Air Jordan 1 “Court Purple”: Out of the Box
Highlights
- Price: $170 MSRP [No Longer Available]
- Pros: Classic color-blocking with new colors, Lamar Jackson hype
- Cons: Typical Jordan quality, Resale price rising
Contents:
History:
The Air Jordan One is one of those classic sneakers that almost every can recognize. A number of groups have made this shoe their own. Starting off as the latest in basketball shoe technology, throughout the years they have been worn by skaters, hip hop artists, hypebeasts, celebrities, and seemingly everyone in between.
Originally introduced in 1985 in a select number of colorways, since then we have seen an explosion in options. They come in any color you can imagine, and in more materials than anyone could ever want. However, the real demand is for the original colorways. The banned, the black toe, the royal, the shadow, and the Carolina blue. Among those choices, the Chicago colorway which gave the Jordan 1 what many say is its most classic color blocking.
Unfortunately, the last time Jordan Brand launched a Chicago was back in 2015. With the last dance building up hype for the shoe to where they cost more than an average American mortgage payment, they are out of reach for just about everyone.
Thankfully, if you like the color blocking, Jordan Brand typically releases Chicago blocking in other colors. For Lakers, Ravens, Vikings, or Rockies fans, the Court Purple 2.0 will fit that bill.
What’s the Difference Between the Jordan 1 High, Jordan 1 Mid, and Dunk High? Click Here
Looks:
The first thing you notice on the shoe is the purple that features on the majority of the panels. A bit lighter than the purple on the Court Purple 1.0s that released a few years ago, it offers a good combination of an in-your-face color, but not to the point where it borders on unwearable.
Up front, this smooth purple is featured on the toe guard of the shoe. Double stitching attaches the toe guard to the white toe box panel. The toe box leather is a stark white and features perforation throughout. Finishing off the front of the shoe, straps designed to give you a bit of lock down – or at least look like they do – run from the midsole to the tongue.
Moving back, the middle of the shoe has more of that bright white leather, which a slight leather pattern compared to the flat purple, with a matte-finished black swoosh featured prominently in the middle.
Also on the midfoot is a line of white stitching that cuts at a 90 degree angle. While the Court Purples are not a highly replicated shoe, this is a good place to check for fakes as this stitching is often done incorrectly.
Klektive does a deep dive into Court Purple 2.0 fakes here
At the heel of the shoe, we see a purple heel cap and (non-functional) lock down straps at the top, which wrap around the back to where the mid panel and swoosh meet. Behind the ankle strap they used soft faux leather in black. The ankle straps prominently feature a black Wings Logo, embossed into the leather.
The tongue itself is an old-school nylon, white but just slightly darker than the white leather on the shoe. The top of the tongue features a black faux-leather Nike tab, with a purple Nike logo. The shoe comes pre-laced with black flat laces, but also comes with a pair of purple laces that feature a tie dye effect.
The bright white midsole runs the length of the shoe, only being broken up by a line of stitching. A pressed pattern in the midsole keeps everything interesting, and runs from the stitching to the purple outsole. Finishing up, the outsole has that classic Jordan 1 patterning with circular rings up front, small rectangles in the back, and a Nike Logo in the middle.
Stitching throughout isn’t the best Nike has ever done, but it isn’t the worst. A quick count shoes about 10 missed stitches.
Fit & Comfort:
Like almost all Nikes, these shoes fit narrow and long compared to most other brands. Compounding this problem is that the cup sole that Jordan Brand uses doesn’t allow for a significant amount stretch out of the box, and takes a lot of wear to stretch out a bit. One plus side to using the thinner leather is that there is a bit of give right off the bat. I wear a size 13, and measure an 11.75 on the brannock device – which goes to show you how useless “true size” is as a measurement. I would strongly encourage you to try on a pair before buying – while you probably are not going to find a Jordan 1 high sitting on shelves these days, they should fit almost identical to a Jordan 1 mid.
For a full list of the sizes I take in all the shoes reviewed, click here
There is no getting around it, these shoes are a 35-year-old design and you can feel it. Jordan Brand used hard-compound rubber on both the midsole and outsole. This gives great ground feel, but in turn you’re definitely going to feel the ground on impact. The Jordan 1s feature an air unit in the heel but, being completely surrounded by rubber, there isn’t much room for it to expand. This isn’t an Air Max.
On the positive side, it’s well padded around the ankle, which also helps take up some room if you needed to size up due to the width. Further, the upper tends to be soft enough that you don’t feel it wear you down during the day. This doesn’t sound like a big difference, but compared to the Dunk High you really appreciate the support.
Materials:
If you’re looking for high end leathers, this isn’t the place to find them. The leather on the upper is either incredibly thin or, in the case of the black panels, entirely fake. Expect to get a good amount of creasing. On top of the real leather panels is a coating that holds the majority of the color. At this price point the quality of the leather is something that is open to complains, but this coating isn’t something to worry about. Leather is a natural material, and natural materials don’t come in bright purple without a lot of treatment and chemicals.
Inside the shoe things do turn around a bit. In late 2019, Jordan Brand changed the lining they use to a much finer mesh. This isn’t just more comfortable, but feels like it will stand to wear much better than older Jordan 1s. Behind this mesh is a lot of quality padding that feels like it will age well and provide support for some time – though we’ll see if these two assumptions are true in a follow up review.
Below your feet, the Court Purple 2.0 features a basic cheap insole made of foam, as opposed to the ortholite style they will occasionally use. Further down, while it isn’t the most comfortable material, the rubber on the outsole is hard wearing and will last a lot longer than other retro shoes both in wear resistance and resistance to crumbling due to age – even if it isn’t the thickets outsole on the planet.
Ease of Care:
Leather Jordan 1s are one of the easiest shoes in the world to take care of. The coating they put on the leather makes the material easy to wipe off with a wet rag and water. If it gets really bad, just use a bit of soap.
Unfortunately, I have a feeling the bright white midsole is going to get yellow with wear. There isn’t much that anyone would be able to do about that.
While not needed, a pair of shoe trees will go a long way in stopping creases from developing.
Pricing:
The Court Purple 2.0 was one of the first Jordan 1s to retail at the new $170 price point. Though don’t expect to find them anywhere close to retail today. At the time of writing, a size 13 like this one recently sold for $388. Other sizes ranged from $285 in a size 10 to $687 in a size 5.5.
Jordan 1s with the Chicago color blocking have generally been some of the higher cost models on the resale market. The hype from the OGs carries through to other colors. Only time will tell if now that the last dance has started to fade from people’s memory if the pricing comes back down to earth on those, taking other colors with them, or if this is the going rate for Jordan 1s moving forward.
Wrap Up:
The Court Purple 2.0 isn’t “Shattered Backboard” quality and it isn’t an OG colorway. Then again, I don’t think it needs to be. The shoe uses average materials for a Jordan 1, with a great color blocking, and a color that isn’t used all that often. If you’re looking for a clean Jordan Retro to hop on the Lamar Jackson hype train, I couldn’t think of a better option.