I’ve been going back and forth on these for the past two months and still haven’t made up my mind. Obviously, there is a lot of concern surrounding the price tag. The 1999 version of this sneaker retailed at $100.00. Fast forward about 13 years. Nike now plans to throw these on shelves as of February 18th and demand $160.00 per pair. Is inflation that much of a bitch? $160.00 for a sneaker with 1989 technology is asking a little much, no?
Secondly are the minor (major in my eyes) detail adjustments. As most people know, long gone are the days of the heralded “Nike Air” logo on the back of earlier Jordan retros. We’re now overwhelmed with jumpmen on the back of our favorite late 80’s-early 90’s J’s. I suppose I can live with the jumpman on the heel tab of the III, V, and VI. But for some reason it just doesn’t look right on the heel of any IV. Maybe it’s too bulky. Or it could be it suffers from the lack of the Air under it. I don’t know. All I do know is that it never belonged on the IV (or most other Jordans for that matter). 80’s babies agree with me.
Another obvious difference between the 1999 vs. 2012 is the shade of gray. The 2012 has more of a true cement color, which makes sense considering the name of the colorway. The 1999 had a “tech” gray which was on the lighter side. If I had to choose, I’d again have stick to the ’99 tech gray. My hope is that the above image and all other pre-release images are not how the final product will turn out. Wishful thinking I guess. These will be a game-time decision for me.
This will probably be one of the only pairs of kicks I cop all year if I decide to pull the trigger. I can’t handle the pace that Jordan Brand has been dictating for the past few years, releasing sneakers damn near every month for upwards of $160-200. The problem is the cycle will continue because Nike is making bank off these kids don’t hold back at all. I blame hip-hop 😛
This sneaker/colorway combo is in my top 5 as far as Jordan brand kicks go. A lot of sentimental value here. I can still visualize them worn by the older kids on the first day of school back in 1990. Never actually owned a pair until many years later and instead settled for a pair of maroon VIs from JCPenney in ’91. I’m sure a lot of people have their recent retros in rotation or stored away carefully somewhere. For those that don’t, the “Metallic Vs” retro once again tomorrow for a hefty $150 + tax (no tax on clothes in MA :P). Good luck to everyone.
Not really feeling these at all. Basically a continuation of the Fusion mess that I thought was nearly over. The patent all over the uppers is super tacky. Looks like black tap shoes. Would have been at least somewhat Space Jammish with more mesh. Whatever the materials, I would rather shell out an extra $250.00 for some crispy XI’s where the patent is actually done right.
My inability to pick up the True Blue when they released internationally two years ago coupled with the fact that this is probably the cleanest colorway in the III line had me jumping on these immediately. I’m glad I did too because these went pretty quickly on Nike.com. Quicker than I expected at least. The quality is right on par with the white/cements that dropped earlier in 2011, which is both good and bad. The one major bone I have to pick with this release is the pre-creasing, similar to the white cements. A leather pair of III’s is inevitably bound to crease. This is a task I like to accomplish myself through wearing, not upon opening my $150.00 deadstock pair. On the other end of the spectrum, my white/cements have held up well through a handful of casual wears. Besides the toebox everything is still pretty crispy. No midsole cracking/shipping/peeling. No yellowing of the back tab. A breeze to clean up. I’m pretty happy with them. I’m confident the True Blues will age similarly. Details:
Huge fan of the five. This colorway looks pretty clean. Hopefully the suede looks as good in person as it does in the pics that have been released thus far. I will be scooping via Nike.com. They ship for free with tracking and accept Paypal payments. Can’t pass that up.
Mazz made a post a few months back showing off the Obama AF1’s created by Van Taylor. Apparently Van’s design inspired another shoe customizer to create another Obama shoe, switching it up to the Nike Dunk. This time around sneaker artist TTK took on the theme and ended up with the pair above. Check his site for alternate views and more about the sneaker.
This is a pretty dope pair of decked out AF1’s by Sole Junkie designed to coincide with the critically acclaimed ‘Iron Man’ movie by Jon Favreau. I’ve yet to see the movie, but I wouldn’t mind having this fresh pair of forces displayed alongside other customs in a collection. Some notable features include the use of real 23K gold on Iron Man’s figure, and glow-in-the-dark tones on his eyes and armor. Big ups to Sole Junkie for the hotness. Other creations designed by him include a “Big L, Big Pun, B.I.G.” tribute AF1, Transformers inspired shoe, and a lot of Puertan Rican influenced kicks. Check his myspace page above to show love.
Damn Nike is pretty much killin the skateboard sneaker scene right now. These four styles are among the newest 6.0 releases dropping on June 1st. Clockwise from top left: Nike 6.0 Air Mogan (available in mid), Nike 6.0 Air Insurgent, Nike 6.0 Dunk Low, and Nike 6.0 Air Heist. All models available in a bunch of different looks and colors. Nike is throwing down a few SB models for June as well. The P. Rod 2 is lookin pretty hot too. Where you at DC? Check with your local skate shop starting in June for the Nike Summer line-up.
BigSteez 
