Depending on who you ask, the Nike Air Jordan is one of the most influential sneaker brands ever. Depending on how it’s categorised, it’s also the most sold sneaker of all time.
Part of what made Jordan successful was that it was worn on court by legend Michael Jordan. He recently revealed that he was an adidas fan in his youth, wanting to get signed by the brand.
Things didn’t quite pan out as he had hoped, and the rest is the stuff of legend. Artist Eric Paullin reimagined the iconic Jordan range, this time as an adidas Jordan collection.
The Netflix documentary revealed it was Michael’s mother, Deloris, who convinced him to meet with Nike at their offices, with him still holding out hope that adidas would come around.
The question, however, is what would things have looked like if Michael had signed with adidas. Eric Paullin recreated some of the most iconic Jordan sneakers as adidas variants, with amazing results.
The collection features various Jordan colourways, paired with the adidas lettering, Trefoil logo of the early years and even some of the adidas technologies on its basketball sneakers at the time.
It is worth noting that it wasn’t Michael who designed the Nike Air Jordan sneakers, having only provided some feedback to some of the questions regarding its feel, cushioning and the likes.
Sneaker fans would know former Nike head designer, Tinker Hatfield, as the genius behind the iconic collection. Simply sticking on an adidas logo isn’t a true reflection of a “what-if” scenario.