Air Jordan III | Designer : Tinker Hatfield | Released : 1988

If the basketball world was still getting to know Michael Jordan, the ad campaign surrounding the Air Jordan III introduced one prominent playground baller who knew MJ, and MJ’s increasingly prominent shoes, all too well.

Released in 1988, the rollout of the AJ III included TV spots featuring actor/director Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon, from his 1986 film “She’s Gotta Have It” sparking a series of catch phrases heard ’round the sneaker world.

Architect-turned-designer Tinker Hatfield took the lead on this, the first of more than two dozen Air Jordans he would go on to design. Hatfield sparked some style trends on the AJ III that have continued well into the 21st century. Most notably, he introduced elephant print overlays on the upper that have resurfaced periodically – in reissues of the AJ III as well as other Jordan models – ever since.

Prior to the AJ III, basketball shoes were mostly just basketball shoes. Hatfield knew Jordan was into luxury and rolled that into the designs for Jordan’s signature shoes. While the Air Jordan II featured luxurious elements reflected in its Italian construction, Hatfield took this concept to a new level, even involving Jordan in the search for the right leathers to use on the shoe.

Another first on the Air Jordan III; it was the first Jordan signature sneaker to feature the now-famous Jumpman logo. The now-ubiquitous image is a silhouette of Jordan dunking on a 1985 Nike poster.

Finally, the shoe was the first Air Jordan to feature a visible Air-Sole unit under the heel. It retained Nike’s “Air” embroidery on the heel, encapsulated Air in the forefoot, and a polyurethane midsole for cushioning.

Jordan averaged 35 points per game while wearing the AJ III to a fourth straight All-Star Game. There, among the game’s elite, MJ earned MVP and a second straight Slam Dunk title, this time by flying in from the free-throw line.

The AJ III was first retro’d in 1994.

Link: Air Jordan III