Jordan 3 Retro White Cement (1994)

The Nike Air Jordan III Retro White Cement, first retro'd in 1994 and was the beginning of the sneaker craze that we experience today as sneakerheads. But what led to the Jordan 3 Retro is what makes the story interesting. Michael Jordan retired in October of 1993 after his father passed away in the summer of that year. MJ’s retirement shocked the world. "I couldn’t believe my ears," Scottie Pippen would later tell the media in response to how he took the news. With MJ leaving the NBA behind, Nike did what any company would do as their most important asset announced their retirement. They prepared to celebrate the legacy of Michael Jordan’s Nike Air Jordans by re-releasing some of the most iconic models. To many sneaker enthusiasts and basketball fans, there is no more iconic sneaker than the Air Jordan III with the Nike Air on the heel. It was the 1988 Dunk Contest, where MJ took off from the free throw line to launch himself and his Air Jordans into history. Surprisingly, the AJ3 didn’t sell as well initially as you might think because the Jordan wave had yet to really take off back in the mid-1990s compared to the retro Jordans of the modern era, so these made their way to discount racks. The Nike Air Jordan Retro 3 White Cement from 1994 also came in one of the greatest sneaker boxes ever created-- featuring photos of Michael Jordan and his Air Jordan shoes all over the box top-- further cementing Michael Jordan’s Air Jordan III as a true collector’s grail.