Dior x Air Jordan 1 High OG

The birth of Air Dior

On Tuesday night, December 3, 2019, Dior showed its men's pre-fall 2020 collection in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach, across the street from the brand-new Rubell Museum on the night before it opened to the public. Amid a collection built on Miami, Art Deco and the Sixties, and a collaboration with Shawn Stussy, Kim Jones introduced a pair of high-tops: the Air Jordan 1 High OG Dior.

'I chose to collaborate with Jordan Brand because Christian Dior collaborated with the best American brands of his era,' Jones said. 'I love mixing together different worlds, different ideas. Dior and Jordan Brand are both emblematic of absolute excellence in their fields.' The shoe commemorated the 35th anniversary of the Air Jordan 1 and the first Dior men's show in the United States.

Jordan Brand's vice president of design, Martin Lotti, said the partnership would 'blend high-end streetwear with luxury fashion.' Coverage at the time called it the first time a Parisian couture house had partnered with Jordan Brand, and a step by the Nike-owned label into what the trade press called luxury streetwear. At the unveiling, the shoe was promised for select Dior stores in April 2020, with no price announced.

A collector at the drawing board

Kim Jones was born in London on September 11, 1973, and spent his childhood in Ecuador, the Caribbean and Africa, following his father's work as a hydrologist. He studied at Camberwell School of Art and completed the MA in menswear at Central Saint Martins in 2002.

In 2011 he became style director of men's ready-to-wear at Louis Vuitton, where he developed the 2017 collaboration with the skatewear brand Supreme. On March 19, 2018, Dior named him artistic director of its men's line, and he showed his first collection in Paris that June. From 2020 to 2024 he also designed women's collections at Fendi.

Jones was a Jordan collector before he was a Jordan collaborator. A trade report on the release said he owned more than 40 pairs of Air Jordan 1s. He stepped down from Dior in January 2025, and two months later his own pair of the shoe, numbered 0001 of 8500, was offered at an online auction of pieces from his archive.

Postponed by the pandemic

In early March 2020, a sample specialist showed the inside of a pair on social media with a lot-number patch reading '2058/8500,' and a source close to the brand confirmed to a sneaker publication that the High would be made in 8,500 individually numbered pairs. A leaked plan described an 'Air Dior' lottery opening March 23, with US pop-up shops in New York from April 16 to 23 and in Los Angeles from May 1 to 8.

None of that happened on schedule. On March 17, 2020, Dior and Jordan Brand postponed the draw and the pop-ups indefinitely 'to ensure the safety of all,' as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down public life. In May, the New York artist Daniel Arsham posted a video unboxing his pair while buyers waited for a new date.

On June 25, 2020, Dior opened a dedicated microsite where buyers could register for either the High or the Low, in one size and at one pickup location, once per person. China had its own registration through a WeChat program.

Five million names for 8,000 pairs

Pietro Beccari, chief executive of Christian Dior Couture, said afterward that more than five million people had registered, roughly the population of Ireland or New Zealand, and that Dior collected the names in about nine hours. Winners were notified on July 2. The High was priced at $2,200 and the Low at $2,000.

Beccari also gave the only production figure for the whole collaboration: 13,000 pairs, high-top and low-top together. Of those, 5,000 were offered to Dior's top clients by personal invitation, leaving 8,000 for the public. Sources do not give a separate figure for the Low.

The shoe's standing grew after release. In 2021 the Design Museum in London included it in 'Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street,' which ran from April 30 to October 24, presenting it, on resale-market data, as the most valuable sneaker release of 2020. Jones's personal pair, number 0001, carried an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000 when his archive went to auction in March 2025, with part of that sale's proceeds going to the World Land Trust; a final price was not found in the sources.

How to read the shoe

The shoe was made in Italy from leather supplied by Dior, with painted edges that echo the house's bags and accessories. The cream upper is set against Dior Gray, a color associated with the house since its founding in 1947, which also recalls a black and gray Air Jordan 1 from 1985. The Swoosh is executed in Dior Oblique jacquard, and the same Oblique motif is laser-etched into the insoles at half scale.

The tongue is nylon with a custom Dior and Swoosh tag, and the laces have metal tips. The outsole is icy translucent blue: the right shoe carries the Dior logo and the left an 'Air Dior' logo that reworks the Air Jordan wings. 'It has the feel of Sixties travel, which seems extremely luxurious to me,' Jones said of that logo. The Air Dior wings also appear at the ankle of the left shoe, alongside the Jumpman, its only appearance on the collaboration.

Each High is numbered on an interior label out of 8,500. A complete set, as described by resale listings and by the auction of Jones's pair, includes the box, Air Dior dust bags, pouches holding cream laces and an Air Dior wings hangtag and Jumpman charm, gray plastic inserts and Dior-printed insoles.

Sources disagree on some basics. One resale listing gives a release date of April 6, 2020, in the month the shoe had originally been planned for, and a $2,000 retail price, which was the Low's price. Dior's chief executive and contemporary coverage put the High at $2,200, sold through the June 25 to July 2, 2020 draw.

The numbers

Release

Registration June 25, 2020; winners notified July 2, 2020

Retail price

$2,200 (High), $2,000 (Low)

Style code

CN8607-002

Production

8,500 numbered Highs; 13,000 pairs of Highs and Lows in all

Allocation

8,000 pairs to the public by draw, 5,000 offered to Dior's top clients

Registrations

More than five million

Timeline

1. 1947

   Christian Dior founds his house; Dior Gray becomes one of its signature colors.

2. Sep 11, 1973

   Kim Jones is born in London.

3. 1985

   The Air Jordan 1 is released to the public.

4. Mar 19, 2018

   Dior names Kim Jones artistic director of its men's line.

5. Dec 3, 2019

   The Air Jordan 1 High OG Dior debuts at Dior's pre-fall 2020 men's show in Miami.

6. Mar 2020

   A pair labeled 2058/8500 surfaces; 8,500 numbered pairs are reported, with a lottery planned for March 23.

7. Mar 17, 2020

   Dior and Jordan Brand postpone the release because of COVID-19.

8. May 19, 2020

   Daniel Arsham posts a video unboxing his pair.

9. Jun 25, 2020

   Dior opens online registration: $2,200 for the High, $2,000 for the Low.

10. Jul 2, 2020

    Winners are notified; Dior says more than five million people registered for 8,000 public pairs.

11. Apr 30, 2021

    The Design Museum in London opens 'Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street,' featuring the shoe.

12. Jan 2025

    Kim Jones steps down from Dior.

13. Mar 11, 2025

    Jones's own pair, numbered 0001/8500, closes at an online auction with a $15,000 to $20,000 estimate.

The world in 2020

• Jan 21, 2020

  The first US case of COVID-19 is confirmed.

• Jan 26, 2020

  Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna die in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

• Mar 11, 2020

  The NBA suspends its season after a player tests positive for the coronavirus.

• Mar 13, 2020

  President Trump declares a national emergency over the pandemic.

• May 25, 2020

  George Floyd is murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, setting off nationwide protests.

• May 30, 2020

  SpaceX launches the first crewed spaceflight from US soil since 2011.

• Nov 7, 2020

  Joe Biden is projected the winner of the presidential election.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Dior x Air Jordan 1 High OG is number 31 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (29 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• More than five million people registered to buy one of 8,000 public pairs, roughly the population of Ireland or New Zealand.
• The leather came from Dior and was edge-painted like the house's handbags.
• The Jumpman appears only once on the shoe, at the ankle of the left foot.
• The Dior Oblique pattern on the insoles is the same motif as the Swoosh, laser-etched at half scale.
• Kim Jones owned more than 40 pairs of Air Jordan 1s before he designed one.
• Jones's own pair is number 0001 of 8,500.
• The shoe was first planned for April 2020; the pandemic pushed the sale to the summer.
• A London design museum displayed it in 2021 as the most valuable sneaker release of 2020.