Skip to content

Sneakers You Need to Know: Air Jordan 3

Air Jordan 3

Sneakers You Need to Know: Air Jordan 3

Learn everything you need to know about one of the most essential, beloved Air Jordans of all time, including history, colorways, sizing, and more.

Matt DeSciora

The Air Jordan 3 is the next shoe we’re excited to feature in our Sneakers You Need to Know series. If you’ve learned anything about the Jordan 3 after reading this article, we hope it’s that the now-iconic silhouette is the reason why Michael Jordan didn’t trade in his Nikes for… Van Grack sneakers in 1987.

No, seriously, it’s true. At that point in time, the Nike and Jordan partnership was on the verge of coming undone. Not only was Jordan’s original contract with the brand expiring that year, but Nike lost the designer of his first two Air Jordan sneakers, Peter Moore, when he and former Nike Marketing Vice President Rob Strasser left the brand to start their own footwear company called Van Grack. Unsurprisingly, Moore and Strasser desperately wanted Jordan to be the face of their upstart brand, and Jordan was willing to explore a possible change.

In an effort to keep Jordan on board, Nike turned to Tinker Hatfield to design the next Air Jordan model “His Airness” would be playing in during the upcoming season. The shoe that Hatfield ultimately created met Jordan’s needs of wanting something sleek and sophisticated in mid-top form: the Air Jordan 3.

What came next is history. The Wieden+Kennedy commercials starring a young Spike Lee. The foul line dunk in the ‘88 NBA Slam Dunk Contest in the shoe’s “White/Cement” colorway. The subsequent All-Star Game MVP in the “Black/Cement” makeup. And so on.

There’s plenty more history to unpack with the Air Jordan 3, including its original colorways, best collaborations, sizing information, and much more. We’ll cover that all in detail below.

This is everything you need to know about the Air Jordan 3.

Air Jordan 3 Colorways

The Air Jordan 3 was originally released in four colorways: the “White/Cement,” “Black/Cement,” “Fire Red,” and “True Blue.” Jordan wore all four colorways in games in the NBA—exhibition or otherwise—but with a caveat. The “White/Cement” was worn by Jordan in the ‘88 Slam Dunk Contest, perhaps the greatest iteration of the event in history. He laced up the “Black/Cement” for the ‘88 All-Star Game, and never wore the shoe in the NBA again. The “Fire Red” made appearances on Jordan’s feet with the Bulls, and the “True Blue,” albeit the retro release from 2001, was briefly a part of his rotation early on with the Washington Wizards.

Air Jordan 3 “Muslin”

Beyond those original colorways, the Jordan 3 has been a huge part of Jordan Brand’s collections in recent years. Since Jordan’s second and final retirement, the Jordan 3 has been released in popular colorways like the “Cool Grey,” “Georgetown,” “Pine Green,” “Racer Blue,” and “Cardinal.”

A Ma Maniére x Air Jordan 3 “Raised By Women”

Air Jordan 3 Collaborations

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the Air Jordan 3 has been used in some of the greatest collaborations in sneaker history. Some of the names that have created colorways of the shoe include DJ Khaled, A Ma Maniére, Justin Timberlake, and even Tinker Hatfield, the man responsible for designing the basketball shoe in the first place.

The Air Jordan 3 has seen its fair share of rare, unreleased Player Exclusive colorways over the years, as well. The North Carolina Tar Heels college basketball team wore a one-off of the shoe in the 2018 NCAA March Madness Tournament that’s very similar to the released Jordan 3 “UNC” colorway (pictured below) from 2020. Both the Oregon Ducks and Michigan Wolverines have worn Jordan 3s with colors and iconography dedicated to their respective teams.

Air Jordan 3 “UNC”

Air Jordan 3 History

The Air Jordan 3 debuted a few “firsts” within the Air Jordan brand. For starters, the Jordan 3 was the first Jordan model designed by Tinker Hatfield, the creator of Nike’s Air Max and Air Trainer series. Hatfield brought one very noticeable design element to the Jordan 3 from his previous work with Nike: visible Air. The revolutionary technology appeared on the Air Max 1 in 1987, but it wasn’t until ‘88 that the clear window debuted on an Air Jordan shoe.

Along with visible Air, the Jordan 3 also debuted a few more cosmetic elements to the Jordan line, most notably grey “elephant” print. The material continued where the Air Jordan 2’s reptilian patterning left off, and introduced a more “lifestyle” element to Jordan’s signature shoe series. The unique material would no doubt play a role in Jordan Brand’s willingness to explore even more creative materials and textiles in the year after the Jordan 3’s debut.

And finally, the Air Jordan 3 was the first-ever Air Jordan to don Jordan’s signature logo, the Jumpman. The iconic graphic of Jordan soaring through the air while dunking a basketball replaced the “Wings” logo that had appeared on the Air Jordan 1 and Air Jordan 2, and has been incorporated into the design of every single Air Jordan shoe since. When Jordan split from Nike to become its own separate brand in the late ‘90s, the Jumpman became Jordan Brand’s official logo.

Air Jordan 3 Off the Court

Going back to the Air Jordan 3 being a shoe of “firsts,” it was the shoe that helped debut none other than Mars Blackmon, the sneaker-obsessed character played by Spike Lee in the movie “She’s Gotta Have It” from 1986, to the Air Jordan dichotomy. Lee, as Blackmon, and Jordan would work together on memorable commercials for the Jordan 3 and Jordan 4 in the late ‘80s. The success and popularity of the celebrity pairing helped open the door to Jordan’s collaborations with Bugs Bunny on commercials for the Air Jordan 7 and 8.

Air Jordan 3 Sizing

How does the Air Jordan 3 fit? The Jordan 3 runs true-to-size—or “TTS” as sneaker collectors like to say. In some cases, those with a narrow foot, and we mean a very narrow foot, could comfortably size down half a size from your normal Air Jordan size. Otherwise, most will find that sticking to their standard Air Jordan and sneaker size will result in the most optimal fit when wearing the Air Jordan 3.

Air Jordan 3 “True Blue”

Final Thoughts

What’s there left to say about the Air Jordan 3? The now-iconic basketball sneaker was a true turning point in the careers of Michael Jordan and Tinker Hatfield, and pretty much saved Nike from losing its most prized possession, “Money,” as he was lovingly referred to as by Spike Lee in the shoe’s commercials, to an upstart rival. The Jordan 3 is as iconic as it gets in sneakers, and is something that anyone from any walk of life can appreciate and enjoy.

Shop all Air Jordan 3s at Stadium Goods