The Air Jordan XVIII (18) is near the top of the list of sleek Air Jordans. Mike went out in style in this one-piece upper that featured a smooth lace cover, ankle vents and a geometrically-patterned midsole. As with all beautiful sneakers, this one took some time to build and apparently didn’t always look like the released version. Have a look at this Air Jordan XVIII sample in a colourway that’s essentially the same as the original black leather ‘Away’ pair. Obvious differences include the omission of the ankle vent, a sharper upper ridge on the midsole and perhaps most conspicuously, a stitch down the middle of the toe. Now, what’s interesting to find after the jump is that there are actually two different samples, so you can see how the design progressed, adding tiny features like a Jumpman inside the toe’s twisted infinity symbol. Would you have chosen either of these versions over the final production model? via Kenlu