The Air Jordan 40, called The Classic, arrived on July 12, 2025 at two hundred and five dollars, marking forty years of the line. Designed by Jason Mayden and Leo Chang, two veterans returning to the franchise, it was the first shoe in Nike history to pair full-length ZoomX foam with a full Zoom Strobel unit.

The debut colorway used white tumbled leather, black leather trim, and a vast-grey nubuck toecap, with forty-degree angles hidden throughout the design, including in the logo and the herringbone traction. The whole thing was styled as a premium, heritage-leaning performer rather than a tech experiment.

The anniversary framing and the return of Mayden and Chang gave the 40 outsized weight at launch. Four decades after a banned high-top started everything, the line reached its fortieth number, still carrying the most important name in sneakers. For the bigger picture, read the full history of Air Jordan.