We barely finished cataloguing our best sneakers of 2024, and Jordan Brand is already out here announcing major heat for 2025. The Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Chicago’–one of the most beloved retro Js–is set to make a long-awaited comeback over the holiday season next year.
The original Air Jordan, introduced in 1984 during Michael Jordan’s rookie season, was a red-white-and-black high-top that immediately changed sports sneakers forever. Although it’s been released—and re-released and re-released—in about a million different iterations since then, that very first edition, now known as the ‘Chicago,’ remains arguably the silhouette’s single-most desirable colorway. When the ‘Chicago’ returned in December 2022 as the limited-edition ‘Lost and Found’ colorway, it sold out in seconds and became one of the year’s most sought-after resale shoes—and then it repeated the trick with a surprise restock a few months later.
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These days, while the Air Jordan 1 High remains the GOAT, the rise in popularity of low-top sneakers has allowed the Air Jordan 1 Low—long an easier-to-acquire alternative to its OG older brother—to attain similar levels of hype. In fact, several recent AJ1 Lows—including the ‘Barons,’ ‘Orcas,’ and ‘Mochas’—all rank among the hottest sneaker releases of 2024.
What do you get when you combine the most iconic Jordan 1 colorway ever with the most hyped silhouette currently on the market? The Air Jordan 1 Low ‘Chicago’ was already popular as it was when it last released in 2016, but it’s poised to take the sneaker world by storm this time around. The shoe will no doubt be insanely hard to cop when it finally drops next winter—not least because it has an entire year to build even more anticipation before then. You’d better start writing to Santa now.
The Air Jordan 1 Low “Chicago” is due to hit Nike, the SNKRS app, and select retailers in late 2025 for $140.
