Zack Schlemmer 
Following up the behemoth that was the Air Jordan 1 was certainly no easy task. Michael Jordan’s hit sneaker changed the entire landscape of the athletic shoe world, and you might not even be reading a sneaker website today if it had never existed. After the shoe was seen in 1985 in its eye-catching red, black, and white colorways on the feet of the young basketball prodigy, it proceeded to fly off the shelves like no athletic shoe ever had before it. So what was Nike to do when it was time to follow it up with a second Air Jordan model?
Continue to break all of the rules. A bold, never-before seen basketball shoe design that was simultaneously simplistic and refined? Check. No Swoosh branding to indicate what brand the shoe was? Check. A premium, Italian-made construction? Check. All these years later, the Air Jordan II from 1986 is still one of the most unique hoops shoes ever, and one of the most polarizing styles in the entire Air Jordan line. In this edition of Jordan 101, we’ll take a look at what makes the Air Jordan II the understated masterpiece that it is.
Unprecedented Design
When you look past the bold colors of the Air Jordan 1, the shoe itself was not anything groundbreaking. The same can’t be said about the Air Jordan II. When the shoe debuted in 1986, it was unlike any basketball shoe before it. A joint effort by Air Jordan 1 designer Peter Moore and the man behind the Air Force 1, Bruce Kilgore, the sophomore Air Jordan was built as a luxury basketball shoe with a clean, streamlined design. The most notable feature was the absence of Nike Swoosh branding anywhere on the shoe. It was actually the first Nike shoe that ever went Swooshless, with the intent of letting the Jordan line speak for itself. One more important feature: the use of exotic faux lizard skin across the quarter panel, which seems to foreshadow the even bolder elephant print on the Air Jordan III.
Italian-Made Luxury, But at a Price
The intent to create a “luxury” basketball shoe was taken a step further by producing it in Italy with premium plush leather. The high-end production also called for a steep price tag: an exorbitant-for-its-time $100. These definitely weren’t your dad’s Chuck Taylors!
Where’s the Black Colorway?
Another one of the unusual things about the Air Jordan II is the fact that it has no black-based original colorway. In fact, it’s the only Air Jordan from the first all the way to the most recent XX9 with no OG black colorway. The AJ2 also has the fewest total original colorways, with only two each for the high and low iterations. They include white/red and white/red/black for both heights.
The First “Retro” Jordans
Along with the Air Jordan 1 and III, the Air Jordan II was among the first-ever retroed Air Jordan models in 1994. In a world not quite yet ready for the concept of retro basketball shoes, they sat on shelves and eventually hit the sales racks at prices that would bring tears to a modern day Jordan collector’s eyes.
The First Doernbecher Air Jordan
Another claim to sneaker fame for the Air Jordan II is the fact that it was the very first Air Jordan featured in the popular Doernbecher Freestyle collection—the now annual series of Nike sneakers designed by children at the Doernbecher hospital in Oregon. The black, green and yellow edition of the shoe created by patient Sheridan Brenton led off the inaugural DB collection in 2007.
Michael’s Accomplishments in the Air Jordan II
Along with the shoe’s firsts in the Air Jordan line, Michael Jordan also achieved some firsts in his career while wearing them. Worn for his third season in the NBA (1986-87), MJ took home his first of two All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk contests trophies and won his first of seven consecutive scoring titles. In ’86-87, he was also the first NBA player since Wilt Chamberlain to record 3,000+ points in a season.
A Polarizing Design
The understated, idiosyncratic design of the Air Jordan II has worked both for and against the model’s legacy within the entire Air Jordan line. On one hand, it stands out among the rest in its own unique ways, producing a cult-like following for the shoe. Talk to some older heads that were around when it originally released, and they’ll tell you it’s the best Air Jordan ever. But on the other hand, it’s never been quite as popular with to more casual sneakerhead, who is more likely to go for flashier Air Jordans like the III or XI. Perhaps the Air Jordan II takes a more refined knowledge of sneakers to fully appreciate it.
