The Air Jordan 2011, the line’s twenty-sixth model and later called the Air Jordan 26, came in 2011 at a hundred and seventy dollars, from Tinker Hatfield and Tom Luedecke. Its big idea was choice, the first Jordan with interchangeable midsoles, blue Quick units with Zoom for guards and red Explosive units with encapsulated Air for bigger players.

The upper used hand-burnished leather for a dressier finish, continuing the line’s luxury streak. The modular concept was clever and genuinely useful, even if the year-named era never caught fire with collectors the way the classics did.

Demand for retros is thin, which keeps the 2011 a footnote for most people and a favorite for the few who track the tech. It is the engineering chapter still running, one model before the numbers came back.