The Legend of the “Legend Blue” Air Jordan 11

This weekend marks the annual tradition of a retro Air Jordan 11 release just days before Christmas.  This year, the “Legend Blue” Air Jordan 11 will hit stores that already has Jordan fans and sneakerheads in a frenzy even just to get a ticket to buy the $200 retro Jordan shoe.  But why?  On the outside, what makes this one so special?  Why is this Air Jordan 11 so highly coveted and even more so this “Legend Blue” colorway.

One of the great things that happens almost every time this time of year are the emails, calls, Facebook taggings, etc. from friends around the globe who see the news coverage as this is the little bit of visual understanding they have of just how much enthusiasm there can be for a shoe.  This year more than ever though, I was asked about the name and more specifically, why is this shoe so legendary?

Columbia Sportswear logo Columbia University Lions logo

With legal red tape, getting the official story behind the original and 2001 retros being called “Columbia Blue” may never be confirmed.  The shade of is shared by two different entities.  One, a former Nike school now with Under Armour, Columbia University.  The other, a Portland based athletic sporting goods company, Columbia Sportswear.  Whatever the case, calling the shoe’s color “Columbia Blue” was off now off the table, but did Jordan Brand see this as an opportunity to rebrand and tell a deeper story?  A story that it and of itself is a legend?

There are plenty of names of the shade of blue that could have been used, but could any be as loaded and ambiguous as “legend”?

Let us look for a minute at the world “legend” that makes a headline on the shoe.

leg·end

adjective  1. very well known.

As an adjective, pretty unassuming, right?  Very well known.  But why is it so well known is the deeper question.  Now take a look at the dictionary definition as a noun as it applies to this instance.

leg·end

noun  1. a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated.

noun  2. an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.

noun  3. historical.

How does the “Legend Blue” Air Jordan 11 match with these definitions and descriptions? Simply said, all of the above, but before declaring it like that, let’s look at how we got here.