Some athletes leave us with unforgettable images—but they’re not always tied to athletic feats, victories, or defeats. Sometimes, all it takes is a walk.
Barcelona, summer 1992: Michael Jordan, His Airness, strolls through a crowd wearing an undeniably bold outfit. An oversized t-shirt and matching shorts, entirely covered in a multicolored geometric pattern, a design that screamed ‘90s and immediately brought to mind the style of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Photos of that walk quickly circled the globe, and that pattern was instantly dubbed the “Ugly Sweater,” a nod to the iconic look of vintage holiday knitwear.
That outfit perfectly summed up who Michael Jordan was at the time: an athlete who had already changed the game on the court, and who was now beginning to make waves off it as well, with looks that blended sporty energy with classic, never overdone, lines.
But the fame of the “Ugly Sweater” print didn’t stop there. Just one year later, it resurfaced in a McDonald’s Super Bowl commercial featuring Michael Jordan and Larry Bird in a legendary one-on-one, and guess what MJ is wearing? The very same shirt seen in Barcelona.
The “Ugly Sweater” print became so iconic that it continues to thrive today, some of you might even have it in your closet. That same summer of 1992, Jordan took the court with the Dream Team, which dominated the Barcelona Olympics—wearing the brand-new Air Jordan 7s.
Designed by Tinker Hatfield, the AJ7s are among the most artistic of all Jordans: no Nike logo, no visible Air technology, just the “Ugly Sweater” pattern peeking out from the tongue. The original model featured number 23 on the heel and would accompany Jordan through the 1992–93 NBA season. But a special Olympic edition was also released, in patriotic red, white, and blue, featuring number 9, the number MJ wore during the Games.
Since then, dozens of Air Jordan 7 versions have hit the market, including the standout 2015 Air Jordan 7 Retro “Sweater” which gave the Ugly Sweater pattern even more visibility—not just on the tongue, but across the upper, in vibrant contrast with white leather.
There’s also a great fun fact tied to this legendary pattern. In the original launch commercial for the Air Jordan 7, Michael appeared alongside his animated partner-in-crime, Bugs Bunny. The ad, titled “Hare Jordan,” was part of a duo of Super Bowl campaigns—along with “Aerospace Jordan”—that Nike created for the 1992 and 1993 games. For Warner Bros., this was an experiment of sorts, meant to gauge whether Bugs Bunny was still loved by audiences.
That the experiment succeeded is clear—not only from the ads’ popularity, but from what followed: the cinematic release of Space Jam a few years later.
In short, the stories born from the Ugly Sweater print worn so effortlessly by His Airness on the streets of Barcelona more than thirty years ago are many, and we never get tired of them. The proof? An upcoming release of the Jordan Fadeaway Golf Bag in the Ugly Sweater colorway. A golf bag that closes a circle—or perhaps opens endless new possibilities, for a pattern we’ll never grow tired of.
Just like Michael Jordan.
