FLOAT 100 · Sneakers · No. 18
Off-White x Air Jordan 1 'UNC / Powder Blue'
Virgil Abloh unveiled his third deconstructed Air Jordan 1 on the Met Gala red carpet, in the Carolina blue that Michael Jordan wore before he ever wore a Bull.
- Year
- 2018
- Maker
- Nike / Jordan Brand x Off-White
- By price in sneakers
- 53 of 100
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Create a free account- Official name
- Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG, Off-White 'UNC'
- Style code
- AQ0818-148
- Colorway
- White/Dark Powder Blue-Cone
- Designer
- Virgil Abloh (Off-White) with Nike and Jordan Brand
- Place in the series
- Abloh's third Off-White Air Jordan 1, after the 2017 'Chicago' and the March 2018 all-white pair
- Public debut
- On Abloh's feet at the Met Gala, New York, May 7, 2018
- Release
- Surprise app drop May 23, 2018; wider releases in late May and June 2018
- Retail price
- $190 in most reports
- Signature details
- Powder blue overlays, orange tab under the Swoosh, 'AIR' on the midsole, medial text, 'Off-White For Nike' label, red zip tie
- Production
- Not published by Nike
Back to Chapel Hill
Virgil Abloh's first Air Jordan 1 for Nike, the 'Chicago' pair from The Ten in 2017, borrowed the red, white and black of the Bulls. For the third, he went back further, to the University of North Carolina, where Michael Jordan played college basketball before the 1984 draft.
Carolina blue carries its own weight in Jordan's story. As a freshman under coach Dean Smith, Jordan hit the game-winning jump shot in the 1982 NCAA championship game against Georgetown, a shot he later called the major turning point of his career. Abloh's archive notes that when Nike first showed Jordan the 1985 'Bred' Air Jordan 1, he did not like the colors, preferring his UNC blues.
The shoe is built the same way as Abloh's Chicago pair: a white leather base, the Swoosh cut loose and stitched back on, an orange tab beneath it, 'AIR' printed on the midsole and a block of text on the medial side. A magazine review at the time noted that the pastel blue was a rare move away from the black-and-white palette of most of his Nike work.
A red-carpet debut
In spring 2018 Abloh's profile was rising fast. On March 25 he was named artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, the first person of African descent to lead the house's menswear line. On May 7 he teased a blue-and-white Air Jordan 1 in a video geotagged at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
On May 7, 2018, at the Met Gala, whose theme that year was 'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,' Abloh wore the unreleased shoes on the red carpet. He confirmed they were his red-carpet pair, and a report noted he had written 'For Red Carpet Only' on the sole. It was the second year in a row he wore his own Air Jordan 1 to the gala; in 2017 it had been the Chicago.
At the time, the release was rumored for June 9 at $190. The Chicago pair had sold out instantly the year before, and one magazine report put its resale prices above $1,500.
A surprise drop and a staggered release
On May 23, 2018, Nike's SNKRS app released the shoe early and without warning. A release-news site reported that a surprising number of people managed to buy a pair, and that an international release would follow on May 30, with an official U.S. release on June 19.
Other dates appear in the record. A European retailer announced its own launch for June 23, 2018, the date one style guide also gives; an earlier report had pointed to June 19 at select Jordan Brand retailers. The retail price is reported as $190 by release-news sites, while one style guide lists $180; this page uses $190.
Some later accounts describe the UNC pair as a European exclusive or link it to the all-white 'Alaska' shoe. The contemporary release reports above show a U.S. app release, and Abloh's own archive identifies the white 2018 shoe, not the UNC, as the 'Alaska'.
Identifying a pair, and the signed ones
Correct pairs carry style code AQ0818-148 and the colorway White/Dark Powder Blue-Cone: a white upper, powder blue overlays, black text on the sides and orange accents. Like the Chicago pair, it includes an 'Off-White For Nike' label and a red zip tie.
Pairs Abloh signed have become their own category. One, offered at auction in spring 2022 with an estimate of $5,000 to $10,000, was signed 'Virgil 2018' on one shoe and 'HODEI,' a word meaning cloud, on the other; a report said bidding had already passed the $10,000 top of that estimate before the sale closed. Two other signed pairs have been offered at auction with estimates of $10,000 to $15,000 (size 11.5, 2022) and $8,000 to $12,000 (size 10, 2023), the auction catalogs calling the shoe Abloh's third deconstructed take on the Air Jordan 1.
In October 2026 the lowest listed price for an unsigned pair was $923, in small sizes.
After Virgil
Abloh was diagnosed with cardiac angiosarcoma in 2019 and kept the illness private. He died in Chicago on November 28, 2021, at 41.
In February 2022, 200 pairs of his Louis Vuitton and Nike Air Force 1 sold for a combined $25.3 million, and signed UNC pairs appeared at auction in 2022 and 2023.
The numbers
- Style code
- AQ0818-148
- Colorway
- White/Dark Powder Blue-Cone
- Retail price
- $190 (one source lists $180)
- Surprise release
- May 23, 2018, Nike SNKRS app
- Other release dates
- May 30, 2018 international; June 19, 2018 U.S.; June 23, 2018 at a European retailer
- Production
- Not published by Nike
Timeline
Freshman Michael Jordan hits the game-winning shot for North Carolina in the NCAA championship game against Georgetown.
The original Air Jordan 1 is released to the public.
Abloh wears his unreleased 'Chicago' Off-White Air Jordan 1 to the Met Gala.
The Chicago pair, part of The Ten, goes on sale.
An all-white Off-White Air Jordan 1 is released in Europe, Abloh's second.
Abloh is named artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear.
Abloh debuts the UNC pair on the Met Gala red carpet.
A release report says the shoe will arrive June 19 at select Jordan Brand retailers for $190.
Nike's SNKRS app releases the UNC pair early in a surprise drop.
International release, per a contemporary report.
Scheduled U.S. release, per the same report.
A European retailer launches the shoe; one style guide also lists this date.
Abloh dies in Chicago at 41.
A pair signed 'Virgil 2018' and 'HODEI' is offered at auction; bidding passes the top of its $5,000 to $10,000 estimate.
Another signed UNC pair, size 10, is offered at auction with an $8,000 to $12,000 estimate.
The world in 2018
The Philadelphia Eagles beat New England 41-33 in Super Bowl LII for their first Super Bowl title.
A gunman kills 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Ryan Coogler's Black Panther opens and becomes one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
The Washington Capitals win their first Stanley Cup.
The Golden State Warriors sweep Cleveland for the NBA championship.
President Trump meets North Korea's Kim Jong-un in Singapore, the first such meeting.
The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $190 | Asking price, not a saleRetail price as reported by release-news sites; one style guide lists $180. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $923 | Asking price, not a saleLowest listed price, unsigned pair, sizes 5.5 to 6.5. |
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, Off-White x Air Jordan 1 'UNC / Powder Blue' is number 53 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 (18 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Abloh wore the UNC pair to the 2018 Met Gala before it was released, with 'For Red Carpet Only' written on the sole.
- Jordan reportedly disliked the original 1985 Air Jordan 1 colors at first, preferring his North Carolina blues.
- Nike released the shoe early through its app on May 23, 2018, with no warning.
- One signed pair reads 'Virgil 2018' on one shoe and 'HODEI,' meaning cloud, on the other.
- It was Abloh's third Off-White Air Jordan 1; an all-white pair came out in Europe that March, between the Chicago and the UNC.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026