We pick the ten best Jordan 1 colorways of all time, plus five bonus picks of the best Jordan 1 colorways released so far this year.

The Jordan 1 is the greatest sneaker of all time. It’s the shoe most responsible for helping the hobby of sneaker collecting go mainstream in the 1980s, and the first shoe worn by the greatest basketball player and athlete in history, Michael Jordan, in the NBA. The Jordan 1 is also a shoe that has only gotten more popular as the years have gone by thanks to all of the great colorways—both old school and new school—that have continued its legacy with each new release.

While all Jordan 1 colorways offer something unique and exciting, there are undoubtedly some that stand above the rest as the most significant in the history of the model. Today we’ll be taking a look at what those colorways are and what makes each one an essential part of the Jordan 1’s legacy.

In no particular order, these are the best Jordan 1 colorways of all time, plus five more of the sneaker’s top releases of 2023 so far.


The OG's

Few sneakers have had more hype—and more controversy surrounding them—than the ''Jordan 1 High OG Bred''. An original colorway of the first Jordan sneaker, the “Bred” was supposedly “banned” by the NBA when Michael Jordan wore it early in his career with the Chicago Bulls. At least that’s what Nike would have you believe with its famous “Banned” campaign centered around the sneaker. In actuality, it was the Nike Air Ship “Bred” that was outlawed by the NBA, not the Jordan 1. Still, even in spite of Nike’s revisionist history of the shoe, the ''Jordan 1 Bred'' is an all-time great sneaker, and one of the best Jordan 1s ever, hands down.

The ''Jordan 1 High OG Chicago'', perhaps more than any other shoe, is responsible for turning sneaker collecting into a mainstream hobby. Worn by Jordan in his rookie season in the NBA, the “Chicago” was part of some of the greatest moments of “Money’s” Hall of Fame career. The ''Jordan 1 Chicago'' was on Jordan’s feet when he scored an NBA Playoff-record 63 points against the Boston Celtics in the 1986 Playoffs. The “Bred” Jordan 1 may have been the colorway that Nike centered its iconic “Banned” campaign around, but the “Chicago” is what most think of when it comes to the shoe that put Jordan—and Nike—on the map.

The ''Jordan 1 High OG Royal'' was never worn by Jordan while he played for the Bulls, but it is still regarded as one of the greatest sneakers ever released by Nike. Done up in the same two-tone color block as the “Bred” Jordan 1, the “Royal” debuted as an early “lifestyle” colorway. Its popularity inspired Nike to release future Jordan models in colors that aren’t associated with the Bulls.

Somewhat overlooked compared to other original ''Jordan 1 colorways like the Chicago'', ''Bred'', and ''Royal'', the ''Black Toe'' had just as significant of an impact in creating excitement for the Jordan 1 back in the day. The sneaker was worn by Jordan in the NBA. It was also more or less an alternate version of the “Chicago” colorway, but with black detailing on the eyelets and toe panels.

The best sneaker from the best sneaker project in history, the ''Off-White x Air Jordan 1 High Chicago'' was the late fashion and sneaker designer Virgil Abloh’s greatest work of art. Debuted as part of Off-White and Nike’s ''The 10'' collaboration from 2017, the “Chicago” updated the Jordan 1 with industrial-inspired details like unstitched overlays, modified branding, zip-ties, and more. The unique features inspired countless other shoes with a similar “do-it-yourself” ethos in the months and years to come. In other words, the ''Off-White x Air Jordan 1 High Chicago'' just might be the most influential Jordan 1 of all time.

At one point, Travis Scott was known more for his popular hip-hop music than for his sneaker collaborations with Nike. That changed when ''La Flame'' debuted his ''Jordan 1 High OG Mocha'' in 2019. Featured with coffee-colored overlays and a freaked out, reversed Swoosh, Scott’s Jordan 1’s collaboration set the precedent for the hip-hop star’s future Air Jordan colorways.

Debuted in 2015, ''Hiroshi Fujiwara’s Fragment Design’s Jordan 1'' was based on an original, unreleased sample Jordan 1 that never saw the light of day in 1985. It was also a shoe that unexpectedly surfaced at Marshall’s with a heavily discounted price soon after it was released by Nike. Sneaker collectors who were around at the time of the event won’t soon forget the mad scramble to find pairs of the legendary shoe.

2020 was an exciting year in sneakers. Not only did Joe Freshgoods and Ben & Jerry’s, yes, that Ben & Jerry’s release their debut collaborations, but so did Dior, the acclaimed high fashion house that had previously been an outsider in the sneaker world. Featuring the brand’s famous monogram print on the Jordan 1’s Swoosh, the Dior x Jordan 1 was the most hyped sneaker in a stellar year of releases.