The Best Air Jordan 3s of All Time, Ranked

What are the best Air Jordan 3 colorways to ever release? We have the answers.

November 14, 2024

The tongue of the Air Jordan 3 'Black Cement,' the best Air Jordan 3 of all time

The Air Jordan 3 'Black Cement.' Via Nike

The Air Jordan 3 is an unimpeachable sneaker. It marked the start of a long partnership between the greatest basketball player of all time (if we’re talking footwear, Michael Jordan gets the nod over LeBron James) and the greatest sneaker designer of all time, Tinker Hatfield. The Air Jordan 8 came out in 1988, arriving at a crucial time: Jordan was considering leaving Nike, and the Jordan 3 was part of what convinced him to stay. But why is the Air Jordan 3 so popular? It brought his footwear down to a three-quarter cut, making the silhouette more palatable for everyday wear. It introduced elephant print, the crackled paneling bookending the shoes that went on to become an iconic pattern in Nike and Jordan design. It centered the Jumpman logo, putting Jordan’s silhouette on the tongue. It established Air Jordans as something separate from, and in some cases better than, regular Nike basketball shoes—where the Jordan 1 had siblings like the Nike Dunk and the Jordan 2 was clearly related to the Nike Air Python, the Air Jordan 3 stood on its own.

The popularity of the Jordan 3 has sustained through decades. It was one of the first Air Jordans to ever be retroed when it came back in 1994. It sparked the retro craze for Air Jordans at the turn of the century, and wearing a pair then, when sneaker collecting was still niche, was a signifier that you really cared about footwear. The AJ3 has been released in loads of colorways since its 1988 debut, some iconic and some forgettable. What are the best Air Jordan 3s?

We looked at the whole spectrum of Air Jordan 3 colorways and whittled them down to the 15 best pairs ever released. Note that we’re talking only about pairs that were released here—player exclusives, samples, and those unreleased “We the Best” DJ Khaled collabs do not count. Also consider that we’re giving more weight in these rankings to the Air Jordan 3s that Jordan wore, which just mean more than the retros. What is the most popular Air Jordan 3? That’s more difficult to quantify without hard sales numbers—we’d again point toward one of the original color combos—but this list isn’t totally about that. This is about the most important, the pairs that looked the best then and now, and the ones that people still talk about and covet. These are the best Air Jordan 3 colorways of all time.

15. Vogue x Air Jordan 3

Year Released: 2018
The aesthetics of a hypothetical Vogue x Air Jordan 3 were something that few people probably ever imagined prior to its 2018 launch. If we ever had though, it should have basically been this. The Chanel-style tweed upper is both subtle and opulent, and features legendary editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s signature “AWOK” sign-off on the heel. It’s one of the most unique treatments we’ve seen on an Air Jordan 3, without coming across as loud or gaudy; it works in both the black and red-based colorways. It would have been very easy for a fashion-themed Air Jordan 3 to go terribly wrong, but this women’s exclusive did things right, paying homage to both the publication and sneaker. There are so many good Air Jordan 3 colorways that have emerged over the years that are just simply good colorways, it’s hard to stand out, but Vogue’s collaboration did just that. —Zac Dubasik

14. Air Jordan 3 'Black Cat'

Year Released: 2007
There’s a huge drop off from “Black Cat” 4s to “Black Cat” 3s. Let’s just say that up top. Not even in the same ballpark. With that said, this is not a bad shoe, either. First released in 2006, the “Black Cat” 3s came out alongside the “Pure Money” 3s. The yin to their yang. On release day, people walked around malls with one pair on each foot. At the time, maybe the “Pure Money” was slightly more popular, but as time has gone on, triple black Jordans have skyrocketed in popularity. You can thank JLP for that. “Black Cat” 3s aren’t as good as the 4s mainly because the patent leather on them doesn’t make them look as smooth. And the cement print is a little off. But all in all, still a good shoe. —Matt Welty

13. Air Jordan 3 JTH

Year Released: 2018
When Justin Timberlake was announced as the halftime act for Super Bowl LII, few could have imagined the basketball sneaker storytelling that would come out of the performance. But there Timberlake was, onstage debuting a Swoosh-embellished Air Jordan 3. The sneaker was based on an original sketch of the shoe’s designer, Tinker Hatfield, and brought to life with the help of Timberlake—hence the “JTH” naming with their shared initial. The sneaker dropped that night on the SNKRS app, and at select stops on Timberlake’s Man of the Woods tour, with a reported only 5,200 pairs in existence. Did the connection totally make sense? Probably not, but it made for a memorable sneaker moment, and helped bring to light a piece of Air Jordan history that was worthy of unearthing. —Zac Dubasik

12. Air Jordan 3 'Black History Month'

Year Released: 2011
I love this shoe. The “Black History Month” 3s are everything that the “Black Cat 3s” aren’t. I remember when these came out in 2011. They were pretty limited at the time and they were gone before you realized they released. They’re subtle but get a lot done: mostly black shoe, gold accents, including the Jumpman on the tongue. The standout element of the shoe, however, is the cement print. It’s not a standard print that you’d find on a pair of Jordan 3s, instead it was made to represent Black History Month. It’s the small details that matter. And overall the shoe just looks great. —Matt Welty

11. Air Jordan 3 'UNC'

Year Released: 2020
These aren’t the UNC Air Jordan 3s, but they’re as close as the public will get to the real thing. The actual Jordan 3 player exclusives made for the University of North Carolina, Michael Jordan’s alma mater, featured the school’s logo on the tongue. Released in 2020, this GR pair of UNC 3s still got a lot of attention. It came out just at the tail end of the era of collegiate PE Air Jordan hype. It was a pair the public could actually own without spending $20,000. That concept has since been kind of run into the ground, but the UNC colorway was done just right. Also, it’s a 3, it looks great, and it has that legit connection to MJ himself. When these came out, they were a big deal. And they’ve held their value, something a lot of hype retros fail to do. —Matt Welty

10. Air Jordan 3 'Seoul'

Year Released: 2018
This Korean-inflected Air Jordan 3 just barely qualifies for this list as it’s one of those shoes that technically did release, if only in super limited numbers. The storytelling on the shoe isn’t totally necessary—the 2018 design was supposedly prompted by the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Olympics Games—but the design stands on its own. Credit for that goes to Dan Sunwoo, a Nike employee who brought the Taegeukgi palette and covert Korean text to this classic silhouette. Even with all the Korean flavor aside, it’s a super clean Air Jordan 3 that splits the difference between the beloved original “Fire Red” and “True Blue” colorways. —Brendan Dunne

9. J Balvin x Air Jordan 3

Years Released: 2023, 2024
There’s a sentiment that an AJ3 is a cheat code when it comes to collaborations. There may be some truth to that idea, but at the same time, just because an iconic sneaker has been reimagined by a famous collaborator doesn’t mean the result can’t still be great. J Balvin’s two takes on the Air Jordan 3 prove just that. The toned-down elephant print combined with the rainbow gradients make the shoes simultaneously more subtle and more interesting, all while paying tribute to Balvin’s hometown of Medellín, Colombia. The design is unmistakably Balvin; it feels special and unique, and true to his aesthetic, but it’s still wearable enough that it doesn’t come across as trying too hard. In other words, it does exactly what a good collab should do. —Zac Dubasik

8. Air Jordan 3 'Doernbecher'

Years Released: 2010, 2013
Nike’s Doernbecher projects, the limited-edition charity shoes designed by patients at the OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon, are easy to root for. They push the boundaries of acceptable colorways and tasteful design, throwing out convention and letting kids who aren’t burdened by expectations of what a shoe should look like imagine what it could look like. If Jordan Brand did a shoe like this on its own, an Air Jordan 3 with a bright red upper and diamond pattern, it wouldn’t make much sense. But place it in the hands of Doernbecher patient Cole Johanson, who was diagnosed with lymphoma, and it works. The design includes nods to his favorite foods (spaghetti and chocolate) hidden behind the heeltabs and calls out the qualities that helped him in his battle (strength and courage) on the insoles. —Brendan Dunne

7. A Ma Maniére x Air Jordan 3

Year Released: 2021
What a beautiful shoe, no other way to put it. The A Ma Maniére x Air Jordan 3 was a groundbreaking project in many ways. It was the first Air Jordan that A Ma Maniére owner James Whitner’s mom bought him back in the day, and it was also his first crack at a retro Air Jordan. The shoe helped tell the story of all the powerful women in Whitner’s life. It was a women’s Air Jordan release that men could wear, too. It had the Nike Air on the heel tab and took the traditional cement print and swapped it for a more premium suede. Yellowed midsole. Purple hits on the heel. White tumbled leather on the upper. It’s an elevated version of the Air Jordan 3 without trying too hard. The sneaker release gave early access to women, too, something that was applauded by the sneaker community. We named the sneaker as Sneaker of the Year for 2021, and no one really disagreed. Amongst the best Air Jordan 3s of all time, number seven is an impressive feat. —Matt Welty

6. Air Jordan 3 'Mocha'

Years Released: 2001, 2018
It might be hard to believe from the vantage point of 2024, where the retro Air Jordan market is flooded with colorways for every silhouette that don’t at all overlap with what Michael Jordan actually wore, but there was a time when Air Jordans mostly came in Chicago Bulls colors. This version of the Air Jordan 3 debuted in 2001, when all that was changing. It was among the first batch of Jordans to try out new lifestyle colorways, letting Jordan’s most celebrated sneakers veer into earthy tones and more muted palettes. It wasn’t that celebrated when it first came out—people were still eating up the original colorways—but became a prized sneaker in the decade afterward, a niche choice that indicated the wearer was willing to zig and zag. —Brendan Dunne

5. Air Jordan 3 'Cool Grey'

Years Released: 2007, 2021
When the “Cool Grey” AJ3 dropped in 2007, the retro Jordan landscape looked a lot different than it does now. We saw where it was heading, but non-OG colorways were still a bit of a novelty, and rarely hyped like an original. In fact, the “Mocha” 3 was the only non-original version of the model that had dropped at that point, and even that shoe didn’t stray terribly far from the original formula. The “Cool Grey” look itself wasn’t necessarily new—it first showed up on a 2001 release of the Air Jordan 11, followed by an Air Jordan 9 in 2002, and an Air Jordan 4 in 2004. But there was no convoluted story, no tie-in to an obscure moment from Michael Jordan’s past, it just looked good in a lifestyle setting that the brand was embracing more and more. It was a colorway that really seemed different and special at the time, and has held up over the years, as evidenced by the success of its 2021 retro. —Zac Dubasik

4. Air Jordan 3 'True Blue'

Years Released: 1988, 2001, 2009, 2011, 2016
The “True Blue” Air Jordan 3 is unique for a number of reasons. For one thing, it’s the only non-Bulls-based original colorway of the Air Jordan 3. The Air Jordan 1 came out in a multitude of different looks, but the Air Jordan 2 was only originally available in variations of white, red, and black. The 3 returned to alternate looks, and stood out at the time. Then there’s the fact that Michael Jordan did wear the shoe for an NBA game, but it wasn’t when he was with the Bulls. In addition to a 1988 exhibition game between NBA stars and Team USA, Jordan famously laced up the “True Blue” 3 during his time on the Washington Wizards. Jordan Brand even released a remixed version of the “True Blue” 3 in 2023 with bronze hits replacing the red to honor Jordan’s final NBA run. —Zac Dubasik

3. Air Jordan 3 'Fire Red'

Years Released: 1988, 2007, 2013, 2022
The ”Fire Red” Air Jordan 3 might be one of the “worst” of the original Air Jordan 3s from 1988, but it’s still an elite sneaker. It’s tough to beat “Black Cements” or “White Cements,” so you can’t really hold it against the “Fire Red.” My first interaction with this shoe was via its retro in 2007. The last pair on the wall was my size at the Finish Line in Manchester, New Hampshire. But there was a pen mark on the shoe, so I didn’t buy it. It still haunts me. The “Fire Red” Jordan 3 is a piece of history. It’s not like later shoes, a la the Military Blue 4, or earlier ones like the “Royal” 1s that Jordan never wore in the NBA. He wore these on the court in 1988 as he bounced back from an ankle injury early in his career. The colorway goes perfectly with the Chicago Bulls uniforms, too. It’s just that the other two colorways of original 3s go perfectly with everything. With that said, being the third best 3 isn’t a bad thing at all. —Matt Welty

2. Air Jordan 3 'White Cement'

Years Released: 1988, 1994, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2018 (clear sole), 2023
There can only be one number-one shoe, and the “White Cement” Air Jordan 3 was this close. It even has the most famous on-court moment of any Air Jordan 3, albeit not during an actual game. The free throw line dunk from the 1988 NBA Slam Dunk Contest is amongst Jordan’s most recognizable highlights, and played a huge role in the legend of the Air Jordan line. The White Cement 3s have returned many times since their ’88 introduction—first in 1994 with their original “Air Jordan” heel branding, followed by Jumpman versions in 2003 and 2011, a true-to-original “’88” style in 2013, a clear-soled “Free Throw Line” variation in 2018, and most recently the subtly pre-yellowed “Reimagined” pair from 2023. And each and every time (excluding the first, when the retro concept was still ahead of its time), they were met with open arms. Not even the expected complaints by purists, social media trolls, and grumpy OGs could slow down retro after retro. It just doesn’t look quite as cool as the black-based version, and sometimes that’s what it comes down to when we’re talking about shoes that are this iconic. —Zac Dubasik

1. Air Jordan 3 'Black Cement'

Years Released: 1988, 1994, 2001, 2008, 2011, 2018, 2024
This is the one. We’ll leave a little room for debate—if you like the white pair better, we get it. But the original “Black Cement” colorway of the Air Jordan 3 is the best as far as we can tell. You’d be foolish to put a non original colorway on top; the most powerful Jordans are always the originals, and the Jordan Brand is at its best when it’s celebrating the heat that Michael Jordan actually wore. And among the four original colorways, the “Black Cement” pair is at the top. It’s slightly less colorful than the “True Blue” and “Fire Red,” which makes it more versatile. It’s been released a total of seven times if you count the pair dropping this month, which proves how beloved it is. Why is it better than its close relative, the “White Cement”? It just looks better. It’s been more impressed in our collective memory in the decades since its original release. The black colorway is sleeker and sharper than the gleaming white. The same goes for most of the duos of black and white versions of original Air Jordan. More than anything else, the “Black Cement” Air Jordan 3 is a perfect sneaker (as long as it has the “Nike Air” on the back). —Brendan Dunne