Goodbye, Air Jordan 1? High OG Releases Expected to Be More Limited

If you've been following NIKE, Inc. since at least the appointment of Elliott Hill as CEO in October 2024, you'll be aware that the Oregon-based company has wanted to move away from depending so much on popular sneaker franchises like the Air Jordan 1. Several Jordan release dates confirmed for 2027 suggest the iconic design remains in Team Jumpman's plans for the immediate future, but the silhouette's handling is expected to look different from what has been the case over the last decade.

Jordan Brand hasn't publicly shared any information, but Air Jordan 1-enthusiast and historian Kenneth Myers Jr.—best known across social media as @MrUnloved1s—recently took to X to speculate over the future of Michael Jordan's original signature shoe in its original High OG iteration.

According to Myers, "the only Jordan 1s we'll be seeing for the foreseeable future are OG Lows, Retro Mid Retro Lows, and collaborations."

The theory might not sound like anything because it posits that Peter Moore's design from 1985 is still expected in the marketplace in some form, but it speaks to the most quintessential Air Jordan 1 version returning to the vault for some time.

Since the mid-2010s, Jordan Brand has kept its high-top AJ1 in production, releasing original colorways (e.g. "Bred," "Chicago," "Black Toe," "Royal") and all-new ensembles alike. At one point—in part thanks to co-signs from Travis Scott, UNION Los Angeles, and Virgil Abloh—the Air Jordan 1 High was one of, if not, the most-popular sneaker offered by the NIKE, Inc. Family.

Any and every colorway that released would instantly sell out and fetch crazy prices on the after-market.

The last few years have been less favorable to most Jordan Brand retros and the tall Air Jordan 1 has arguably experienced the worst of it.

The expectation that High OG styles will become more limited in 2027 and beyond only applies to general releases of the silhouette—limited-edition collaborations are still set to build hype for Michael Jordan's first shoe. In fact, collaborations with New York City's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Sony's Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse are slated to release between March and July 2027.

This, of course, will be in addition to the handfuls of retro styles expected in Mid, Low, and OG Low forms.

Diehard fans of the Air Jordan 1, then, will have a chance to continue to add new colorways to their collections, but their choice of High OG versions will be limited to special releases.

If Jordan Brand truly vaults its original sneaker design, it's likely a big re-launch of the silhouette will take place around the time the shoe celebrates its 45th or 50th anniversaries in 2030 and 2035, respectively.

Stay tuned.