Why Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers are the shoes of 2020, breaking auction and revenue records as global business struggles
- Huge growth in China and Netflix documentary The Last Dance helped the Jordan brand to an impressive fiscal 2020 well above an already strong 2019
- Dior collaborated with Jordan for the ‘Diordan’, a pair of Air Jordan 1s designed by Kim Jones that have become this year’s most wanted shoe
Despite Covid-19 seeing global business struggle, 2020 has been anything but the last dance for Air Jordan. The Michael Jordan Nike imprint has arguably had its best year as the world around it crumbles.
It is 36 years since Nike snatched Michael Jordan’s signature from under the noses of Adidas – the brand Jordan preferred – and Converse – the one he had worn at the University of North Carolina before entering the NBA. The rest is well-documented history, but how has the Jumpman continued to rise despite a year that has kept everyone else grounded?
The Jordan brand had a strong 2019, posting US$3.1 billion in revenues for the financial year running to the end of May that year – a 10 per cent year-on-year growth – followed by its first billion-dollar quarter for the September to November period, which it announced in December despite not ordinarily breaking down Jordan results by quarter.
“What’s most exciting is we’re still in the early stages of diversifying the Jordan portfolio,” said then Nike CEO Mark Parker.
The 2020 fiscal results were even better: US$3.6 billion revenue for the year ending May 31, a 15 per cent year-on-year rise.