Air Jordan 12 Retro 'Reverse Flu Game' CT8013-602

Air Jordan 12 Retro ‘Reverse Flu Game’ — The Inverted Legend: Flipping the Color Architecture of the Most Storied AJ12 Colorway Ever Made

• The original ‘Flu Game’ AJ12 is the most narratively charged sneaker in Jordan Brand history — the shoe Michael Jordan wore during Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz, despite being severely ill with what was described as flu-like symptoms, and in which he scored 38 points to deliver a defining championship moment that cemented both the shoe and the performance as permanent fixtures in basketball mythology. The original colorway was built on a black-dominant architecture with red accent detailing. The ‘Reverse Flu Game’ inverts that relationship entirely, swapping the primary and secondary roles of the original’s two-color system to create a colorway whose visual weight is fundamentally different from its source material while remaining legible as a direct reference to it. The result is a colorway that carries the narrative authority of the original Flu Game while presenting an independently striking color story that reads on its own terms
• Premium full-grain leather upper with the AJ12’s signature quilted paneling — the silhouette’s most distinctive construction detail, a stitched diamond-pattern that references Tinker Hatfield’s Rising Sun flag design concept and provides the structural rigidity that made the AJ12 one of the most ankle-supportive high-tops of the mid-1990s, rendered here in the ‘Reverse Flu Game’ colorway’s inverted palette
• Inverted Flu Game color architecture — the ‘Reverse Flu Game’ takes the original colorway’s two-color system and reassigns the dominant and accent roles, creating a palette whose relationship to the source material is immediately readable while producing a visual result that is distinct from and more chromatically assertive than the original build
• Embroidered Jumpman logo on the tongue — the Jordan Brand heritage mark rendered in a tone consistent with the ‘Reverse Flu Game’ colorway’s inverted palette, anchoring the shoe within Jordan Brand’s championship legacy while maintaining the colorway’s distinct visual identity
• High-top ankle collar with internal support system — the AJ12’s defining structural element, a padded and reinforced collar construction that provides lateral stability and ankle lockdown consistent with the shoe’s mid-1990s performance engineering, retained faithfully in the Retro build
• Lace-lock eyelet system with the AJ12’s signature two-tone lacing architecture — a design detail rendered in tones consistent with the ‘Reverse Flu Game’ colorway’s inverted palette, contributing to the shoe’s layered color story while providing the adjustable lockdown that complemented the AJ12’s high-top support structure during play
• Reverse Flu Game–specific interior details — inner lining and insole elements that carry the colorway’s inverted palette into the shoe’s interior, creating a build whose color story extends beyond the visible external construction to the surfaces only the wearer experiences
• Solid rubber outsole with the AJ12’s herringbone traction pattern — the court-performance geometry carried through from the original 1996 build, rendered in a tone consistent with the ‘Reverse Flu Game’ colorway’s palette and providing the multidirectional grip that made the AJ12 a performance standard during Jordan’s fourth championship run

Comfort & Fit

• Full-length Air-Sole unit for responsive, all-day cushioning with the AJ12’s characteristically substantial underfoot feel
• Padded high-top collar and tongue for superior ankle support and a secure, locked-in fit
• True-to-size fit; the AJ12’s structured build runs true with a slightly narrow feel in the midfoot

Product Info

• Style Code: CT8013-602
• Silhouette: Air Jordan 12 Retro
• Colorway: ‘Reverse Flu Game’ (Inverted palette of the original 1997 Flu Game AJ12)
• Available in Men’s sizes 7–13 and Women’s sizes 5–10