The Daily Jordan: Air Jordan X “Steel”- 1994

In our latest Daily Jordan installment, we remember Air Jordan X in its White/Black-Light Steel Grey outfit.

It’s a favorite now but this colorway released in November 1994 without a lot of hubbub. Actually, little to no hubbub. Michael Jordan was already one year into chasing down his baseball aspirations, the Chicago Bulls were stepping into uncharted territory with Scottie Pippen as top dog, and the Air Jordan sneaker line was dead to many folks. Irrelevant.

Still, legendary sneaker designer Tinker Hatfield had prepared the next Air Jordan signature sneaker and it was releasing, Jordan or no Jordan. In fact, Hatfield was working on the X the day Jordan announced his first retirement – October 6, 1993 – virtually sketching designs one minute, hopping an airplane to Chicago the next. Though the X was designed under the impression that its namesake would be wearing it during the Bulls’ drive for another NBA championship, Jordan didn’t consult with Hatfield quite as closely as he had with previous Air Jordans. This resulted in the X debuting with a design element it wasn’t supposed to.

The story goes that the strips of leather that adorn the original “Steel” release’s toe box were not approved by Jordan, who preferred a clean look up front. So, per Jordan’s insistence, subsequent Air Jordan X releases were manufactured without the extra leather.

With no Michael Jordan to wear the X just yet, the onus fell to active NBA players like Scottie Pippen, who traded off his Nike Air Up player exclusive for the “Steel” X colorway throughout the 1994-95 season. And while Jordan didn’t see an NBA game in the “Steel” X, he did wear it in on-court – his lone public basketball game appearance in the shoe for Pippen’s Ameritech All Star Classic on September 9, 1994. This exhibition also marked the final basketball game held at Chicago Stadium, the site of countless highlights and memories over the previous 10 years of Air Jordan brilliance.

Jordan returned to the NBA on March 19, 1995 wearing the Air Jordan 10 “Chicago,” which he wore through the Bulls’ remaining 17 regular season games before switching to Air Jordan 10 “Shadow” for four first round playoff games against the Hornets. Since 1994, Air Jordan X “Steel” has released in retro form just two times – once in May 2005, once in October 2013.

Do you have special memories of this sneaker? Wish Jordan Brand would bring it back with the toe box leather as a special release? Sound off in the comments.

source: gallery2shibuya, Getty Images, Nike