More Air Jordan I KO's Coming Down The Pipe

The Air Jordan 1 KO recently debuted in a low top version with the Union collab that launched back in February. This summer we are getting at least 2 more colorways, this time in the form of some classic AJ1 colors. The Bred and Shadow Grey colorways will be placed on the AJKO low and will be returning this summer. The AJKO has a long history within Jordan Brand.

Originally it was released back in 1986 and was meant to be a cheaper option to the Air Jordan 1. They used the tooling from the Nike Vandal and the upper was made of Canvas. It was named the Air Jordan KO but there has never been any confirmation on what the “KO” is supposed to mean. The rumor was that within Nike the “KO” stood for “Knock Off” because Nike released it as a way to combat all the brands that came out with knock off versions of the Air Jordan 1, that were all much cheaper than the real thing. Nike felt releasing a cheaper version would make more people buy Nike’s rather than the other options. Another rumor was that “KO” stood for Knock out. Nobody knows the real answer though. There was an Air Jordan II KO that made it to the sample stage but they never reached production.

After that there wasn't much heard from the AJKO until 2010 when Jordan retroed them for the first time ever. They released in the Chicago colorway and was done in a pre aged look (They were not my cup of tea and I was disappointed) Since they have released several pairs of the AJKO but not much in recent years but with the latest Union collab the AJKO has been sprung back into the spotlight. Union mixed things up though and made a low top AJKO.

Are you excited about these low top AJKO’s? Would you have preferred they just stuck with the high tops? Let us know!

You can contact the author, Andy Morrison (aka Biggie Smores), on any of his social media pages: @Biggie_Smores

Images from Nike Kicks! & Sneaker News