Part of the Air Jordan 1 line. This release has the Black/Pale Ivory/Black/Racer Pink colourway. Denim on an Air Jordan 1 is a fashion move, not a performance one, and that is the whole idea here. The SE programme is where Jordan Brand changes the material rather than the colour, and this Low arrives in black denim, a fabric that carries its own wear language: it fades, it whiskers, it takes the shape of your foot. Underneath is the silhouette Peter Moore drew with Bruce Kilgore for a rookie Michael Jordan, produced for him on 17 November 1984 and released to the public on 1 April 1985. Putting workwear cloth on the most collected basketball shoe ever made is a small joke with a long setup, and black keeps it understated.
Two ways to wear it. Double denim, carefully: black denim shoes with mid or light wash jeans, so the two washes are clearly different, plus a plain white tee and a black jacket. Or go tonal: black jeans, black tee, black overshirt, letting the denim texture be the only thing separating the shoe from the trousers. This is a warm, dry weather pick, good for evenings and travel because it packs flatter than leather. Sizing sits close to true to size and the fabric gives more than leather does across the midfoot. Brush loose dirt off dry, spot clean with a barely damp cloth and mild soap, and never put it near a radiator.
The Air Jordan 1 became a material canvas the moment Jordan Brand turned it over to designers outside sport, and its collaborators read like a map of the last two decades of fashion: Off-White under Virgil Abloh, Dior, Comme des Garcons, Supreme and KAWS on the design side, Travis Scott with the Cactus Jack 1, 4 and 6, plus Drake, Billie Eilish, J Balvin, Eminem and Nicki Minaj on the music side. Denim belongs to the same conversation the patent leather on the Air Jordan XI started, which is that this line is willing to put non basketball material on a basketball pattern and let people work out what it means.
Denim replaces leather across the main panels, which changes almost everything about how you live with the shoe. It is lighter and more breathable than a full leather Low, it softens quickly rather than creasing into hard folds, and it will fade at the flex points the way a pair of jeans fades at the knee. Expect leather or synthetic reinforcement where the pattern needs structure, typically the Swoosh, mudguard and heel, with the perforated toe box and rubber cupsole carried over. Denim absorbs water and holds it, so this is a dry weather shoe. Do not machine wash it, and do not soak it: spot clean and air dry only.
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