Jordan Brand will release three separate versions of the Air Jordan 11 starting November 5, 2026, anchoring a wider retail collection to mark the 30th anniversary of Space Jam.
Adult pairs of the core retro will retail for $235 when they reach global store shelves on December 12, 2026, leading the brand’s crucial year-end release window.
The collection revives the original 1996 movie partnership between Michael Jordan and Warner Bros. With both historical retros and redesigned footwear iterations. The headline retro recreates the traditional black patent leather cut with mesh uppers, incorporating Varsity Royal blue Jumpman embroidery on the lateral collar and tongue. It also restores the Jumpman Jam tongue script and features stitched number 23 branding on the heel, departing from the screen-printed numbers used in previous commercial runs.
New builds and technical fabrications
Two new designs sit alongside the classic silhouette. The Green Screen edition discards traditional patent leather for tonal green nubuck across the mudguard, paired with Tirrenina suede covering the midsole and inner lining. Designers added a translucent green outsole over bright orange pods that reference Bugs Bunny, packaging the model in a custom green box with film iconography.
A third model, titled Magic Ball, targets female consumers with sizing extending up to a men’s 12.5. The upper uses a four-way color-shifting finish modeled on the glowing basketball from the film, accented by metal Jumpman hardware and specialized box art featuring the antagonist Monstars.
“Knowing that it’s the 30th anniversary, knowing where the state of the footwear business is right now, we know we have to continue to deliver the best in class around our most coveted product,” Harvey said. “Especially with \[the significance\] of the [Air Jordan 11](https://wwd.com/tag/air-jordan-11/) in the holiday season. We can’t just release the OG and expect that 15-year-old kid to think that’s cool anymore. So we have to step into creative worlds where they are and bridge those generations.”
Apparel lines and exclusive runs
Terrance Harvey, Jordan global expert for Streetwear Footwear Product Management Icons, oversaw the line’s conceptual development. Alongside the footwear, the brand produced graphic heavy sportswear led by a varsity jacket decorated with sports card patches and a glossy long-sleeve Lola Bunny jersey. A separate laser-etched patent leather version of the sneaker was restricted to an internal run of 30 pairs for friends and family of Jordan Brand and Warner Bros.
Internal teams rejected earlier concept work that borrowed Galaxy print materials from the Nike Air Foamposite One line, choosing instead to focus strictly on original movie elements. Initial proposals for 12 character-specific colorways and a design referencing Jordan’s water bottle were similarly shelved during product testing.
Retail implications across Asian markets
For multibrand retailers and franchise operators across Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai, the Air Jordan 11 remains the most dependable single-day revenue driver of the fourth quarter. Expanding the release from a single retro into a three-shoe package gives retailers more inventory depth, but it also tests whether younger consumers outside North America share the same nostalgia for 1990s cinema tie-ins.
Jordan Brand faces rising competition across Asian department stores and specialty boutiques from technical running labels and domestic sportswear manufacturers. By layering experimental textiles and unisex sizing onto its most valuable legacy silhouette, the company is attempting to protect its allocation sell-through rates while guarding premium price tiers above the $200 mark.
Decade-long retro cadence
The mainline Space Jam shoe last appeared in December 2016 for the movie’s 20th anniversary, which featured Concord purple accents and number 45 stitched on the heel counter. The upcoming release returns to the blue detailing first introduced during the sneaker’s initial public retail launch in 2000.
Retail rollout begins November 5 with initial apparel and select footwear drops on the Nike digital ecosystem, before the Air Jordan 11 Retro Space Jam arrives at partner retailers worldwide on December 12.
