The Air Jordan 2012, the twenty-seventh model and retroactively the Air Jordan 27, arrived in 2012, again from Hatfield and Tom Luedecke, and it pushed customization to its limit. Marketed as the Flight System, it offered two interchangeable inner bootie sleeves and three midsole options, letting a player tune the shoe for quickness or support. A deluxe version ran around two hundred and twenty three dollars, with the standard Flight System closer to a hundred and eighty.

It was an engineering showcase more than a shoe people wore casually, and it marked the end of the year-named experiment. The next model would bring the numbers back.

Retro life is minimal, which fits its place as the last and most elaborate entry of the brand’s most experimental stretch. The 2012 is the sound of a brand throwing every idea it had at one shoe.