Everything You Need to Know About the New Air Jordan 1 '85

For many sneakerheads, February is already considered one of the best months in 2020, with Jordan Brand releasing two iterations in the coming weeks of this month, based on the 1985 OG: an Air Jordan 1 High '85 "Varsity Red" and an Air Jordan 1 High "New Beginnings" from the New Beginnings pack.

But, how do the sneakers differ and which updates can we actually see? If Jordan Brand has its way, we get to see two full-fledged sneakers that have received a very time-consuming and complicated makeover. The creative minds have literally travelled back in time with the whole design process. They talked to the shoe designers from the '80s and settled into the new/old Air Jordan 1 from 1985.

Among the most important points are the shape, the material, and also the high construction. They paid attention to the thickness of the high quality leather, and the sidewalls were not allowed to deviate much from the OG and the outsole had to be redesigned by hand in order to achieve a 100% OG shape.

We took a closer look at the processes and summarized them for you. Here, you can see the individual differences between the Air Jordan 1 from 1985 and the current Air Jordan 1 '85.

Left: Air Jordan 1 High `85 „Varsity Red” (2020) / Right: Air Jordan 1 „Bred” (1985) 

Sneaker enthusiasts will probably notice the higher collar immediately. The collar is significantly higher than in the last AJ1 retros. So, to get closer to the upper floor, the collar has to be adjusted.

Top: Air Jordan 1 „Chicago” (1985) / Bottom: Air Jordan 1 „New Beginnings” (2020) 

Over the years, the Wings logo of Jordan Brand changed. But, the newest version is slowly working its way up to the OG. A reduced size and the adapted font both remind us of the model from 1985.

Air Jordan 1 „New Beginnings” (2020) 

The lower half shows perhaps the smallest changes. The traditional shape is most often used in today's sneakers.

Left: Air Jordan 1 „New Beginnings” (2020) / Right: Air Jordan 1 „Chicago” (1985) 

The current version uses a 2x thicker and higher quality full-grain leather. In addition, the width of the toe box has been adjusted and the stitching edges have been optimized.

Top: Air Jordan 1 High `85 „Varsity Red” (2020) / Bottom: Air Jordan 1 „Bred” (1985)

Top: Air Jordan 1 High `85 „Varsity Red” (2020) / Bottom: Air Jordan 1 „Bred” (1985) 

The midsole from 1985 was then worked by hand. Therefore, there were always irregularities. For this reason, this process was digitally created. The details were drawn and scanned to achieve the same effect from 1985.

Top: Air Jordan 1 „Chicago” (1985) / Bottom: Air Jordan 1 „New Beginnings” (2020)

Top: Air Jordan 1 „Chicago” (1985) / Bottom: Air Jordan 1 „New Beginnings” (2020) 

Another change can be seen on the outsole. The Swoosh and the Nike text are slightly separated. This leads the new AJ1 a big step closer to the old Jordan from '85.

Air Jordan 1 High `85 „Varsity Red” (2020)

Air Jordan 1 High `85 „Varsity Red” (2020) 

The hangtag is also completely new. The team behind the Air Jordan 1 High '85 (2020) relies on digital references and adopts the concept from 1985.