HELD NO PUNCHES

Jordan Brand amazes me with its sustainability. It’s been in high demand mostly with youths since 1985. I cant think of another brand that has lasted that long and have MANY generations of people follow it. This brand has had people waking up for almost 3 full decades and camping out for its product. From a marketing stand point this just drills in my head that Nike was always genius. After the NBA fined Michael Jordan everytime he wore his shoes in a game the controversy sparked everyones interest and the rest is history. After creating a new shoe every year, then retroing, then releasing in limited quantities..Air Jordan became a monster brand. Its even more crazy that most of the consumers of the sneaker dont even play basketball! I think of Jordans as part of a culture, it was always cool to have them and come to school with the latest pair and have the cleanest ones. Jordans were and still are a sign of status. Now its more of what OGs you have or what year your retros are from. No matter what the year is, Jordan still has a crazy following even for people that have NEVER seen Michael Jordan actually play. I remember going to the Space Jam release in 2009 for my brother in law and the kids online had their mothers and most of them were probably in the age range on 13-17. I was shocked and honestly I get annoyed, but who am I to judge someone that knows nothing about the history and only gets them to look cool in school. We all do it, otherwise whats the point of paying over $200 on some older retros, limited edition or some OGs? I remember Jordan playing slightly, my uncle was the biggest Bulls fan, but I just remember Jordan being such a huge icon in the mainstream while I was growing up. And the championship games mann thats what I remember the most. I could never forget the excitement and i distinctly remember when he tried playing baseball then went back to the NBA and won three championships, I was 5-9 those years. I remember my brother, uncle and older cousins alwwwwayyyys having jordans and I wanted them so bad. They al played basketball but honestly, i doubt they ever played in them, shoot most people had/have beaters to play in and a fresh pair to rock. Like I said..its a culture. The exclusivity is what attracts people in our culture to it, we always want to one up one another. I’m a victim and I freely admit it. I can get a little uppity when it comes to my sneakers not even going to lie.

If Nike would have kept Jordans under their sole control, this mass marketing wouldn’t have happened and I’m sure of it. Just look at Nike SB, they are still in high demand, hard to get and the limited release of these shoes are what keep them so “sacred” if i dare to call it. (I did hear they might start retroing shoes though smh) I feel like Jordan Brand sold out with the mass production. Part of the culture was going out, waiting on lines, then ordering online and SCOWERING the Internet for the best price via eBay or any of the sneaker web sites. I also remember there was a HUGE market for buying/selling/flipping sneakers around 2005-2008 now…not so much.

Nowadays people wear team Jordan and all these Jordans with these crazy colors, I think they even have pink now, and they think that because they have them they are HOT STUFF. People do ask me whats the difference, they are all Jordan right? I think the difference would be the knowledge of the brand and culture that comes along with it. I think when Air Jordans became Jordan Brand and no longer under full control of Nike, thats when the brand started to decline. I see these god awful fusions, and spizikes and all these crazy colors now, its purely marketed to teenyboppers, kids that wear ultra tight pants, females that probably wear them with matching plastic belts and people that just wear them because they are “Jordan”. I’d say the culture is dying out because of this type of marketing, nothing can last forever but there are still MANY people that still love their Air Jordans and are enthusiastic about them. Times are a changing though, well at least my generation is starting to grow up and converting to new types of SHOES not sneakers.

I have also started to wear my sneakers less but I still rock from time to time. I dont show it much but GODDDD I LOVE when people break their neck to look at my shoes to this day! Especially because I’m a female, makes it 100 times sweeter.