A PAIR of Michael Jordan’s game-worn Air Jordan 1s from Chicago Bulls’ 1985 season has broken the world record for trainers after being sold for $560,000 at auction.
Sotheby’s have announced that there were bidders from across four continents for the iconic red, white, and black sneakers that boast the 57-year-old’s signature.
2
A pair of 1985 Air Jordan 1s have sold at an online auction for $560,000
Bidders – who aged from 19 to over 50 – drove up the value by $300,000 within the final 20 minutes of the ten-day online auction.
The Vintage Originals were only given an estimate of around £123k by Sotheby’s.
But MJ’s pair smashed the previous $437,500 world record set last year by the only surviving unworn pair of pioneering 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat ‘Moon Shoe’, which were designed for the Olympics of that year.
The pair is strangely of a US size 13 left shoe and 13.5 right shoe, with Jordan wearing mismatched trainers for the majority of his career.
Commenting on the sale, Sotheby’s Brahm Wachter said: “We are extremely excited about today’s record-breaking result.
“Building off the momentum from our debut sneaker sale last year, which previously set the record for a pair of sneakers with the Nike Moon Shoe, we wanted to set the bar even higher for our second sneaker sale.
JOR DROPPING
“We saw tremendous bidding up until the moment the sale closed, with the value more than doubling in the final hour alone.
“That coupled with strong international bidding from six countries on four continents shows not only the incredible appeal of Michael Jordan as one of the most recognizable and legendary athletes of all time but also that sneaker collecting is truly a global and growing market.”
Speaking during his hit documentary The Last Dance, Jordan revealed how his mother convinced him to sign with Nike in 1984 after he originally had his heart set on Adidas.
He stated: “My mother said, ‘You’re going to go listen. You may not like it, but you’re going to go listen.’
“She made me get on that plane and go listen.”
2
Jordan signed with Nike in 1984 after originally wanting to become partners with Adidas
