The original Air Jordan 1 "Bred" was released in 1985 at a retail price of $64.99, which seems like a steal today but was one of the most expensive sneakers on the market at that time. Nike tasked Peter Moore with designing the signature sneaker for their new rookie signee, Michael Jordan, who they hoped would help them crack a basketball market that was then dominated by Converse. Moore created something distinctly different from any other shoe, where an all white or all black makeup was the norm. The Air Jordan (as it was then known, the numbering came later) featured black and red color blocking throughout its full-grain leather upper, with virtually no white showing at all, save for the midsole. It was revolutionary. Nike and ad agency Weiden-Kennedy created the "Banned" campaign, a series of commercials that positioned the shoes as being outlawed in the NBA, creating tremendous hype surrounding their release. The successful marketing combined with Jordan's exciting, All Star-caliber play and Rookie of the Year award to propel the shoes to over $100 million in sales and set a new standard for what basketball sneakers looked like, and what they meant to the people buying them.
