On February 15th, 1985, the NBA submitted a letter to Nike Vice President Rob Strasse stating that the red and black shoe that Jordan was wearing on or around October 18th, 1984 was against league policy. The policy requires each player to wear shoes that match his teammates’ and also match the team colors, which for the Chicago Bulls are black, red, and white. Because he did not follow league guidelines Michael Jordan was fined $5,000 by the NBA every time he wore the shoes during their debut in 1984 because their colors broke the league's uniform rules.
Nike capitalized on this, reportedly paying the fines for Jordan and creating an ad campaign that played on that forbidden fruit quality. Due to the league’s infamous letter, the Jordan 1 was deemed to be “Banned."
The Game: October 18th, 1984
The Ban Letter: February 15th, 1985
