Air Jordan 18

The Air Jordan 18 was released in 2003 and was the shoe for Jordan¡¯s last season (part 3).

Jordan played for the Washington Wizards, but his knees didn¡¯t hold up for all of the games. Jordan returned towards the end of the season and ended his career on April 16, 2003 in a loss against the 76ers. Though many would love to see Jordan back yet again, its pretty safe to say that Jordan has retired¡­for good.

New head designer

Creator of the design of the Air Jordan 18 was Tate Kuerbis (Jordan Senior Footwear Designer). A person that had been part of the Jordan footwear design team since 1999 and with Nike since 1995. The inspiration of the design is a combination fo a number of things; Sleek racing lines of the auto world, Carbon fiber-based monocoque of F1 race cars, Race car driving shoes (rubber heel wrap) and Fine Italian dress shoes (bold stitching on the soles).

What¡¯s next?!?

With the Air Jordan 17¡¯s having had a briefcase and a CD-rom the big question was how the Air Jordan 18¡¯s could possibly match this. ¡°What is next?¡± was the big question for all the sneakerfreaks out there.

Well the Air Jordan 18¡¯s was no disappointment. With a new Jordan box with a nice cut out 18 with foil behind it and a new pull-out opening the box itself was just SUPER! Ok, it wasn¡¯t a briefcase, but c¡¯mon I¡¯d rather pay $175 than $200 for Jordans.

Brush and Towel

In the package there was also a brush (black suede hi-tops) and a towel included. A great set of tools that simplifies the cleaning of the shoes.

Jordan + .5

Both the Air Jordan 16¡¯s and the Air Jordan 17¡¯s had a modified model called ¡°+¡±. With the Air Jordan 18¡¯s this was taken a little bit further and a 18.5 was released. The design was pretty similar but the lace cover was lifted off and the Jumpman was brought forward on the side of the shoe. The Air Jordan 18.5 also featured a plastic pants leg-stopper with the years 1985-2003 written on them.