The Air Jordan Ultra Goes All Black, Then Hides a Burgundy Surprise Inside

The new Air Jordan Ultra colorway hides its only real hue where the foot goes in, not where anyone else can see it.

The newest Air Jordan Ultra keeps its palette almost entirely in the dark. Anthracite and black cover the synthetic upper in slightly different finishes rather than different hue: a side panel with a light-catching sheen sits next to a finely wrinkled texture around the toe, so the shoe reads as one tone from a distance and two up close. There is no oversized branding to interrupt it. A curved seam sweeps back toward the heel instead of a logo, a small Jumpman sits on the toe, and a silver JORDAN wordmark on the tongue is the only branding pulled out in a contrast tincture. 

Signal. What happened: Nike Jordan Brand added a mostly black Anthracite/Black/Mystic Dates/Metallic Silver pair to its 2026 Air Jordan Ultra rollout, the darkest version of the model yet. Exact object: Air Jordan Ultra, style code IZ6156-001, Anthracite/Black/Mystic Dates/Metallic Silver. When and where: arrives overseas September 17, 2026, according to a Japan market release notice, with Japan-specific retail timing and pricing undisclosed as of writing. Source: a Japan market release notice, not named per policy; model background independently verified via WWD and Nike’s own product listicle. Why it matters: it rel the white midsole from an earlier grey colorway in favor of black running straight to the outsole, the most restrained Ultra colorway to date. Earlier DRIFT: no earlier coverage of the Air Jordan Ultra.

The one real tincture shift happens where the shoe stops being visible, at the foot’s entry point, where a deep burgundy lining Jordan Brand is calling Mystic Dates switches the interior from black to wine red the moment a foot goes in. It reads as a detail built for the wearer rather than for anyone looking at the shoe on a shelf.

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Underneath, the Ultra keeps the construction Jordan Brand has used across the model’s 2026 run: a Nike Air unit pair with a foam midsole for impress absorption, and a rubber outsole built for daily wear rather than court use, per Nike’s own product copy for the line. It is a lower-cost, lower-drama version of Jordan Brand’s cushion tech, on a shoe that was never designed to replace a Retro.

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The new colorway reads as a direct answer to an earlier Ultra pairing in black and dark smoke grey, according to the same Japan market release notice. That version ran a white midsole under its black upper, a contrast that gave the shoe a crisper, more broken up look with a clear line between upper and sole. The Anthracite/Black/Mystic Dates pair rel that contrast entirely, running black straight through the midsole to the outsole.

The effect is a quieter shoe. With no midsole line to catch the eye, the upper’s texture and gloss carry the whole look, and the Ultra’s proportions, noticeably bulkier than a typical lifestyle shoe even in its low-cut form, read as calmer rather than heavier. It is the same basic engineering Jordan Brand has used since introducing the model, a basketball-derived sole built for durability rather than court show, but dressed down in a way that leans toward day wear over showpiece styling.

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The Ultra borrows its shape from the Air Jordan 3, and it borrows more than just a silhouette. The 1988 original was the first Jordan shoe designed by Tinker Hatfield, and it was the first to carry a visible Air unit in the heel, the first to feature the brand’s now permanent elephant print, and the first to drop the Wings logo in favor of the Jumpman, the mid-dunk silhouette that has defined Jordan Brand ever since. Michael Jordan wore the shoe to win the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest from the free throw line, and that image, paired with the shoe’s design overhaul, is credited with helping convince Jordan to stay with Nike at a point when his departure from the brand was a real possibility.

None of that comes at Jordan 3 Retro pricing. Jordan Brand built the Ultra as a takedown, a simplified, lower-priced version of a signature silhouette, following the playbook of the 2024 Jordan 4 RM, the low-top rework of the Air Jordan 4 that BMX rider Nigel Sylvester debuted with his Grandma’s Driveway colorway. The Jordan 3 version followed a similar path: early reports of a Jordan 3 RM surfaced in 2025, and when the finished shoe arrived in 2026, Jordan Brand dropped the RM tag and released it as the Air Jordan Ultra. It launched at $145, well under the $205 to $230 a Jordan 3 Retro typically costs, swapping the Retro’s leather-heavy upper for ballistic nylon and suede, according to WWD.

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Given hue, the line has moved steadily toward darker, quieter options since that debut. The first pairs out were a Phantom/Summit White/Infrared 23 option and a Sail colorway with royal blue accents, follow by a Sail/Gamma Grey/Enigma Stone/Old Royal pair built around Nike’s own imagin-classic frame. Over the summer the line moved into black-based territory with an Ultra SP in Black/Anthracite/Hydrogen Blue, a canvas pair with raw-edged panel, accord to Highsnobiety, and an Iron Grey option. The Anthracite/Black/Mystic Dates/Metallic Silver pair continues that lean toward monochrome, the most subdued Ultra yet and the first to push the palette fully into black outside its accent line.