Almost a decade after The Ten, it is easy to assume every Off-White x Air Jordan 1 has been found, photographed and catalogued. Samples, friends-and-family pairs and colourways that were shown once and never again have all been traced by collectors over the years.
The Off-White x Air Jordan 1 'Black/Yellow' sample breaks that assumption. It is a pair that almost nobody knew existed, and it shows a side of Virgil Abloh's Air Jordan 1 that never reached the shelves.
The Off-White x Air Jordan 1 'Black/Yellow' Sample
The pair comes from a private collection and dates back to the early days of Abloh's work with Nike and Jordan Brand. It is described as a look-see sample, the kind of pair made so a colourway can be judged in hand before anyone decides on production.
Structurally it is almost identical to the Air Jordan 1 that did release. The deconstructed build, the exposed foam, the enlarged and partly detached Swoosh and the industrial text details are all there. What changes is the palette. Where the 'Chicago' works in white, red and black, this pair is predominantly black with bright yellow accents, which gives the same shape a much harder edge.
What makes it rare is not just the colourway. It has not appeared online before and does not seem to be part of the documented Virgil Abloh archive. According to the collector, somewhere between one and three pairs may exist.
Every Off-White Air Jordan 1 High So Far
To see why a new sample matters, it helps to look at how short the list of released pairs actually is.
The Air Jordan x Off-White 1 'Chicago' (The Ten) started it in 2017. As the centrepiece of The Ten, it changed what a collaboration could look like, from the exposed construction to the way people talked about it. The style code is AA3834-101, and for many collectors it is still the pair that defines the partnership.
The Air Jordan x Off-White 1 Retro High 'White' followed in 2018 and stripped the idea back to almost nothing. Tonal white, translucent panels and very little else, style code AQ0818-100. It is the version that shows the construction most clearly.
The Air Jordan x Off-White 1 'UNC' arrived the same year in white and Powder Blue, a direct nod to Michael Jordan's college years. The style code is AQ0818-148.
Then the story picked up again. Released earlier this year under the Virgil Abloh Archive name, the Air Jordan x Virgil Abloh Archive 1 High OG 'Alaska' returned to the same deconstructed shape in white leather with translucent panels, exposed stitching and a lightly aged midsole. Its style code, AA3834-100, sits right next to the 'Chicago', which says a lot about how close it is to the original design. It is also the clearest sign that Abloh's Air Jordan 1 work is still being opened up.
Seen next to these four, a black and yellow pair would have been the odd one out, and that is exactly why it is interesting. The released pairs were choices, and the design process behind them was always wider than the shelves showed.
Off-White x Air Jordan 1 on KLEKT
There is no sign that the 'Black/Yellow' sample will ever go into production, and with so few pairs said to exist, it is unlikely to change hands often. The released pairs are a different story.
All four trade regularly on KLEKT. The 'Chicago' remains the most sought-after of the group, the 'White' and 'UNC' sit in between, and the 'Alaska' is the most accessible way into Abloh's Air Jordan 1 right now. Orders above a certain value go through KLEKT authentication before they are shipped on, which matters with shoes that have been copied as often as these.
For the wider picture, the full Off-White range on KLEKT covers the rest of Virgil Abloh's work with Nike and Jordan Brand, from The Ten to the Virgil Abloh Archive releases.
Check out the Off-White x Air Jordan 1 on KLEKT.
Images: ryancooper___ / Instagram, KLEKT
