Peter Moore: the designer of the Air Jordan 1 and the Nike Dunk

Who was Peter Moore?

Moore didn't come from the footwear industry but from graphic design, and worked as creative director for Nike in the early 1980s. That explains a lot about his designs: he thought in logos, color blocks and recognizability from a distance, not in construction or cushioning.

When Nike signed Michael Jordan in 1984, Moore was responsible for both the shoe and the brand around it. He drew the Air Jordan 1, designed the Wings logo and had a hand in the campaign that turned a debuting player into a brand. Later he and Rob Strasser moved to adidas, where he helped create the Equipment line — a response to the very excess that characterised the sneaker market at the time.

Why his designs changed the sneaker world

What stands out about his two best-known designs is how little they innovated technically. The Air Jordan 1 and the Dunk share a simple, flat-built basketball sole and an upper made of leather panels. What they did was something else: they made color the subject.

With the Dunk that was literally the starting point. The model was launched in university team colorways, using the large leather panels as areas that could be done in two or three colors. That made a shoe, for the first time, a carrier of identity rather than just a product.

The same principle applied to the Air Jordan 1, but with one player instead of a team. The black-and-red colorway that crossed the NBA's competition colors gave the model a reputation that far exceeded the shoe itself. Moore understood that a story around a shoe can be stronger than the shoe — an insight that would go on to steer the entire sneaker market.

Peter Moore's most famous sneakers

Air Jordan 1 (1985)

The first signature model for Michael Jordan, and the starting point of what later became Jordan Brand. The high-top was the original; the low and the mid came later and are now the best-selling variants. The model was rediscovered twice: first by skaters in the 1990s, who appreciated the flat sole and ankle support, and later by collectors.

Nike Dunk (1985)

Released as part of a program where university teams got their own colorways. The model largely disappeared from view until Nike SB reissued it around 2002 as a skate shoe, with a thicker tongue and more cushioning. That SB branch turned the model into a collectible, after which the regular Dunk Low and Dunk High returned widely to stores.

Peter Moore and Jordan Brand

His role reached further than a single shoe. The Wings logo — a basketball with wings — is his, and it determined for years how the early Air Jordans looked. He also worked on the second Air Jordan, the model in which the brand consciously moved away from the athletic design language.

What makes the Air Jordan 1 exceptional within the brand is that the silhouette never changed. Where later Air Jordans got a different technology and shape every year, the 1 has essentially remained the same design, returning each time in different colors and materials. That makes it more related to the Dunk than to the rest of its own family — logical, since they came from the same drawing board.