Shoes. Socks. Backpacks. Underwear. Hats. Coats. Watches. Basketball. Football. Baseball. Men. Women. Kids. Toddlers. Infants. Jordan Brand, a subsidiary brand under Nike Inc., is a company created by Michael Jordan that produces high price shoes, athletic, and casual clothing. At a very early age, I fell in love with the Air Jordan Retro Collection, a series of twenty-nine shoes designed by Michael Jordan, mostly shoes he wore during his time on the basketball court. Michael Jordan was arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time: a six-time NBA Champion, six-time NBA finals MVP, five-time NBA MVP, fourteen-time NBA All-Star, ten-time NBA Scoring Champion, etc. These awards promise consumers the idea of being the best at whatever they do. However, as my freshman year at Georgetown University dwindles down, my relationship with the Jordan Brand has shifted drastically.
Today, throughout those twenty-nine shoes, Jordan Brand comes up with at least three different colorway schemes a month to keep customers satisfied with variety. During the rise of the brand, Michael Jordan sported these shoes while winning three consecutive NBA championships. Furthermore, the brand’s popularity skyrocketed when Nike Inc. began signing elite athletes from the NBA, MLB, and NFL. Having athletes such as Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia, and Andre Johnson inspired me in my youth to become successful through buying Jordan’s. Now, I buy the Retro Collection around five times a year to keep up with the trend, spending around $200 for each pair.
As I spend roughly $1,000 annually on Air Jordan’s, I now wonder who truly benefits from my purchase. In grade school, I assumed that the money was furthering the development of Indonesia, China, and Taiwan: the countries in which these products are manufactured. However, after researching the topic, I discovered that Nike pays sweatshops around $20 per pair to make the shoe, but sells each pair for $200. So how could foreign manufacturers receive $20 per pair and the laborers get an average of $1.28 a day while Michael Jordan received $100 million a year for having his logo on the shoe?
Since the early 1970’s, Nike had been accused of operating a multi-million dollar company through the use of atrocious sweatshops and underpaid labor. However, Nike Inc. has been able to keep the facts concealed due to the increase in demand. Similar to diamonds in Sierra Leone, if the majority plans to spend big bucks on a product, the method of supply is irrelevant. In the award-winning short film “Behind the Swoosh,” Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu traveled to Indonesia to see the unbearable conditions of the sweatshop workers for thirty days, living off less than two dollars a day. Economically and environmentally, this lifestyle was so unbearable that both Jim and Leslie scheduled a meeting to confront Phil Knight, the founder and chairman of Nike Inc. During the meeting, Knight gave indirect answers and as the questions started focussing on the underpaid workers, Knight ended the meeting and had the two escorted out the building. Furthermore, to limit the investigation of Jim and Leslie, the sweatshops hired security to shield the truth of sweatshops.
Now, as a college student, the Jordan Brand represents to me both style and comfort. I wear the Jordan Brand unintentionally almost everyday because of both the high comfort level and the invincible identity that the Jordan Brand has portrayed. However, as a result of the beloved identity that the Jordan Brand markets to consumers, the means of production of the shoe remains invisible, creating a recurring, systematic dilemma in impoverished areas within Indonesia, Taiwan, and China.
