Air Jordan 7

Tinker Hatfield could be inspired by anything when it comes to the Air Jordan line. On the Jordan 7 when Tinker was in Portland, he saw a poster that was African art, influenced by an Afropop Worldwide. The person in the poster was playing a guitar shaped like Africa. Around the time when Tinker was ready to design the Air Jordan VII Michael sat down with him and mentioned that he wanted the shoe to “stay young and interesting, while remaining sophisticated”.

Tinker had now went inside the store and asked to purchase the poster, but the owner did not want to sell it because he was advertising a radio show and the Afropop music. Tinker had now told him he worked on the design of the Air Jordan line. The store owner decided to sell the poster to him for $15. All the lines on the Air Jordan 7 were influenced by Western African tribal patterns, which were on the poster. The Air Jordan VII was also worn by Michael Jordan in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Nike had made a special “Olympic” color way, and instead of the number “23″ there was 9 on the back.

In 1992 Nike had released five color ways of the Air Jordan 7. They sold for $125.00 each. In 2002 two more models came out retailing at $125.00. In 2004 the Olympic VIIs came out and sold for $130.00. Now in 2006 four models released which sold for $135.00, and one women’s model sold for $130.00.

The Air Jordan VII (7) was released in late 1991/early 1992. By this time nothing could stop Michael and his confidence must have been at least 110%. The Bulls won their second straight title and he picked up a number of awards and honors. Jordan also went off to the Olympics bringing home another gold medal for the USA. This of course with the unforgettable Dream Team of ‘92.

Hua…, who?
Hatfield created a shoe with lots of similarities with the previous model. What was unique with the Air Jordan VII’s was that they used some of the Nike Huarache technology to create a shoe that really stuck to your foot. What also made you either frown or smile was the fact that the visible air sole, the Nike Air logo, and the yellowing soles all were gone.

When Michael went to the Olympics with the Dream Team, Nike released a special olympic color combo of the VII’s (Jordan 7 (VII) Original (OG) - Olympics (White / Midnight Navy / True Red)). This model also featured Michael’s olympic jersey number, 9 which made it very special since all of the previous models that featured his jersey number had always been either stitched or printed with the number 23.

Hate it or love it
The Air Jordan 7 (VII) was one of the first models that really caused the customers and collectors to take a stand. Some people straight up hated it and others loved it more than any previous model.

Sure, taste is individual and previous models had also been met with criticism but nothing as obvious as with the VII’s. Who knows, this might have been due to the fact that Jordan’s popularity was huge by now and that Air Jordan’s now were exported to all four corners of the globe making the customers a greater number than before.

Ever since the VII’s taking a stand when it comes to the design has been a lot more obvious and we’ve always seen distinct pro and con divisions within the circle of customers.