From WIKI
"Air Jordan XI
Air Jordan XI - Space Jam colorway
The Air Jordan XI model was designed by Tinker Hatfield. While Jordan was still pursuing a career in baseball, Hatfield designed the shoe in hopes that Jordan would eventually wear it if he returned to the NBA.
The Jordan XI was meant to stand out with a fusion of performance and style. Copying mountaineering backpacks, the condura nylon upper gave the Air Jordan XI model lightweight durability. Further changes came with the use of a carbon fiber plate on the sole of the shoe, that can be seen underneath the clear outsole, which gave the shoe improved torsional rigidity. The most visually distinct aspect of the shoe was its shiny patent leather mid and toebox. Patent leather was lightweight, when compared to genuine leather, and also tended not to stretch as much - a useful property to help keep the foot within the bounds of the shoebed during direction changes on the court. The shiny leather gave the XI what some described as a "formal" look - a fact that many owners of the shoe took advantage of thereafter, pairing the shoe off the court with business suits in substitution for dress shoes. Boyz II Men wore black and white Air Jordan XI shoes with white suits at one of their concerts.
These sneakers were "sampled" during the playoffs of the year of Jordan's first return (1995). Designer Tinker Hatfield and Nike did not want Michael Jordan playing in them, however, when the sample was completed, Jordan saw it, took it, and said he wanted to wear the shoe. Nike and Hatfield hoped that he would not wear it during the playoffs against Orlando, however, when they tuned in for the game, Ahmad Rashad was holding the shoe for the cameras explaining that they were the "newest" Air Jordan. Hatfield and Nike were highly upset as the shoe was not even in production, and now they would be forced to produce it for the masses. Also to note, Jordan was in violation of the league dress code by wearing the shoes,as his teammates wore all black sneakers. He was then fined $5,000 for not respecting the Bulls colorway policy. After the fining, Nike made him a pair of the shoes in a black/white/concord colorway for the series against Orlando. Jordan also wore this colorway in the movie Space Jam. A similar black/white/royal blue colorway was released to the public at the end of 2000. The colorway was changed for the public release because the concord purple had looked like royal blue on TV.
Jordan wore the Air Jordan XI model to help the Chicago Bulls claim the 1995-1996 NBA championship. The shoes received more media exposure when Michael Jordan wore the Air Jordan XI model in the 1996 Warner Bros. animated movie "Space Jam". These shoes were eventually released in 2000 and re-retro'd in 2009 with the nickname "Space Jams". The concord purple was changed to royal blue for the released versions of the shoe.
Another version of the XI's was released on December 23, 2010 called the "Cool Grey" which he wore with the Wizards. On December 23rd, 2011 the retro release of the XI Concord Edition hit stores to incredible fanfare. Websites like Nike.com reportedly crashed within minutes of the online midnight release. Stores saw individuals waiting in line upwards of days to get their hands on a pair and many people were arrested and pepper-sprayed due to unruly behavior in the waiting crowds. Sites like eBay have shoes up for auction going for as much as $2000/pair. Speculation is abound that there might be a release of "Columbias" in 2012 which feature a mainly white shoe with white patent leather along with a "Carolina Blue" jumpman logo."
).
