HOLIDAY 2021 - Cool Grey 11

[wombat]

Won’t be buying any 11’s until they fix the ankle collar

 

[g-time]

Pre COVID? Everything is so limited now (or at least appears that way with how the game is now).

theyre not going to make their biggest holiday release limited. You act like they didn’t release an 11 in the middle of the pandemic last December. The Jubilee’s were made in abundance.

 

[phoenixrising7]

So no draw for last year’s Holiday release? It seems like almost every shoe on SNKRS is sold via the draw.

 

[HellRazor1978]

Been a long time since i've worn 11's from then. The 2018 Concords feel pretty comfy though, breds feel a lil more narrow.

 

[rcjbbp1313]

If the 2000-2001 retro had the raw edge PL they would have been a perfect replication of the original. Shape and unfinished PL goes to newer retro. Comfort and materials definitely goes to the 2000-2001. Either way I’m just happy we get OG XI releases

 

[gotjz]

The newer retros actually still have slightly lower PL cut than MOST OGs (slight variation in OG heights). Newer molds blow 00-01 out the water IMO.

 

[rainking]

The newer retros actually still have slightly lower PL cut than MOST OGs (slight variation in OG heights). Newer molds blow 00-01 out the water IMO.

It was not higher on the OGs, or if it was, it was the random exception and not the norm. You should see my OG black/red XIs next to my 2019s. Not even close. The toe box designs/shapes are notably different still, too.

 

[spoonmanofthehour]

The toe box designs/shapes are notably different still, too.

Yes, they definitely are different.

 

[KanyIZZY]

The only remastered XI that looks and feels solid are the Concords and even those varied. Been saying this for a while.. maybe Playoffs are the same. My two pairs don't look as great as Concords.

Toe box, shape, medial forefront of the sole, the damn sock liner.. still different. But they look solid compared to what came right before.

 

[deezrsackolishus]

newest batch of fakes are out fellas. be weary of people selling early….. just saying.

 

[rainking]

The only remastered XI that looks and feels solid are the Concords and even those varied. Been saying this for a while.. maybe Playoffs are the same. My two pairs don't look as great as Concords.

Toe box, shape, medial forefront of the sole, the damn sock liner.. still different. But they look solid compared to what came right before.

I agree the Concords are definitely the best of the "new" XIs. I just sold my DS pair of 2016 SJs the other day. It's been nearly five years and the pair I've worn, I've probably worn 20 times, if that, and most of that has just been kicking around the house. I was never going to get to the second pair LOL. Those SJs are great to look at, but they don't quite look right when you put them on (not that anyone else would notice). The shape is pretty good when you hold them and when you look at them from the side in profile view. But when you look down at them on your foot, you can see they are oddly narrow through the midfoot. I also really miss the firm foam padding in the upper they for some reason neglected to bring back for that retro before applying it to the later XI retros.
All that said, I wouldn't have sold my DS pair if I thought we'd never see them again. But since it's already been five years and my remaining pair has years of life left in them, I figured I'm good until they return. Maybe next time we'll get the padding and the 23 on the heel, though I hope they don't switch back to making the purple parts blue.
Really for me it just came down to the fact I don't feel a big urge to wear the 2016s all that often, because of the reasons I listed. They don't "do it" for me on my feet like the Concords or even the black/reds, and now the black/red IE lows.

 

[KanyIZZY]

SJ's are really the sad pair. I always compare it to the IV's. Take your 2016 WC's and put them next to BC IV's and pretty much a lot of IV's that came after and they're not the same.

 

[rbk93]

I thought SJs were the best out of the remastered 11s. Would be the only ones I'll be willing to cop outside of Cool Greys.

 

[rainking]

I thought SJs were the best out of the remastered 11s. Would be the only ones I'll be willing to cop outside of Cool Greys.

You must just be talking about colorway. Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing objectively better about those SJs compared to the Concords and black/reds. Patent a bit too high on a lot of pairs, no padding in the upper, and the shape is off more than it is with the XI retros that came afterward.

 

[rbk93]

I'll take Concords over Space Jams, not Breds.

I guess I must be misinformed them.

 

[rainking]

I'll take Concords over Space Jams, not Breds.

I guess I must be misinformed them.

Hey I'm not telling anyone what to like more than something else. I was just listing the handful of objective things about the SJs that were done better on the later pairs in terms of construction and shape. I actually prefer the SJ colorway to the black/reds. I don't prefer the shape and lack of padding. (I'm mostly whatever on the patent height after all those years of offensively low-cut patent.)

 

[therealest1]

Here’s a cheat sheet, “original” or “og” for the following models can only be referred to the following years. I’m sticking with the Bulls era to cover the ground here:

1: 1985-86

if the Jordan retro release in question was NOT worn during the above season/year, then it’s not an original colorway.

*ive always flopped back and forth on the space jams being originals as those obviously weren’t released during the 1995-96 season originally, however as everyone knows they were worn then as PE and movie shoes, so y’all can fight on that one lol

Every other retro ever it’s pretty cut and dry though

Good input and references with this one.

Now I've always been confused about the Jordan 1 timeline with when Michael Jordan wore them on court. So did he wear them across two seasons, 1984-85 & 1985-86? Because Jordan always had an individual model for a specified season during his apex with the Bulls. He wore the signature line in his 1984-85 rookie season, but he also wore the Jordan 1 in his 1985-86 sophomore season when he played the Celtics in the playoffs. So it seems like that model overlapped his first two seasons in the league.

Although the Space Jam XI wasn't released during the 1995-96 season with the originals, I would say most will see it as an original because he actually wore them in the 1995 playoffs that preceded that season. And I'm glad we got an accurate replication of that model 21 years later in 2016 complete with the #45 stitched on the back and the purple Jumpman logo.

Here are my favorite XI:
1. Space Jam
2. Black/Red
3. Concord

Although Jordan wore the Grey XI when he was with the Wizards, I'm sticking with my stance that they aren't originals because they weren't released during the 1995-96 season along with the other colorways. Just because he wore that specific colorway years after 1995-96, that still doesn't validate it as an original predicated on the latter time period.

Yes, the low patent leather cut on the XI from 2008 to 2015 will be rightfully despised forever because that's a discrepancy from the originals, and it made them look bootleg. But I'm still confused about the patent leather height cut on the XI from 2016 to present. So is the likable higher patent leather cut on the XI from 2016 to present actually higher than the original XI models from 1995-96?

So did the Grey XI originally from 2001 start using a slightly lower patent leather cut before it got terribly low in 2008?

 

[AIR J XIII]

Good input and references with this one.

Now I've always been confused about the Jordan 1 timeline with when Michael Jordan wore them on court. So did he wear them across two seasons, 1984-85 & 1985-86? Because Jordan always had an individual model for a specified season during his apex with the Bulls. He wore the signature line in his 1984-85 rookie season, but he also wore the Jordan 1 in his 1985-86 sophomore season when he played the Celtics in the playoffs. So it seems like that model overlapped his first two seasons in the league.

Yes, Mike essentially wore the 1 for two seasons. Of course he started out in the Air Ship, and then started wearing the 1s in November if I remember correctly, even though they didn’t release until the spring of ‘85. Take into account that the Air Jordan line was the first of its kind and a new shoe for every season may not have been the plan from jump.

 

[vegetaray123]

Good input and references with this one.

Now I've always been confused about the Jordan 1 timeline with when Michael Jordan wore them on court. So did he wear them across two seasons, 1984-85 & 1985-86? Because Jordan always had an individual model for a specified season during his apex with the Bulls. He wore the signature line in his 1984-85 rookie season, but he also wore the Jordan 1 in his 1985-86 sophomore season when he played the Celtics in the playoffs. So it seems like that model overlapped his first two seasons in the league.

Although the Space Jam XI wasn't released during the 1995-96 season with the originals, I would say most will see it as an original because he actually wore them in the 1995 playoffs that preceded that season. And I'm glad we got an accurate replication of that model 21 years later in 2016 complete with the #45 stitched on the back and the purple Jumpman logo.

Here are my favorite XI:
1. Space Jam
2. Black/Red
3. Concord

Although Jordan wore the Grey XI when he was with the Wizards, I'm sticking with my stance that they aren't originals because they weren't released during the 1995-96 season along with the other colorways. Just because he wore that specific colorway years after 1995-96, that still doesn't validate it as an original predicated on the latter time period.

Yes, the low patent leather cut on the XI from 2008 to 2015 will be rightfully despised forever because that's a discrepancy from the originals, and it made them look bootleg. But I'm still confused about the patent leather height cut on the XI from 2016 to present. So is the likable higher patent leather cut on the XI from 2016 to present actually higher than the original XI models from 1995-96?

So did the Grey XI originally from 2001 start using a slightly lower patent leather cut before it got terribly low in 2008?

OG 11’s and first retro run 11’s PL cut was all over the place…Don’t let anybody tell you any differently…Here’s some pics for reference, using Concords being worn by Mike here just because it makes it easier to see…Some have high cuts and others are noticeably lower…

Nike didn’t really put too much emphasis on it if we’re being honest…Whatever the PL cut the factory was using was what ended up in the shoes…The model was solid all the way through the DMP release and people stood a better than good chance at getting a pair with a higher cut…After that, when Nike hit that cost cutting / price hike phase in the late 2000’s is when things became an issue as they made a conscious effort to cut back on the PL usage, and overall material quality (This is when we got the barely there plastic PL that cracked rather than creased), to not only save money but gouge the consumer with regular price hikes …But that’s a whole different subject…

Also fun fact on the release schedule topic…Mike’s shoes always overlapped seasons all the way until the 95-96…He’d always debut the new model during the All Star Game every year and they’d start hitting stores around that same time…So he’d start every single season wearing the same model he ended the previous season wearing…

Nike shifted their approach after Mike retired the first time when they ~kind of correctly~ assumed that the public wouldn’t be so keen to buy MJ’s product after he’d retired…The 8’s released all the way through spring of 1993…They rushed Tinker and the production of the 9’s so they could get them to market while MJ was still kind of fresh in people’s minds…As such the 9 debuted and released in November of 1993…Making 1993 the first time that two signature Jordan shoes released in the same calendar year…

We all know how the story plays out from here…Poor sales of the 9’s and the first retro attempt in 1994 had Nike considering cutting the Jordan line all together…Tinker begged and fought to get one last sig to market which ended up being the “tribute” shoe in the 10’s…Lackluster overall because Nike gave Tinker next to no resources to get it done…They released November 1994 and for and for all intents and purpose were likely going to be the last signature Jordan sneaker Nike would release…Tinker, not ready to give up did work on his own for what would eventually become the Jordan 11…Mike returns, sales tick up, ECF’s come along and Mike grabs the wear test sample Concord 11’s to play in…Despite Tinker specifically asking him not to wear them since they hadn’t even been approved by his higher ups yet…Mike plays, gets fined, Tinker gets a sample black upper pair to Mike to finish out the series…The public by and large goes nuts for that pair of shoes…The ones Mike got in trouble for wearing…

Nike kicks production into overtime and the model goes from an un-approved sample in June 1995 , to being officially debuted by MJ in October to start the new season, and actually released to the public in November 1995…5 months from not even being approved to being released to the public…The shoe gets sold out almost everywhere, likely because Nike was only able to produce a smaller amount due to the short production window…The rest is history really…

So yeah my point is two fold…Mike’s sigs overlapping seasons was normal, and that Nike was so crunched under the demand for the original 11’s that they were cranking them out at record pace, thus causing the PL cuts to be all over the place…

 

[3god]

Can’t wait to get my one wear in.

 

[Letyoufry]

I really don't understand why people don't like the PL cut from 2009 to 2015.
SJ PL cut was really too much high.
IMO 2011 Concords were so beautiful with the number 23, and the pic with really remember me the 2011.
The photo with the cool grey in 2001 is also a low cut.
I have a pic from 95 with the SJ and cut was low.
I have the WL82, the PL cut was the same than the SJ and my pair is now in the box due to the toe box which is not at all comfortable.
The Concord 2018/bred 2019 are just perfect, but when i compare with my WL82, there is not a big big difference. Only the toe box is 10x times better.

 

[Letyoufry]

Won’t be buying any 11’s until they fix the ankle collar

The thing i don't like on the 2019 retro is the Jumpman is not enough high. It is like he was going downwards.

 

[nuclear1990]

My first PL 11s were the CDPs.

Comparing those to the recent pair and it's night and day.

 

[3god]

Kinda want to give my Concords a wear… but they don’t really look good with any modern clothing. Maybe I should just sell them?

 

[wombat]

Kinda want to give my Concords a wear… but they don’t really look good with any modern clothing. Maybe I should just sell them?

Wear Amiri’s or Balmain Jeans with them