2019 All Star Black Infrared Air Jordan 6

[rainking]

Maybe 30-40 years ago Nike wasn't thinking they were going to release the same shoe every few years and the molds were lost?

But to be real, I can't think of a single Nike retro that has been able to maintain the same shape or details as the original release. And it's not just Nike/JB that has that problem.

It's absolutely, completely doable. It's just a matter of whether or not they care to do so. "Molds" being lost ... shoes (other than something like foamposites) aren't made from molds, though that's what loads of people on NT always refer to. It's a matter of lasts--the things shoes are built around--and patterns, dimensions etc. And with today's technology, it's not a big deal to recreate something. Nike has shown on a few releases what is capable of doing. As mentioned above, it's almost certainly a matter of money. At some point, for whatever reason, Nike made changes to the shoes for retro releases. Now it would have to go back and redo it again to correct the things we want to see corrected, which would take resources to accomplish. But from time to time, Nike does revise it: the recent OG Air Max 1 retro, the concords, etc. And they get pretty dang close to what it should be.

 

[atdizzle]

if KFC can keep their recipe top secret, nike can protect their molds. like sum1 said, its a matter of HOW much they care. kfc cares enough to do so. nike obv does not.

 

[perfectchaosrei]

i would wager that only a smalls subset of people who buy nike's/retros care. bad shape, good shape, terrible height, perfect height, color shade off, or tototally perfect, people will still buy retros if the colorway is popular enough.

 

[TURBO UNO]

I’m one of those who don’t care about the “shape”. As long as they don’t add “jumpman” logos where there were none, I’m good.

 

[tatayniDarna]

find it hard to imagine that a company like Nike who changed the industry and is worth billions couldn't recreate the same mold. thats like a drop in the bucket for them.


they can, but it's hardly worth their time. die hard sneaker heads represents such a tiny amount of their sales.

 

[tonytobacco]

I remember asking this question years ago and the response I was given was Nike never anticipated retroing any of their shoes. Even in 1994 when Nike first retroed The I, II, & III, the original molds were long gone (destroyed over time). Believe it or not the first Retros were considered a bust and most made it to clearance racks. From what I was also told was it cost a lot of money to make the molds and as time went on, Nike decided to go with more cost effective measures. This would explain why every Retro we get now even will differ from the previous Retro of the shoe.

The problem I have with this is

1; theres that one dude on instagram

2; Jordan seems to have no problem making new molds for new trash models, what's money in this equation?

They can break down an original shoe and simply trace the panels of the upper. Theres no real reason they cant do that. But the uppers arent the problem. The problem is the sole. None of the problems can be addressed without retooling the midsole/outsoles which I can tell hasnt been done in 20+ years. This is the part of the equation that the money occupies. Its abundantly clear that Nike/JB DOES NOT want to go back and re do the foundations because theyre too busy cashing in on the last investment in it. As of now theyre seeing damn near pure profit compared to what it would be to re do everything.

The problem is their sole retooling last time was trash on some models (Im looking at you 3s and 4s). They came out more bulky and chunky compared to the originals and everything spiraled out of control from there. Now we're seeing them try to force a rectangle through a round hole by gluing these OG inspired uppers to retro foundations. That's my conclusion to why they refuse to fix certain parts of some of the OG models. Because the wonky foundation throws off the dimensions of the upper that would create a weird imbalance if they went full OG on the upper.

Nothing costs more to Nike than making new foundations. That's also the reason BigBallerBrand Lonzos had to use a Brandblack foundation. They require a ton of units to be ordered to warrant manufacturing a new mid/outsole. Its by far the most costly part of the production. That's why we still havent seen a real OG remastered 9 yet. That reverse Jumpman is stamped into the rubber. Thanks for that, Gentry.

 

[headdetective]

Long story short....money

 

[TURBO UNO]

find it hard to imagine that a company like Nike who changed the industry and is worth billions couldn't recreate the same mold.

I still don’t understand why a big money maker like Nike...can’t make their shoes here in the USA? Other shoe companies do and they’re smaller.

 

[alchemist iq]

I still don’t understand why a big money maker like Nike...can’t make their shoes here in the USA? Other shoe companies do and they’re smaller.

They don’t wanna deal with unions is 1 of the reasons.

But they do manufacture air units you see on vapor max shoes here in the US.

 

[tonytobacco]

Long story short....money

That would imply they dont have enough to do it.

The correct answer is greed.

 

[ARK]

i would wager that only a smalls subset of people who buy nike's/retros care. bad shape, good shape, terrible height, perfect height, color shade off, or tototally perfect, people will still buy retros if the colorway is popular enough.

I think I’m the most outspoken person in the Air 180 thread. That retro is an abomination.

 

[TURBO UNO]

They don’t wanna deal with unions is 1 of the reasons.

But they do manufacture air units you see on vapor max shoes here in the US.

Ahh I see, makes sense. I guess we’ll forever have to deal with these ridiculous prices for old shoe designs

 

[perfectchaosrei]

if you're in the black/cement 4 thread, you've probably seen people *****ing about the shape, netting, height, rands, whatever whatever...but all those people will still buy a pair. and so will the millions of other people who want 4s. so where is the incentive to make major changes so that the shoe somehow is a 1:1 recreation of something that came out 30+ years ago?

 

[tonytobacco]

I was around for the era when Nike was out for the customer's respect and approval. They charged a premium but you felt like you were getting something for it because they valued the customer and had a clear agenda to push sneaker tech forward.

That spirit has turned into cutting corners and resting on laurels. Its just a money grab operation now. No real pride in putting out a great product. Unless its a super limited collab i guess. Nike shows that side of itself every blue moon with releases like the BB but it always feels more and more uninspired and cheap like their shoes are now. They got our respect a long time ago and now its just about collecting cash. It wont stop until the respect dips low enough to.

 

[tatayniDarna]

I still don’t understand why a big money maker like Nike...can’t make their shoes here in the USA? Other shoe companies do and they’re smaller.

decreased overhead= reduced rate and plan operations.


they seem to like spending a good chunk of operation costs on advertising, which is a brilliant part.

 

[headdetective]

That would imply they dont have enough to do it.

The correct answer is greed.

Money and greed go hand-and-hand.

I said money because they aren’t going to dip into their heavy profits to fix an issue that only us here at NT care about.

This equates to greed, which you’ve stated.

 

[tatayniDarna]

That would imply they dont have enough to do it.

The correct answer is greed.

its not just greed though.

they have a GOAT level marketing and they prefer to allocate operations costs over towards advertising.

 

[jc619er]

I think I’m the most outspoken person in the Air 180 thread. That retro is an abomination.

My GOD! That tongue. What the hell is going on there?

 

[rainking]

... but all those people will still buy a pair. and so will the millions of other people who want 4s. so where is the incentive to make major changes so that the shoe somehow is a 1:1 recreation of something that came out 30+ years ago?

Every time this overall subject comes up, there are people who say exactly what you just said. While on the surface this seems like solid reasoning and an entirely understandable explanation, it has one major flaw in particular. Smart businesses that want to be around forever and dominate forever but that cut corners and cheapen their legacy product do so at their long-term peril. Nike and Jordan might today seem untouchable, but one dissatisfied customer can turn to 10 to hundreds to thousands etc. I'm not saying I expect that to happen with Nike anytime soon. But it's risky for businesses to start taking their customers and market share for granted. 25 or so years ago, Ferrari almost went under because people finally got fed up with the crap cars it was producing and selling based solely on the prancing horse logo. Point is, it CAN happen, no matter how untouchable a brand might be at the moment.

 

[jc619er]

I agree with all of this, which is why I think JB had to finally go back to the NA and more "premium" materials, because they saw a lot of retros were sitting and Adidas was clawing themselves a foothold in the popular market. So let's see if in a few years from now JB will upgrade again.

 

[johnnyp2k12]

wouldn't it be less cost effective for nike to rebuild from scratch for retros?

 

[homer420]

Nvm

 

[Aquamanjay_]

Personally, I, Jalen(my name) have been through some stuff in the past month that has made some stuff not as important to Aquamanjay anymore. I appreciate every remastered shoe I have, and am extra grateful for the ones(Aqua 8s or Concords for example) that are almost OG copies. Basically, I’m apart of the crew who is just glad to have a classic with proper branding and colors(remastered 3s with every OG detail but shape and cut).

 

[Retrobossnyc]

These fit true to size?

 

[tonytobacco]

Personally, I, Jalen(my name) have been through some stuff in the past month that has made some stuff not as important to Aquamanjay anymore. I appreciate every remastered shoe I have, and am extra grateful for the ones(Aqua 8s or Concords for example) that are almost OG copies. Basically, I’m apart of the crew who is just glad to have a classic with proper branding and colors(remastered 3s with every OG detail but shape and cut).

Dont get me wrong, i like my collection and look forward to completing it with all of the black classics, its still fun to me. I thoroughly enjoy this hobby and coming here to talk about it with people who do too. Its a nice little escape from the things in life that make it not important. In my head, this is the safe zone from real life things with real life consequences. It would just be nice if Nike/JB would make some sort of genuine effort to do these things right. Not because of immediate gratification but because Id like to see them prosper in the future which in turn would keep this safe zone alive. At the end of the day Im worried about precisely what Rainking said.