Air Jordan 12 (XII):

About Air Jordan 12 (XII)

The Air Jordan 12 was released in 1996-97 and were the first Air Jordan shoes in the Jordan Brand line. In this season, Jordan lost the MVP by the narrowest margin in NBA history to Karl Malone as he helped lead his Jazz to the NBA Finals only to fall to Jordan and the Bulls. Jordan wore the Air Jordan 12′s while he took home his fifth NBA title and fifth NBA Finals MVP. The Air Jordan 12 featured something very unique in terms of design. The Air Jordan 12 upper was stitched to resemble the Japanese Rising Sun flag. The Air Jordan 12 also was the most durable shoes out of the whole Jordan shoe series. In addition to this, the Air Jordan 12 provides the most ankle support which was great for keeping Jordan on the floor for the whole season. Jordan Brand is BornIn September, 1997, Nike decided to launch a new sub-brand of Nike called Jordan Brand. The Air Jordan 12 was the first Jordan shoe to be part of the Jordan Brand collection and also did not have the Nike logo anywhere on the shoe – not even the insole. The shoes did come in a Nike box, but these were the last. Many Air Jordan heads were happy to hear the news that the Air Jordan 12 was going to be retroed; however, many collectors started to get irritated as more and more kept getting released. The original Jordan 12′s were released in only 5 colorways, but there were 10 colorways retroed when counting the women’s colorways. On November 28, 2003, Jordan released the first of its kind – an online exclusive shoe that was sold in a package. The Black/Carolina “nubuck’s” were $200 and came with a matching hoody and hat. Many fans were happy to pay $200+ just for an exclusive shoe, but collectors were far from happy when news got out that Nike released this supposedly “limited” and “online exclusive” shoe to retailers to be sold at only $135 or less. Some pairs ended up at designerathletic for only $99.99 angering Jordan followers even more. The Nubucks were not the only Air Jordan 12 release that angered Jordan collectors. Originally, the White/Carolina was a women’s colorway only made up to size 15W and in limited numbers in large sizes. These of course sold out opening day and hit the $200+ mark in a hurry. More were released as a general release only 2 or 3 months later making these shoes nothing special at all.

A new year means a new shoe design from Nike and Air Jordan. Nike Basketball was heading into a different direction with foamposite, shox, and big air bubbles in shoes. What can the Air Jordan 12 do to compete? Believe it or not the AJ XII got started with a woman’s fashion shoe from the 19th century called “Nisshoki”. Michael is big on fashion, and he knows women have a lot of it. He did not care if you made fun of him for wearing a women’s wrist band or something else feminine. On the Air Jordan 12 there was more than just the women’s high heel for inspiration, but also the Japanese Rising Sun flag played a big role in the making. The stitching down the sides resemble sun rays. If you look at past Air Jordan sneakers, you will notice the famous “23″ located somewhere on the model. On the Air Jordan 12 Michael wanted a different look with his number 23. So an idea came to Michael Jordan to have 23 written down the tongue, written like this: Two 3. A lot of good qualities were on the Air Jordan XII, for example they had the Zoom Air unit (also the first Air Jordan to have a Zoom air unit), modified herringbone pattern for improved traction and a more improved carbon fiber shank plate. When the Air Jordan 12 first released in 1996 they sold for $135.00, and five different color ways were released. In 2003 two color ways released selling for $135.00, and a pair of Air Jordan XII cleats released. A couple months later an Air Jordan XII package was sold which came with the Air Jordan XII, hoody and hat which sold for $200 (online only). 2004 was now here and four color ways came out of the Air Jordan XII, which went for $135.00, and three AJ XII lows dropped selling for $115.00.