Every Nike SB x Air Jordan Collaboration So Far

The history of in skateboarding goes as far back as the Air Jordan line itself. Since 1985, skateboarders have been lacing up the Air Jordan 1 and thrashing them to bits. Indeed, there would likely be a good deal more pairs of original Air Jordan 1s out there in the wild today if skateboarders hadn’t destroyed so many pairs in the late 80s.

Skaters loved the for its durable leather upper, supportive high-top collar, and formidable rubber cupsole with Air cushioning in the heel for impact protection. The Jordan 1 was especially welcomed into skate culture after it hit the clearance racks when stores were trying to get rid of all their remaining pairs by 1986. Cheap, durable sneakers are a skater’s best friend.

Subsequent Air Jordan models weren’t as ideal for skating, so by the 1990s, you wouldn’t catch many pairs being tortured by griptape. In the 90s, as skateboarding became a more underground sport and Nike became the behemoth company we know today, Nike was viewed as being too corporate and skaters stuck with skate-specific brands like DC, Etnies, and Vans. It wouldn’t be until the early 2000s with the formation of the category that Nike and Jordan shoes came back into fashion in skate culture when the Swoosh found a way to break through into the skate market with the Dunk.

As Nikes became more popular in skateboarding, so did Air Jordans, especially the Dunk-like Air Jordan 1. It would be a natural, organic concept for Nike SB to introduce skate-ified Air Jordans into their skate shoe line with in-house collaborations – and that’s exactly what they did. We can’t teach you how to ollie, but we can tell you about every Nike SB x Air Jordan colab.