FLOAT 100 · Sneakers · No. 32
Union LA x Air Jordan 1 'Storm Blue'
Union's first Air Jordan sewed two 1985 colorways into one shoe, debuted at a fake flea-market stall where shoppers took it for a bootleg, and became one of the most wanted Air Jordan 1 collaborations of its decade.
- Year
- 2018
- Maker
- Nike / Jordan Brand x Union LA
- By price in sneakers
- 57 of 100
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Create a free account- Official name
- Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG NRG, Union Los Angeles 'Storm Blue'
- Style code
- BV1300-146
- Colorway
- White/Storm Blue-Varsity Red-Black
- Designer
- Chris Gibbs, owner of Union Los Angeles, with Jordan Brand
- Concept
- The white-and-blue Air Jordan 1 body joined to the black-and-red 'Bred' ankle collar with exposed yellow stitching
- Release
- November 17, 2018, at Union and the Union Jordan website; restocked there November 24, 2018
- Retail price
- $190
- Availability
- Union exclusive; the sister 'Black Toe' (BV1300-106) also launched through Jordan Brand stockists and the SNKRS app
- Production
- Not published by Nike
A shop that helped invent streetwear
Union opened in New York in 1989, founded by James Jebbia, Eddie Cruz and Mary Ann Fusco. Cruz moved west and opened Union Los Angeles in 1991, at first a co-branded store with Stussy known as 'The Stussy Union'. Jebbia left and founded Supreme in 1994, while Cruz and Fusco kept Union running on both coasts. Through Cruz's friendship with Hiroshi Fujiwara, the shop brought Japanese labels such as A Bathing Ape, NEIGHBORHOOD and WTAPS to American buyers.
Chris Gibbs started working for Fusco at the New York store in 1996, moved to Los Angeles in 2003, worked at both Undefeated and Union, and took over the Los Angeles business in 2010. Union's first Nike project came in 2005, a reworked Air Force 180, back when shop collaborations were still unusual. In 2018 Union opened a store in Tokyo, its first new location in 27 years, and the same year announced its first Jordan Brand collaboration.
Vintage Jordan, patched like old denim
Gibbs told GQ that Jordan Brand came to him with a year-by-year approach: this outfit went with the first shoe, that one with the second. He pushed back. 'That's what a sports fanatic would think about it,' he said. He wanted to treat the whole late-1980s and early-1990s period as 'Vintage Jordan', and Jordan Brand agreed. The apparel was cut boxier and looser and washed to feel like thrift-store finds, with crackle-printed graphics and Union's name slipped in using period fonts.
For the shoe, he stopped short of artificial wear. 'I just wasn't really comfortable with offering a shoe that looked like someone's been wearing it for 10 years,' he said. Instead he took the idea of mended clothing: 'You get a pair of denim and it's been worn out in the knees, and you get a new patch, and you sew it back on.' The result is an Air Jordan 1 with slightly yellowed leather and an ankle collar from a different Air Jordan 1, stitched on, Frankenstein-style.
On 'Storm Blue', the body comes from the white-and-blue Air Jordan 1 and the collar from the black-and-red 'Bred'. Its sister, 'Black Toe', pairs the 'Black Toe' body with a white-and-grey collar. Release coverage described a super-soft leather upper, weathered suede on the ankles, exposed yellow stitching, a two-tone tongue and a 'UN/LA' flap just below the Wings logo.
The fake booth at the Rose Bowl
Union introduced the shoes in a way built for the internet. It set up a stall at Los Angeles' Rose Bowl Flea Market stocked with real vintage Nike and Jordan clothing and sneakers, mixed the new collection in among them, and filmed shoppers with hidden cameras. 'Just for shits and giggles,' the shop wrote when it posted the video on October 23, 2018. Most onlookers assumed the pairs were fakes, reportedly including the designer Sean Wotherspoon, though he may have been in on the joke.
That early reaction was sour. Shoppers scoffed at the mismatched colorways. Once the official release began and the pairs sold out, opinion turned, and later retrospectives call the pack one of the best Jordan Brand releases of 2018 and the high point of Union's work with Nike.
The 'Storm Blue' pair released first, on November 17, 2018, at Union and on the Union Jordan website, with matching 'Storm Blue' apparel. The 'Black Toe' followed on November 24 as a global launch at select Jordan Brand stockists and through a SNKRS app draw. Both pairs were restocked on the Union Jordan website on November 24 at $190 each.
How to identify it
The style code BV1300-146 and the colorway White/Storm Blue-Varsity Red-Black identify the retail 'Storm Blue'. The 'Black Toe' is BV1300-106. Look for white leather with a slightly aged, yellowed tone and blue overlays on the body; a black-and-red collar in distressed suede; exposed yellow stitching where the collar meets the body; and the 'UN/LA' tag under the Wings logo on each ankle.
Nike has not published production numbers for either pair, and none of the sources consulted give one.
The start of a long partnership
The Air Jordan 1 that Union reworked was first made for Michael Jordan in November 1984 and released to the public on April 1, 1985. Designed by Peter Moore, its red-and-black colorway broke the NBA's rule that shoes be 51 percent white, and Nike turned the fines into its 'Banned' advertising. Union's version came out on November 17, 2018, 34 years to the day after that first pair was made for Jordan.
Union went on to more Jordan projects: an apparel collection in 2019; the Air Jordan 4 'Off Noir' and 'Guava Ice' in 2020, with a flipped, stitched-down tongue; Air Jordan 4 'Taupe Haze' and 'Desert Moss' for Union's 30th anniversary in 2021; Air Jordan 2 'Grey Fog' and 'Rattan' in 2022; and a 'Summer of 96' Air Jordan 1 with Bephie's Beauty Supply in August 2023. Collector writing still treats the 2018 Air Jordan 1 pair as the high point of the run.
The numbers
- Style code
- BV1300-146
- Colorway
- White/Storm Blue-Varsity Red-Black
- Release date
- November 17, 2018 (Union and the Union Jordan website); restock November 24, 2018
- Retail price
- $190
- Release type
- Union exclusive
- Sister colorway
- 'Black Toe', BV1300-106, global launch November 24, 2018
- Production
- Not published by Nike
Timeline
The first Air Jordan is made for Michael Jordan; it reaches the public April 1, 1985.
Union opens in New York, founded by James Jebbia, Eddie Cruz and Mary Ann Fusco.
Eddie Cruz opens Union Los Angeles, first as 'The Stussy Union'.
Chris Gibbs starts working for Mary Ann Fusco at Union New York.
Union and Nike collaborate on a reworked Air Force 180.
Gibbs takes over Union Los Angeles.
Union opens in Tokyo, its first new store in 27 years.
Union posts hidden-camera video of shoppers at its fake vintage booth at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, where many take the shoes for fakes.
Union and Jordan Brand officially announce the two-shoe Air Jordan 1 pack and apparel collection.
'Storm Blue' (BV1300-146) releases at Union and on the Union Jordan website for $190.
'Black Toe' (BV1300-106) launches globally and on SNKRS; both pairs restock on the Union Jordan website.
Union's second Jordan sneaker project, the Air Jordan 4 'Off Noir' and 'Guava Ice', debuts at Union.
Lowest listed price at one resale shop is $789 for a single size, with other sizes listed up to $4,232.
The world in 2018
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen dies.
The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series.
The film 'Bohemian Rhapsody' opens in U.S. theaters.
In the U.S. midterm elections, Democrats win control of the House of Representatives.
The Woolsey Fire in Southern California and the deadly Camp Fire in the north both begin.
Former President George H. W. Bush dies at 94.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 17, 2018 | $190 | Asking price, not a saleRetail price at release. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $789 | Asking price, not a saleLowest listed price for a new pair at one resale shop, men's size 8.5; other sizes listed from $950 to $4,232. |
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, Union LA x Air Jordan 1 'Storm Blue' is number 57 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 (32 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Union first showed the shoes at a fake vintage booth at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, and hidden cameras caught shoppers calling them knockoffs.
- The 'Storm Blue' released on November 17, 2018, 34 years to the day after the first Air Jordan was made for Michael Jordan.
- Chris Gibbs based the patched-collar idea on mending worn-out jeans with new patches.
- Gibbs decided against making the shoe look heavily worn, saying he was not comfortable selling a shoe that looked 10 years old.
- Union's co-founder James Jebbia left to start Supreme in 1994.
- The 'UN/LA' tag sits just under the Wings logo on each ankle.
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