In the mid 1980s the Nike shoe company came out with several new shoe designs, most particularly created for the sports industry that had always supported Nike so well. Along with new designs, during this period Nike negotiated a contract with Michal Jordan, a well-known, and highly popular, basketball player. Over the next two decades Nike would carry on a line of Jordan shoes in various styles, even after Jordan's retirement from pro basketball.
The two major features that set Nike Air Jordan shoes apart from other sneakers were in the design of the shoe itself, and in the logos printed on the shoes. The earliest shoes, released in 1985, were a leather base in both high top and low top varieties. They were the first shoes to carry the winged basketball that would come to be known as one of two Nike Air Jordan standard logos. This logo would appear on three versions of Nike Air Jordan Shoes, printed on either the side near the ankle or on the tongue of the shoe. When the fourth version was introduced in 1987 the logo was changed to what was dubbed the 'jumpman' a picture of a basketball player going up for a slam-dunk. This logo appeared on many places depending on the particular shoe. Sides, tongue and sole were all fair game for logo placement and the jumpman appeared on all.
