Air Jordan III: Introducing The Air Window
Year: 1988
These sneakers are a true classic and were the first ones to be designed by Tinker Hatfield. He was responsible for the design of the Air Max shoes that came out in 1987, and apparently, it was on MJs request that Tinker was pulled into the next Jordan’s project.
This resulted in the very first air window being added as well as the now iconic Jumpman logo.
These sneakers were reportedly Michael’s favourite, and he wore them a lot during the 87/88 season.
That included the now famous 1988 slam dunk contest which he won for the second year in a row. He took off from the free throw line for a slam dunk that surprisingly didn’t give him the full 50 points available.
However, 49 points were enough to secure the trophy, and his ability to fly, or “take to the Air,” was sealed.
The Design
Similar to the 2s, these ones had a lot of white on them. What really stands out is the cement great patterned strips on the heel and toe sections of the upper.
They are often referred to as elephant skin, which is somewhat ironic, considering that elephants cannot actually jump.
What was also introduced is the Air window, just like on the Air Max 1s from the previous year. While the window was still very small, it set the stage for a very long design relationship between Air Jordan’s and Air Max.
The Jumpman logo was printed in bright red right at the top of the tongue, and this logo has become one of the most recognisable in the world of basketball. This is especially surprising considering that MJ retired over 15 years ago.
MJs 1987/88 Season Highlights
This continued to be a strong season for Jordan, and with some additions to the team including Horace Grant, the Bulls had a much better year.
Jordan continued to set records and while his points per game were lower than the year before at 35.0, he did manage to score more than 40 points in 18 games. He also led the league with 3.16 steals per game, which made people pay a lot more attention to him as a defensive player.
Overall the Bulls did a lot better and it was certainly only a matter of time before they would lift the trophy.
Air Jordan 3s In Hip-Hop Culture
One of the most prominent album covers to feature the Jordan IIIs is the classic Eazy-E album called Eazy-Duz-It.
But there were many other albums. Even if they were less well-known artists like Three Times Dope and Geto Boys, it was becoming clear at the time that the hip hop culture was jumping on these very cool designs.
The fire retro release came in the, and it was such a big hit. But since then there have been several very successful releases. One version actually introduced the full shoe in the cement grey elephant skin.
Check out what’s available right now and get your own pair of these classics.
