Yep, they released the two main colors in 1994 and then they sat. And sat. And sat.
I vividly recall stacked box pyramids in front area of Footlocker
At less than $50 clearance. Good times.
I wouldn't doubt that because the retro market wasn't huge yet.
Same thing happened with the 1's and 2's.
JB was dropping nothin but OG classics and cats took it for granted.
Now we get an OG every now and then, but we gotta suffer through a million throwaways beforehand
The hype wasn't there back then I believe.
That's their strategy with saturating the market with useless colorways, and people do buy them unfortunately to feed the hype.
Walker Wear was April Walker. Where'd you get the Jam Master Jay?
I can't believe I'm just realizing that Jam Master Jay wasn't a figurehead in Walker Wear who reaped profits after almost 30 years.
But I always knew he was involved with that short lived brand in the '90s, I just recently did research to learn he only provided creative input and ideas to April Walker because they had ties before she established the brand.
I was just confused with his type of involvement this whole time. I think my confusion stems from seeing him promote those clothes on an entertainment TV show back in 1993, so that's what made me assume it was his brand with him being an identifiable rap star and him wearing it frequently.
Further to the 1994 era, the sneakerheads were all about the 1/2/3 retros that dropped that year(ish). It still was a big deal, Jordan was a god, etc. Dudes who picked up a pair turned heads, we all geeked over them. I recall kids even rockin em in games in our state tournament.
The difference was there were just so few people paying attention to sneakers back then relative to the population. You picked up your one pair, you moved on. (I grabbed the black/red 1's which I still have and wear 28 years later). The rest of the world had no idea what they were, and no one who was interested thought to buy 6 pairs.
So this giant stock sat, much like sneakers did back then (yes a year or so later the XIs were still available for weeks in most sizes). It was normal. What goes on now is not normal.
All this makes sense.
They seemed to have a cult following among the true fans of Michael Jordan and the shoes back then with those retros in 1994. I would say the hype wasn't there yet due to the internet barely taking off at that time. And Jordan wasn't too far removed from his first retirement with it being a year in. Also, those models weren't exactly 10 years old yet, so the nostalgia factor didn't quite kick in based on that.
I recall the XI sure did sit in stores for a month after they received them. That's how I got the Black/Red XI back in April 1996. I even got them for lower than the retail price by manipulating a now defunct company's low price guarantee! Perhaps I'll divulge that another time.
For some reason it hit hard in 1999 and I have no idea why.
You could say it felt like MJ retiring was for real this time but I don't think that was it. I was seeing people who weren't really into sneakers and MJ buying the 1999 4s.
Maybe retro was coming back slowly overall, I know at that time there were more Air force ones and then eventually Dunks in stores. Also a few people were dabbling in Mitchell and Ness, you could even see some rappers wearing it in videos around 1998.
Like you said, it was a gradual buildup with the retro market with the progression of time.
I would say internet hype, nostalgia by default predicated on particular shoes enduring time and younger generations getting into bygone era shoes have compounded the retro market behemoth we're dealing with today.
Speaking strictly to the last retro, to me the EP height is one (giant) thing - as well as the entire mold of the shoe overall. Again, these retros are steel toe boots. We are going to clown this. We have to.
Kids now do not care (why would they?) and buyers certainly don't - Buy em, wear em, enjoy what you can get. I get it. I've done it.
But to the actual
definition of what the Air Jordan 3 is - this is not it. This is a takedown replica. Done poorly against the standards that Jordan Brand claims to be.
Recent non OG colors
are getting better ...we're watching.
Perhaps it's a good thing I didn't even contemplate getting the 2018 Black/Cement III 4 years ago despite feeling regretful the last couple of years, especially since I got the 1988 NBA All-Star Game jersey in 2020, based on all the negative feedback about them. And these pictures really make them look a little bit like a swap meet bootleg compared to the original.
Methodical Management
