the shoe itself looks like it could have existed all along, despite debuting in 2022. The ’85 cut suits the colorway perfectly—arguably even better than the Terminators that are typically associated with the Washington D.C.-based school. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 1985
Is the “Neutral Grey” Air Jordan 1 exciting? Not exactly. Is it a solid original colorway? Yep. It’s one that would have been easy to overlook if not for its 2021 retro, which was not only well received, but surprisingly anticipated for a shoe with little hype or story. The first-time retro was a hit amongst enthusiasts though, and a good reminder of how much weight these original styles can carry. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2017
Mismatched shoes can go very wrong, but this one gets it right by sticking to the same color palette and only changing the blocking. The “Top 3 Gold” was originally released through Union at ComplexCon in 2017, followed by a wider launch on Cyber Monday that November. The general release was detrimental to the shoe’s hype, but the initial impact was strong enough that sneaks on to the tail end of this list. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2014
Oh, the Re-2-pect 1s. Might be one of the worst marketing tag lines of all time. But also a special moment for Jordan Brand. Derek Jeter retired in 2014 and Jordan Brand paid its respect to the New York Yankees legend with a special pair of Air Jordan 1s in blue with pinstripes. It’s a fastball down the middle, a classy-ooking shoe. It’s not as coveted as the Air Jordan 11s made for Jeter, but this Jordan 1 still held its value over the years. —Matt Welty
Year Released: 2013
This is a mythical sneaker. A huge what-if. Is it real or is it not? Jordan Brand cut straight to the chase and created these black and gold Air Jordan 1s. Black and gold Jordan 1s have a special place in the lineage of the brand. There’s a midtop pair from 2003, the “Top 3” pairs, and more. But these are the ones that started it all. There was rumored to be a pair of these back in 1985, but no one can track them down. So maybe it’s more of a fable. But it came to life as a retro in 2013 and was super limited, too. Marcus Jordan had his pair made into customs by JBF Customs and said he regretted it because he ruined the original shoe, which says a lot. —Matt Welty
Year Released: 2016
2015’s original “Shattered Backboard” Air Jordan 1 set the modern standard for quality when it came to Air Jordan 1s, so it wasn’t a surprise when Jordan Brand ran the formula back (and back again). The leather of the second iteration might not have lived up to the hype of the first, but it was still a worthy addition to a series that’s still coveted today. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2018
Comic book sneakers are pretty hard to pull off. Usually it’s just a shoe that’s dressed like the character it’s meant to represent with loud colors and some silly accessories. But the Air Jordan 1 “Origin Story” was pulled off just about as well as it could have been, it was even perfectly incorporated into the actual Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse film with Ben Day dots all over the upper. —Ben Felderstein
Year Released: 2011
Artist Dave White’s sneaker paintings were the stuff of legend on sneaker forums. After a series of Air Max projects with UK retailer Size?, White got his first Air Jordan in 2011. This gold toe version was auctioned off through Sole Collector to benefit Jordan Brand’s Wings for the Future charity, and its design still stands out as a truly unique piece of Air Jordan history. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2001
Some will say this shoe shouldn’t make the list. I say frick ‘em. This shoe will always be awesome—to me, at least. This silver Jordan 1 first released in 2001 as part of Jordan’s Co.JP collection for Japan, alongside a white/navy and all-black pair. These sneakers are all-silver, which was bold for an AJ1 at the time. And they came in a metal briefcase, another first. They re-released for Jordan’s silver anniversary in 2010. They’ve came out since, without the briefcase, and it didn’t feel as special. But it’s still a groundbreaking shoe for the line. —Matt Welty
Year Released: 2017
The “Igloo” Air Jordan 1 launched in late 2017 exclusively at Art Basel—a sign of things to come for the Miami art festival. While not as coveted as the “Rust Pink” colorway it released alongside, this pair is still extremely coveted, and fetches four figures on the resale market. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2018
This is a pretty polarizing pair on this list: a lot of people really mess with them and a lot of folks can’t get behind the pre-distressed and yellowed look of them. Right now, Nigel Sylvester is close to the top of the collaborative world at Jordan Brand and this is where it all began for him and the Jumpman. You can find faux scuff marks from key contact points from bike riding, Sylvester’s now-signature mini Swoosh, and a reflective 3M Swoosh. Not Nigel’s best collab, but definitely a strong start to his partnership. — Ben Felderstein
Year Released: 2021
The legend of the Trophy Room x Air Jordan 1 High quickly transitioned from the story of Michael Jordan being frozen out by his teammates in the 1985 NBA All-Star Game to a sordid affair of backdooring and missing blue laces. The controversy around the shoe’s launch is now what the sneaker is most associated with, rather than its actual theme. That infamy likely makes the shoe considerably more memorable than the Chicago-based colorway would have been alone, but it also limits it to the lower half of this list. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2017
Aleali May has a few Jordan Brand collabs under her belt, but this one is the clear cut top of the pack. The silver and black colorway inspired by a vintage jacket features a bounty of materials: corduroy, satin, chenille, and more. The colorblocking is exact to that of the “Shadow” colorway giving this pair a familiar feel while the textures add a clean modern spin. —Ben Felderstein
Year Released: 2020
Few sneakers look like a personification of their collaborator like J Balvin’s Air Jordan did when it dropped in late 2020. The rainbow color palette certainly wasn’t for everyone, but what it represented—Balvin’s music, style, and culture—was the exact kind of positivity we needed in the midst of a global pandemic. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2020
The “We have Travis Jordan 1s at home.” This shoe isn’t a thing if the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1s never happen. You can argue until you’re blue in the face. But people did not like brown Air Jordans before that shoe. Even the Mocha 3s were a love-it-or-hate-it shoe. But the success of the Travis 1s made this one big. You saw them everywhere. The Travis 1s were going for $2,000-$3,000. So why wouldn’t someone want an alternative? Some people might even prefer them more. They certainly made an impact. —Matt Welty
Year Released: 2021
Combine Travis Scott’s reverse Swoosh with Fujiwara Hiroshi’s signature lightning bolt stamp and colorway, and you’re sure to have a major hit on your hands. While the High isn’t quite as good as the Low, I think this Jordan 1 is somehow one of the most underrated sneakers from Travis’ array of Nike and Jordan collabs. A third version is allegedly on the way later this year, but any time you combine two major sneaker industry players like this, you’re playing with house money from the jump. —Ben Felderstein
Year Released: 2017
Certainly the more revered colorway of the two that dropped at Art Basel in 2017, the “Rust Pink” Air Jordan 1s borrow the color blocking of the iconic “Black Toe” Jordan 1 with a bright Miami flare. Since the drop, the Miami art festival has turned into a major focal point for the sneaker industry every winter. —Ben Felderstein
Year Released: 2008
This is another love-it-or-hate-it shoe. It’s the first Doernbecher Air Jordan, so it set a precedent in that regard. It’s one of the wildest Air Jordans ever, too. The shoe was designed by Tony Taylor, aka Mr. Boober, who survived a kidney transplant in 2007. The sneakers come in patent leather with palm trees on them, with the writing “I’m fresh” on the tongue, and a NERD-esque character of Mr Boober himself. I always thought these were great. The design might be too loud for some, but that’s the Doernbecher spirit. —Matt Welty
Year Released: 2009
These came out at possibly the worst time ever, smack dab in the middle of the economic recession of the late 2000s. They came out in a two-shoe pack alongside the “Bred” Jordan 1s. I remember we got probably 40 of the packs when I was working at Foot Locker. They were made to symbolize when Jordan scored 63 points on the Celtics. The Breds were better, of course, but the Celtics were a take on the “Black Toe” Air Jordan 1s, just in green. Those shoes sat back then. People just didn’t have the money at the time. 1s hadn’t taken off the way they did 10 years later. That aside, it’s still a good-looking shoe with a good story behind it. —Matt Welty
Year Released: 2018
It’s all about the U. The Solefly x Air Jordan 1 is Miami as all get out. The friends and family pair is about as good as an Air Jordan 1 can get. But the released pair is a fine consolation in the classic University of Miami colors of white, orange, and green. I love these. Kinda wish they were patent leather like the F&F pair. They were extremely limited and resell for a lot of money, making them a grail for a lot of people. DJ Khaled was selected to promote the shoes, which may be a plus or minus for them. But they’re still seriously good. You can almost picture Sebastian the Ibis wearing them, if they made them for bird feet. —Matt Welty
Year Released: 1985
The prestige that comes from being an original colorway can carry a shoe a long way. These shoes tell the stories, both on and off the court, that made sneaker history what it is. But when we debated which, and how many, of the original metallic Air Jordan 1 colorways should make this list, we had a hard time caring about any of them. Are they important? Sure. Any original Air Jordan from 1985 is noteworthy. But these shoes essentially all look like glorified team colorways, with the only differentiation coming from their accent colors—sorting them out is purely a matter of personal taste. So while the “Metallic Navy” version ultimately got the nod, primarily for being the best known in the series, feel free to insert your favorite color here and pretend that’s the one we went with. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 1985
The Black/White Air Jordan 1 has been around since 1985, so while “Panda” Dunk comparisons are inevitable, it’s important to remember who did it first. The colorway returned for the first time in 2008, alongside an Air Jordan 22, as one of the least coveted installments of the Countdown Pack series. The black and white Air Jordan 1 returned again in 2014 on its own, and most recently in 2023. Regardless of its current associations, the simple black and white leather design stands as a staple of retro basketball footwear that’s as wearable now as it was four decades ago. It’s also a good reminder that the Panda Dunk actually is good, even if we see too much of it. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2018
Had this all-white colorway of Virgil Abloh’s Air Jordan 1 dropped with his original “The Ten” collection, like it was meant to, it’d have made total sense. More than any other version of his Air Jordan 1, this one best embodies the style of that first collection. Abloh worried, however, that an all-white version wasn’t recognizable enough as an Air Jordan 1 as opposed to a Dunk, and shifted to the iconic “Chicago” colorway instead for the initial drop.
That move relegated this colorway to a much different release—one that only happened in Europe. Thanks to that regional exclusivity, its resale prices have typically been even higher than the more beloved “Chicago” variation. That could all change though, as rumors of a retro landing for Holiday 2025 emerged earlier this year. Nothing is confirmed though, and with so many collaborative parties involved, the return could be an uphill battle. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 1986
Let’s not pretend like every single design among the multitude of Air Jordan 1s from the sneaker’s debut had some kind of deep significance. They arrived in a time when there wasn’t much official explanation for why Nike selected certain combos or what they represented. And there were so many of them that the odds were low that any given Jordan 1 would end up a part of some pop culture moment. That doesn’t dull them, though. Absent all that, this Air Jordan 1 in dark and storm blue, which could have been a Kentucky Wildcats outtake, still shines. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 2014
This Air Jordan 1 celebrated the long history of skateboarders appropriating Air Jordans by hiding the shoes’ true colorway underneath a wear-away layer on the upper. The idea was that if you skated the shoe, the application on top would fade with abrasion and show its true colors underneath. The truth is nobody who got these was actually skating in them—people did their best to manually scratch away the sneakers to get the mismatched red and blue sections to show. There’s no shame in that, and maybe there’s even something poetic about the way that wearers ignored the shoe’s intended use and had their own way with it, given that’s the spirit the Lance Mountain x Air Jordan 1s were inspired by in the first place. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 2020
If this list were of the best-made or most expensive Air Jordan 1s, the Dior x Air Jordan 1 would run away with the number-one spot. Being produced by Dior, its materials and construction are simply on a different level than any Air Jordan that came before it. Pick any angle, and there’s a new detail to appreciate, like the rolled and painted edges, or the fine tonal monogram textile on the tongue. The retail price, at $2,200 for the high-cut version, was not for the faint of heart, yet there were still five million people willing to pay it. But unlike paying that to a reseller for a standard release, at least there was a quality upgrade for that kind of money. The sneaker even had a major pop culture moment when it made a cameo at Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Sneaker fans had mixed feelings on the design, but there was no denying its impact (or quality). —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2018
Union’s first set of Air Jordan 1 collabs was an ambitious project from the jump. It mashed up multiple colorways of Air Jordans 1s in the most literal sense possible, and launched them through a staged booth at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. Both of those scenarios could have gone wrong, fast, but instead kicked off what became a project so beloved that it’s still going strong today. The “Storm Blue” version ranks slightly below the “Black Toe” model, but was actually the more limited of the original set, releasing exclusively through Union. It even sells for more on the secondary market, going for an average of over $800. It’s hard to go wrong with either one though, and thanks to the scrappy nature of the design, they’ve aged well and look good even when they’re beat up. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2011
While Jordan Brand’s been more than willing to give us black and red Air Jordan 1s with the original “Nike Air” detailing on the tongue in the last decade, there was a drought on pairs with the OG branding for a long time in the 2000s. This Air Jordan 1 broke that spell, arriving as the first retro to explicitly reference the “Banned” myth from Air Jordan’s genesis by planting x-marks on the liner and heel. This one also arrived in mythical circumstances: the “Banned” Air Jordan 1 was an outlet-only release, a pair that had people showing up to discount stores in droves. It upped the ante on quality, using a buttery leather that was seldom seen elsewhere in Jordan Brand’s retro lineup. The sneaker isn’t the most historically accurate recreation of the “Bred” Jordan 1, but it’s still a prize for collectors and a shoe that induced frenzies when it launched. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 2018
The “Chicago” colorway of the Off-White x Air Jordan 1 is the true grail when it comes to Virgil Abloh’s remixes of this silhouette, but the “UNC” is arguably the most widely enjoyed Off-White x Air Jordan 1. The sneaker was more accessible—there was one moment when it hit on the SNKRS app when it seemed like everyone cooked and bought a pair. It’s a sequel shoe that didn’t feel gratuitous thanks to its interpretation of the first white and blue Jordans, not to mention the orange laces that allowed for a splash of something different. (If you were around back then, you’ll recall how those laces went triple platinum.) Like the rest of Abloh’s work in Jordans, it was both referential and irreverent. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 1985
Remember when storytelling in Air Jordans was simple? Remember back when we didn’t have Air Jordans inspired by everything from the bubblegum Michael Jordan chewed to the backboard he shattered that one time. At the dawn of the Air Jordan line, there was no assumption that any of the colorways really meant anything specific, outside of the obvious Chicago Bulls-aligned ones that made up most of the offerings. This Air Jordan 1 in white and powder blue was a rare exception, a direct enough nod to Jordan’s time at the University of North Carolina that established the clean combo as a staple in his signature line. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 1985
Much of the allure of the first Air Jordan shoe has to do with its colors. You know the legend by now—Nike splashed more color into the model than the NBA would tolerate and used the league’s response to paint the shoe as a piece of forbidden fruit. But not all the colors from the sneaker’s first run were quite so vibrant. The “Shadow” turned things down, offering an iteration that stood out in that first load of colorways for its lack of bright shades. It’s been a favorite since, a Jordan 1 right outside the top tier of Jordan 1s that works as a versatile, understated choice. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 2014
Hiroshi Fujiwara’s royal blue flip on the “Black Toe” Air Jordan 1 is notable not only for the Fragment stamp on the heel, but for ushering in the “Remastered” era of retros in late 2014. It was an acknowledgment from Jordan Brand that not enough importance was being placed on the details, and an effort to produce better quality and more accurate recreations. That said, starting with a non-original collaborative colorway was an odd choice to launch the program, but the increased attention to detail certainly didn’t hurt the shoe. In fact, for a colorway that could have easily been a general release were it not for the aforementioned heel branding, the overall quality (along with the limited launch) is a big part of what made it a four-figure shoe even today. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 2018
This is the sneaker that put Union back on the map. As the Air Jordan 1 was gaining momentum in the 2010s, Union grabbed the shoe for its first-ever Air Jordan collaboration and hit a home run. The sneaker was made to look like an ancient pair of Jordan 1s, the kind that you might dig up at a garage sale. It was introduced to the world that way—Union debuted the shoe with a stunt at the Rose Bowl Flea Market where they quietly set up a booth and put the sneaker on display, situated among other sportswear relics of yesteryear. The shoe splits the difference between a handful of different original colorways, sewing them together and letting the stitching show. It initiated a long, still-standing collaboration between Jordan Brand and Union, which has become one of its go-to partners in the years since. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 2015
Without a doubt, the best non-collab, non-original Air Jordan 1 of all time, the “Shattered Backboard” 1s are inspired by a uniform Jordan wore when he shattered a backboard during a 1985 exhibition game in Italy. That story and background really helps take this pair over the top, but the premium leather is what really helps it stand out. The tumbled leather upper set the standard for what the consumer expected in terms of quality for many years to come. Special shattered glass-graphic insoles and a clean starfish, black, and sail color scheme clearly finds this pair in the top-10 of all time. But will people be just as excited about the shoe’s return in 2025? —Ben Felderstein
Year Released: 2019
You’ve heard us talk about Travis Scott and his sneakers an endless amount of times at this point, so don’t expect any brand new revelations to come out of this entry. One thing that stands out about the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 High “Mocha” is how well it has aged. Unlike its AJ1 Low Cactus Jack siblings, this particular silhouette hasn’t been rinsed and repeated, so it still truly stands out when you see a pair out in the wild. This was the pair that really put Travis’ collaborative endeavors with Nike over the top and cemented the partnership as one of the greatest in history—yeah, we said it. Six years later, the “Mocha” colorway is still standing tall and will continue to set the standard for any Travis Nike or Jordans to come. —Ben Felderstein
Year Released: 2017
If you let anyone else take these kinds of liberties with an Air Jordan 1, the result would have been a massacre. Exposing the foam could have made it look flimsy. Slimming down the Swoosh could have made it look anemic. Slapping that text on the midsole could have made it look unserious. How did Virgil Abloh avoid all that?
His first Air Jordan 1 collaboration, which arrived as part of his landmark “The Ten” collection with Nike in 2017, sought to better understand what made the shoe tick. The copy on the midsole makes the Air apparent in a model that doesn’t visibly display its cushioning. The foam is a further hint at what’s inside. The logo on the side looks like it’s just barely hanging on, as if it were affixed there by a teenager taking a scalpel to the Jordan 1.
Abloh once said that everything he did was for the 17-year-old version of himself. In that context, the Off-White Jordan 1—a sneaker that looks like it could have been hacked together by a kid toiling in an at-home workshop while dreaming of officially putting his fingerprints on this level of iconic sportswear—makes perfect sense. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 1985
The “Black Toe” Air Jordan 1 doesn’t have quite the prestige of some of the other original colorways, but upon closer examination, maybe it should. Unlike the “Bred” and “Royal” versions, Michael Jordan actually wore the “Black Toes” in NBA games. And similar to the “Chicago” version, they were featured in iconic photo shoots—one of which was recently honored in the “Reimagined” retro release from 2025. Yet for some reason, it falls just short. The sneaker has returned many times over the years. In addition to the “Reimagined” version from earlier this year, we’ve seen variations including low-tops, satin, and even the dreaded mids. So, even if this sneaker doesn’t quite make it to the very top of our rankings, there’s no shame in #4 when it comes to this list. That just means the higher ones were even more noteworthy. —Zac Dubasik
Year Released: 1985
If Michael Jordan never wore the “Royal” Air Jordan 1 during an NBA game, how could it be that good or important? Consider this powerful image, showing Jordan donning the sneakers with a matching blue and black Jordan tracksuit, sans arm sleeves for aerodynamic reasons, no doubt. Consider the also awesome, curious shot of Jordan in the “Royal” 1s hooping on the deck of a cruise ship in the 1980s.
In 2017, ahead of one of the “Royal” Air Jordan 1’s many re-releases, Nike circulated the story that black and blue was Jordan’s favorite color combination. It’s kind of a tough detail to square given just how much history (and money) Jordan made in black and red, but this sneaker never needed a consistent co-sign from the man himself to be good. The “Royal” Air Jordan 1 was perfect, and the perfect foil to the red-accented styles that dominated the Air Jordan line from the beginning. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 1985
This is probably the Air Jordan 1 you think of when you think of Air Jordan 1s. Yes, there’s a certain colorway of the first Jordan shoe that’s more storied—we’ll get to that in a second—but when it comes to Michael Jordan wearing Air Jordan 1s, this is the one. The sneaker set the standard for Chicago Bulls colorways, establishing the combo of white, black, and red as a permanent staple in sneakers. The “Chicago” was the colorway that was typically on Jordan’s feat during his rookie season heroics. That rebuilt, strapped-up, one-off Jordan 1 that Nike made for Jordan after his sophomore season ankle injury came in this colorway. And when Jordan randomly cracked open a crispy pair of Air Jordan 1s at the Garden in 1994, it was the “Chicago.” It’s also lived multiple lives as a retro, most recently via the “Lost and Found” release from 2022 that was made to look like it survived nearly 40 years in a storage unit, or the stockroom of a mom and pop shop. Its enduring status as a must-have proves that, no matter how long it’s sat dormant or been around, the Air Jordan 1 “Chicago” is timeless. —Brendan Dunne
Year Released: 1985
On September 15, 1984, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18, the NBA threw them out of the game. At least, that’s what the advertisement touting the black and red Air Jordan 1 told you.
It was a stretch. The mythology around the “banning” of the first Air Jordans looks more and more flimsy with each passing year. Michael Jordan wore a black and red Air Ship, rather than the similar Air Jordan, when he supposedly incurred the sanction from the NBA. The story went that Jordan’s black and red shoes broke the rules around how much color was allowed in players’ footwear, and that the league sent a letter threatening fines over Jordan’s sneakers. The beef between Nike and the NBA, or any fines that the shoes prompted, was almost certainly exaggerated for marketing purposes. But it made the sneakers famous, immediately establishing Air Jordan as a defiant, different kind of sportswear line. Even if the sneakers were in shape not too dissimilar from other Nike basketball sneakers of the time.
Look, Jordan didn’t wear the black and red “Banned” Air Jordan 1s that much. Jordan breaking them out for the 1985 Slam Dunk Contest, gold chains swinging from his neck, is the only time this version of the Jordan 1 really saw action in any NBA events. But that didn’t matter. The ad made them a permanent object of desire. They have reverberated since in constant retros, in resale markets, and even in Jordan Brand’s fabricated “Banned Day” brand holiday.
That original Air Jordan ad boasted that while the NBA had banned the shoes, it couldn’t stop you from wearing them. Even though the story the advertisement was based on was flimsy, it was prophetic. Sneakerheads, basketball fans, resellers, and everyone else haven’t stopped wearing the sneakers since. —Brendan Dunne
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