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Nike has never changed the Air Jordan, their best-selling shoe since it was launched in 1985 -- named after the NBA’s best player of all time: Michael Jordan.

Until now. The sneaker didn’t just get a new look -- oh no. Air Jordans are now… green!

That’s right. The new line of Air Jordan XX3’s are nearly completely free of chemical based glues and adhesives, and boast an outsole made entirely from recycled materials. The shoe is apparently geared toward both environmentalists and jocks -- two demographics that are not often paired together in marketing strategies.

The decision to release a greener version of the Air Jordanis both bold and risky. The Air Jordan line has generated an estimated $7 billion in sales since it was first introduced 23 years ago. Consumers who purchased Jordans hoped to both improve their basketball game by channeling the skills of the shoe’s namesake, and, perhaps more importantly, look cool. So, will a new generation o fprospective wearers of the Air Jordan XX3 be put off by its eco-friendly design? Will they even care? Or will they like it even better?

The difficulty in marketing an athletic shoe as eco-friendly is being able to convey that the XX3 will be able to withstand the rigors of the game of basketball just as well as any other shoe on the market. Even Michael Jordan himself, while he is enthusiastic about supporting a green version of his classic shoe, was initially skeptical about the product’s durability. “It better work right,” he warned Nike designers.

Time will tell if the Air Jordan’s new, green image will help or hinder its status in the world of modern basketball shoes. Either way, Nike has made a clear statement about the future of shoe design, and the need to incorporate green manufacturing processes into the mainstream. We’ll see if the XX3 will inspire a new generation of consumers to “Be Like Mike.”