The Air Jordan 3 is the most important shoe in the line after the 1, because it is the one that saved the whole thing. By 1988 Jordan was restless and Nike was worried he would leave. Tinker Hatfield, in his first crack at the line, answered with a mid-cut shoe that introduced visible Air, the elephant print, and the first Jumpman logo. It sold for a hundred dollars and it worked.

Jordan won the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest from the free-throw line in the Black Cement pair, and the marketing, with Spike Lee’s Mars Blackmon, made the shoe unavoidable. The story that Hatfield’s design helped convince Jordan to stay has hardened into legend, and the legend is mostly true.

Black Cement, White Cement, True Blue, and Fire Red are perennial grails, and the 2018 Tinker edition that finally put Nike Air back on the heel is one of the most loved retros the brand has done. The 3 is where Air Jordan stopped being a sneaker and started being an institution.