About

Air Jordan 1 High

The High is not the high version of the Air Jordan 1. The High is the Air Jordan 1; all other heights were added later. That sounds like wordplay, but it has a visible consequence that recurs on this page.

The wing logo needs that height

The emblem with the wings around a basketball is pressed into the leather of the ankle panel, not printed on top. That panel exists only in this cut. As soon as the shaft is lowered, the surface where the logo belongs disappears and with it the logo itself: on the Low it simply isn’t there anymore. If you want to know what you’re looking at, look at the ankle first.

What else is on it

On the toe panel there’s a cluster of perforations, in the same place on every version. The Swoosh is large and runs from the middle of the foot up toward the collar. The collar itself is a separately padded panel with its own seam. At the bottom is a thin, flat midsole with a stitch line along the upper edge, and the edge of the outsole is serrated along its full length with vertical ribs. That same little edge is on the Dunk, which is no coincidence: both come from the same years and shared their tooling.

Where the air is

There’s nothing to see. The air chamber is enclosed in the heel, under the foam, without a window. That’s a two-year difference from what came later: only on the Air Max 1 was the same principle made visible by cutting away the foam around it. Here it feels like a regular, fairly thin sole, because that’s what it is.

OG or not

The addition OG after Retro High is the only word on this page that truly matters. Those versions follow the original design, right down to the text on the tongue label; versions without OG deviate from that in shape, material, or detail. For the broader history and the banned story the full overview is on Air Jordan 1, and the Mid is a separate case that is explained there.

On this page you can see which versions of the Air Jordan 1 High are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from what price they can be found, and in how many shops they’re in stock.