Peter Moore, force in 1980s sneaker revolution, dies at 78
Peter Moore, who helped revolutionize sneaker culture in the mid-1980s with his design of the remarkably popular Nike Air Jordan, died April 29 in Portland, Ore. He was 78.
His wife, Christina, confirmed the death, in a hospital. She was not sure of the cause, she said, but noted that he had Parkinson’s disease and Ménière’s disease, a disorder of the inner ear.
Moore was part of a small group of Nike executives who began working with Michael Jordan shortly after he was chosen third overall in the 1984 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls out of the University of North Carolina. Their signature creation was the Air Jordan, a basketball sneaker that became a sales phenomenon soon after its release in 1985. Since then, there has been a new iteration every year (it’s up to XXX
VI), even after Jordan’s retirement in 2003, and the shoe has become a valuable collectible.
“It represents a watershed moment, bringing sneaker culture and sneaker interest to a broader audience,” Elizabeth Semmelhack, creative director at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto and curator of the 2013 exhibition “Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture,” said.
Moore designed the shoe with input from Jordan, who craved one that would be exciting and low to the ground so that he could feel the floor. One of its major features was a pocket of compressed air in its sole, to cushion impact.
But its colors — along with the Nike swoosh — were what truly made the shoe stand out.
“The idea was to break the color barrier in footwear,” Moore wrote in his book “Peter Moore: A Portfolio.”
“Prior to that, 99% of shoes were white or black, so I decided to design a shoe that would really take color well. And the colors were red, black and white.
“I didn’t pick those colors. That’s the colors of the Chicago franchise.”
According to Moore, Jordan was not happy with the red, black and white combination, calling it “the devil’s colors” because it was the color scheme worn by teams at longtime Tar Heels rival North Carolina State. He preferred the Carolina blue of his college.
But the three colors stuck, and Nike widely advertised the sneaker throughout Jordan’s rookie season, when he averaged 28.2 points a game and was voted rookie of the year. The shoe, made of premium leather, was released to stores in March 1985 in two variations — red, black and white (the “Game Shoe”), and red and black (“The Outlaw”) — and sold for $65 (the equivalent of about $175 today; Air Jordans are now listed at $185 on the Nike website).
Sales of the sneaker that first year totaled $126 million, far beyond Nike’s expectations, David Falk, Jordan’s agent, said.
The shoes were adorned with a logo that was also created by Moore: a winged basketball with the words “Air Jordan” arcing over it.
After four years at Nike, Moore teamed with Rob Strasser and his wife, Julie, in their consulting business, Sports Inc., which did extensive work with Adidas. It acquired the company in 1993, renaming it Adidas America. The company’s goal was to resuscitate the Adidas footwear and apparel brand.
Among his achievements with Adidas were the introduction of the EQT line of sneakers and sportswear, lauded for returning Adidas to its roots, and the creation of a new corporate logo that took the familiar three stripes that had adorned the sides of Adidas sneakers and redeployed them into the shape of a mountain. It is now Adidas’ primary logo.
He also signed Denver Nuggets rookie center Dikembe Mutombo to a signature shoe-and-apparel deal in 1992 and was involved four years later in Kobe Bryant’s deal with Adidas.