CNBC special report: Swoosh! Inside Nike

That first season started out with a bang when NBA Commissioner David Stern banned Air Jordans. Its colors didn’t match the league’s dress code and Stern fined Jordan for wearing them.

In typical renegade fashion Nike paid the fine — and then marketed the fact by reminding customers in ads that “the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.”

People wanted the shoes worn by the kid who could fly through the air and was averaging 28 points a game. Sales moved almost as fast as he did.

“It was like election night,” said Vacarro. “Like, who’s buying what? Oh, my God, they sold 100 pair of shoes in Pittsburgh, yesterday. They sold 400 pair of shoes in New York City. That’s the way it was like. An election day count.”

Since 1988, most Air Jordans have sprung from the creative partnership of Jordan and former architect-turned-shoe-designer, Tinker Hatfield.

“Where (Jordan) has been really good over the years is that he always asks the question, ‘Will the best players in the world be able to play in this shoe? Will I be able to play in this shoe?’” said Hatfield. "It ultimately boils down to what I call the romance of trying to draw out something unique from the athlete, from the personality, from the relationship.”

Jordan says that the attraction was mutual.

"It’s like a romance, he said. "Once you fall in love, it’s hard not to fall in love with the person who brings you the most joy. It was like a marriage in a sense that he knew what I was thinking a lot of times. I knew what he was thinking a lot of times.”

Designing an Air Jordan often begins with a simple idea.The version known as “Eleven” was Jordan’s tribute to formal wear when he pushed Hatfield for a toe piece so shiny it looked like patent leather.

"'You just wait,' (Jordan said). 'This shoe’s going to be worn by somebody with a tuxedo,’’ said Hatfield.

Sure enough, Jordan’s prediction came true: R&B stars Boyz II Men soon showed up at a music awards event in tuxedos wearing shiny new Nikes. And Jordan says he had nothing to do with it.

But along with the style and popularity of Air Jordans came an industry-high price tag of more than $100 a pair. In the late 1980s, there were muggings — even murders — over the shoes.

“It’s certainly been sad about the fact that people would harm one another just for material purposes, to get a pair of shoes,” said Hatfield. “That’s always been a sort of sad commentary about culture. And I never once felt like I was the cause of it.”

When CNBC visited Nike’s Beaverton, Ore., headquarters the company was throwing everything it had at the release of its latest Air Jordan — the Air 23. The focus is the NBA All-Star game Feb. 16 in New Orleans. CNBC got an advance look at the design, which sports Jordan's fingerprint — "slightly modified so that no one could actually use his thumbprint for anything,” said Hatfield.

The shoes feature earth-friendly materials and stitching where other versions use adhesives.

"Personally, I think that it’s the most beautiful product that I’ve ever worked on,” said Hatfield.

Early indications are that Nike fans agree. Customers eagerly recently waited for the new sneakers’ limited release outside a New York City shoe store in 25-degree weather. Some had been in line for five days.

So how long can this go on? How long can Jordan and Nike continue to create the most successful shoes in all of sports?

“I look forward to it lasting another 23 years,” said Jordan.

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