It’s December, which means the holidays are on everyone’s mind. It also means a very specific (albeit unofficial) holiday is on a very specific kind of person’s mind: The release of the annual Holiday Air Jordan 11.
The Jordan 11 ranks high among the greatest Air Jordan sneakers of all time. When Tinker Hatfield added ballistic mesh and a stripe of patent leather to the first new Air Jordans worn by Mike after his return from baseball in 1995, it changed the sneaker world forever. They became the hottest kicks in a line of kicks famed for being pretty hot to begin with.
Unlike most Air Jordan silhouettes, which receive countless new colorways and collaborations every year, 11s are kept something resembling sacred. While there may be a new women’s colorway or low-top interpretation once or twice a year, for the most part they’re limited to a special release on the second or third weekend of December and have been for well over a decade now. It’s a holiday tradition, often one of the most anticipated releases of the year—to the point that certain colorways have been known to cause literal riots in the mall upon dropping.
All of which is to say: This is a sneaker worthy of a deep dive, and this just so happens to be the perfect season to give it one. Here are the 11 greatest Air Jordan 11 colorways of all time.
