Here Are The Shoes Michael Jordan Wore During Each Championship

Shoes. Highly functional, even necessary — after all, "No shoes, no shirt, no service" at countless lunch counters throughout the land. At some point shoes moved from "protect your feet" to "aren't those cunning?" and long before Sex in the City made Manolo Blahniks part of the pop culture lexicon there were styles and colors, some more practical in design than others.

But then there are oh, such special shoes: specifically, Michael Jordan's very own personal model of basketball (not baseball) shoes, the Air Jordan, created and marketed by Nike. Jordan himself, says Forbes, has taken home some $1.3 billion dollars for his troubles since the deal was inked in 1984.

It almost didn't happen, according to Insider. Jordan was also being courted (so to speak) by Adidas. Jordan's mother encouraged him to at least look at Nike's offer — which included a sneaker line with Jordan's name on them, something Adidas wasn't offering. Nike has done pretty well with the item — in the first year alone, Nike sold $126 million worth of Air Jordans. As for Jordan himself, the distinctive shoes — Air Jordan 6 — were protecting his feet in the 1991 NBA finals. Tinker Hatfield was the lead designer for the shoe, but Jordan had distinct ideas about how the shoes should look and feel, "and I was cool with that," Hatfield told ESPN.