Air Jordan 1 RETRO High OG University Blue

University Blue is the palette that points back to Chapel Hill, the programme Jordan played for and one of the college teams the brand still outfits alongside Georgetown, Cincinnati and Michigan. It is the colour of the years before 26 October 1984, before the six year Nike deal worth 2.5 million dollars and the royalty arrangement that made the line a business rather than an endorsement. Putting that pale blue on the Retro High OG produces the softest possible version of a shoe whose reputation was built on confrontation, and that contradiction is why it works. The pattern is aggressive, the colour is not, and the shoe ends up wearable in situations a red pair would dominate.