Michael Jordan to Blame for Riots Over Shoes: What Isiah Thomas Said and 5 Things He Could Do With N

[Maximus Meridius]

Originally Posted by AKA LONGSTROKE

Originally Posted by BigLescobar

If your trying to just say that Nike sells more of its stuff in the poorer , urban, predominantly black areas then yea, they definitely do thats no secret....

Thats the #1 sneaker buying demographic in the country.....

I remember reading an article in the late 90s or early 2000s about how the Bronx and Harlem have the highest rate of sneaker stores per sq ft in the country....

Right, then add in Asia. Nike is in control of this issue, and then can correct it.
Now, we all know how things work in this country, in regard to what is considered a problem in certain areas. The drug problem in the inner cities were not considered a national problem, until drugs like crack began to hit the 'burbs, and the white community. 

If these riots had occurred in places like Greenwich, best believe that Nike and the retailers would issue statements supporting that community.

Does anyone here deny that?  

Nike is responsible.

Good point, I see what both sides are saying. We as consumers have to be responsible. At the mall I saw people acting real crazy but at the sametime there was alot of people like me standing there like "Look at these dummies". Nike and Jordan know exactly what they are doing but at the end of day we have to be smarter.



To go up to the mall and see they need a whole Police Force for A PAIR OF SHOES ain't right bruh.

 

[noblekane]

Originally Posted by ccastro02

Originally Posted by NobleKane

Originally Posted by West Coast Avenger



You serious breh? Didnt the Cool Grey's release around the same time last year? Targeting specific demographics? LMFAO!! I didnt see a van with a Concord on it rolling through the hood nor did I see any billboards. There was virtually no promotion for this shoe besides sneaker blogs and word of mouth

seriously op and his anti nike propaganda. 

 at this point hes just reaching for anything 
jordan been targeting holiday shoppers for years. but guess what? its not just them. 

 businesses have been doing that for decades 

 shocking right?

Name one time when a company other than nike released their most anticipated  item of the year around christmas. Name the company and the product. C'mon, name one. And i repeate their most ANTICIPATED ITEM".

you know what MY most anticipated item was? The bordeaux VII. That wasnt released around christmas.
Its all a matter of opinion. These concords have been retroed already. I anticipate the release of the chicago X's more than this shoe.

Jordan Brand could have released about any 1 of 10 iconic releases and the result would have been the same.

you cant always think Tickle Me Elmo is gonna pop up and be a hot seller come christmas

 

[noblekane]

Originally Posted by Maximus Meridius

Originally Posted by AKA LONGSTROKE

Originally Posted by BigLescobar

If your trying to just say that Nike sells more of its stuff in the poorer , urban, predominantly black areas then yea, they definitely do thats no secret....

Thats the #1 sneaker buying demographic in the country.....

I remember reading an article in the late 90s or early 2000s about how the Bronx and Harlem have the highest rate of sneaker stores per sq ft in the country....

Right, then add in Asia. Nike is in control of this issue, and then can correct it.
Now, we all know how things work in this country, in regard to what is considered a problem in certain areas. The drug problem in the inner cities were not considered a national problem, until drugs like crack began to hit the 'burbs, and the white community. 

If these riots had occurred in places like Greenwich, best believe that Nike and the retailers would issue statements supporting that community.

Does anyone here deny that?  

Nike is responsible.

Good point, I see what both sides are saying. We as consumers have to be responsible. At the mall I saw people acting real crazy but at the sametime there was alot of people like me standing there like "Look at these dummies". Nike and Jordan know exactly what they are doing but at the end of day we have to be smarter.

pretty much 

 

[brotherforreal]

Originally Posted by NobleKane

Originally Posted by BrotherForReal

some of you need to get MJs midsection out of your face for a quick second and be unbiased.

How often are people clamoring to go to FL? Exactly. Only when there's a LIMITED RELEASE or a GR Jordan release that has been HYPED by Nike themselves. Why make us camp in the first place?

Jordan really went all in with the Banned 1s. They made profit on a scraped shoe because they built the hype around it by letting a few release to test the waters and when they saw kids ate it up, all of sudden we had people camping at an OUTLET STORE.

I know for a FACT, a FACT...the majority of people HATED concords before this release. But, with all the negative press and hype, all of a sudden everyone thinks its the greatest shoe of all time, a grail, a must have.

The last time there was a riot was for COOL GREYS and that was because Nike Limited the hell out of them. That shoe was one of the first shoes in the pre re-sell, prepubescent "sneaker head" era that a Jordan XI was hard to come by.

I agree people are to blame for their actions but you have to look at the cause and effect in a bigger picture. Quit making your shoes "MUST HAVES" that force parents and kids to wait in line over night, sometimes NIGHTS just to spend the money they dont have.

Bring back the days of coming mid day and copping your size with no hassle.

people hated concords???????? 

i stopped reading after this. young man that is a big negative
no wait i need a good laugh...

quit making your shoes MUST HAVES??? 

omg i cant breath 

Genius, by the stories posted in this forum you would know that most kids called these the white space jams and originally everyone hated them. They went on sale in 2000 you buffoon. Look in the mirror if you need a good laugh.

 

[ccastro02]

Originally Posted by NobleKane

Originally Posted by ccastro02

Originally Posted by NobleKane


seriously op and his anti nike propaganda. 

 at this point hes just reaching for anything 
jordan been targeting holiday shoppers for years. but guess what? its not just them. 

 businesses have been doing that for decades 

 shocking right?

Name one time when a company other than nike released their most anticipated  item of the year around christmas. Name the company and the product. C'mon, name one. And i repeate their most ANTICIPATED ITEM".

you know what MY most anticipated item was? The bordeaux VII. That wasnt released around christmas.
Its all a matter of opinion. These concords have been retroed already. I anticipate the release of the chicago X's more than this shoe.

Jordan Brand could have released about any 1 of 10 iconic releases and the result would have been the same.

you cant always think Tickle Me Elmo is gonna pop up and be a hot seller come christmas

I agree with everything you said. Ones most anticipated shoe can differ from another. But one can't deny that out of all the jays released this year, this ONE was the most anticipated across the board. My point is JB doesn't have to sell any of the top 10 iconic releases this year around the holidays. They in and of it self would sell well regardless of when they're released. However, the last shot xiv's on the other hand could've used the christmas hype that the concords got. Jb could've released the concords in october and still would've sold well. Thus giving the last shot's a chance to also do well. For those that say jb know exactly what their doing are full of themselves. 

 

[mj4ever2320]

cant be all jordans fault

 

[mr delorean]

Originally Posted by AKA LONGSTROKE

Now, we all know how things work in this country, in regard to what is considered a problem in certain areas. The drug problem in the inner cities were not considered a national problem, until drugs like crack began to hit the 'burbs, and the white community.

incorrect.  it was part of a right-wing neocon political agenda headed up by the gop in the eighties.  had nothing to do with race, they wanted to force their morals on black folks as much as white folks.

 

[mr delorean]

Originally Posted by NobleKane

seriously op and his anti nike propaganda. 

 at this point hes just reaching for anything 

it isnt a reach, its a conscious marketing strategy.  all retailers and brands spent a lot of resources studying and refining social media strategies to maximize revenue during slumping sales when the great recession hit a few years ago.  its real.  most of nikes jordan sales are driven by internet hype.  the company wants there to be mass hysteria.

 

[inchecksince81]

Jb and nike need to stop fronting like they try to keep it exclusive for real shoe heads and collectors. Obviously they dont give a crap about anything but selling shoes. Fights, riots, MURDERS and its all for the mighty $. Its a different market now EVERYONES into kicks, why limit a jordan 11 at christmas time? Its moronic. Why put 2 jordans in a pack and charge $310, because they CAN. Mj doesnt care hes a tool, always has been. The people buying shoes need to realize its just a shoe, a more expensive shoe with worse quality, but a shoe nontheless. Boycotting is the ONLY method that brings change. And I pretty much have done that with Jb. They piss me off to no end.

 

[aka longstroke]

Originally Posted by mr delorean

Originally Posted by AKA LONGSTROKE

Now, we all know how things work in this country, in regard to what is considered a problem in certain areas. The drug problem in the inner cities were not considered a national problem, until drugs like crack began to hit the 'burbs, and the white community.

incorrect.  it was part of a right-wing neocon political agenda headed up by the gop in the eighties.  had nothing to do with race, they wanted to force their morals on black folks as much as white folks.

If you don't think that race had anything to do with how this country ignored the problem of drugs in the black community, then I suggest that you are fooling yourself.
BUT, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story, right?

 

[lynchpin33]

Outside of Republicans buy shoes too, has he ever REALLY come out and say anything?  Even watching his sportscentury on espn, I remember his sister saying he has plans to go to production factories but it is all a scheduling conflicts at this time.
-I guess my big thing is that with ALL this hype over the concord 11 release, he has not come out and said nothing, released a statement.  I mean I did not know it was that big until I heard some women talking as I was walking by and they said, this is a picture of the shoe they were talking about on the news. Keep in mind these were older women at that.  Really though Jordan could have said something, anything by now...

 

[lildawgryan]

A human being should be capable of creating a line and sticking with it. My theory is all the smart people were at home buying them and the not so smart were camping and fighting.

 

[ccastro02]

Originally Posted by lynchpin33

Outside of Republicans buy shoes too, has he ever REALLY come out and say anything?  Even watching his sportscentury on espn, I remember his sister saying he has plans to go to production factories but it is all a scheduling conflicts at this time.
-I guess my big thing is that with ALL this hype over the concord 11 release, he has not come out and said nothing, released a statement.  I mean I did not know it was that big until I heard some women talking as I was walking by and they said, this is a picture of the shoe they were talking about on the news. Keep in mind these were older women at that.  Really though Jordan could have said something, anything by now...

Here's an article from an editor who said the same thing. When publicity surrounds nike or jordan brand, nike nor any other endorser or representative makes little to no public statements about the publicity surrounding nike. When nike was under fire years ago about their sweatshops, all nike had to say was "we don't control the sweatshops, we provide the owners of the factories with the tools needed to produce the shoes, We have no control over how owners of the factories decide to manage their shops". And every year it's the same bull with jordan brand and their holiday releases. They make one public statement saying "We are extremely concerned to hear of the reported crowd incidents around the launch of the Air Jordan XI at some select retail locations". How concerned are you? What steps are you taking to prevent such incidents affiliated with these holiday releases?
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[milestailsprowe]

Nike has done NOTHING wrong on the releases outside of cost and nothing making more. People are banging down doors and more for the shoes but the thing is OVER HALF OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE RE SELLERS. Look at the Buy and Sell section on this site alone. 

 

[thedanimal]

"The former player's Nike line accounts for about 70% of the $2.8 billion U.S. retail basketball-shoe market, SportsOneSource says." - from WSJ article. I'm assuming that Nike's other lines Lebron, Kobe, and KD, etc account for large portion of the remaining 30%. So essentially, Nike/JB maintains a near monopoly of the U.S. basketball shoe market. According to basic economic theory, monopolies are generally bad. Because there is no direct competition, they have no incentive to improve, and will produce lesser quantities of a lower quality product at a greater price than would occur under perfect competition. According to polls I've read on here and elsewhere, the primary reason many of us buy retro Jordans is nostalgia. That nostalgia further enhances Nike/JB's position as a monopoly. For me, there's no shoe better than the black toe XIII's, and because of that I will want to buy them whenever they release.

Since we are playing the blame game, blame Reebok and Adidas for failing to create enough competition for Nike. I'm not as familiar with retro Reeboks, but I've heard plenty of clamoring for certain Pumps models and such. Adidas has recently retro'd a few wanted models like the Crazy 8, but I'm sure both companies have shoes they can retro and capture some of the nostalgia/no direct substitute market that Nike strangleholds.

As for RD craziness blame the people in line, but mainly the retailers, security and local police for failing to properly organize and prepare for a release of this magnitude. People can create lists and try and keep the line organized all they want, but unless the list/line is given credibility by store employees and security and such, it is meaningless.

For the Concords I called mall security the night of the release to inform them what was going to happen (they had no idea). I went to the same mall for space jams and cool greys, so knew firsthand of their past failures. I got to the mall at 8 pm (6 am release) and walked into footlocker to tell the employee who would be opening that I was first in line and where I would be camping. We maintained a list/line throughout the night, and even lined up around 4 am. At this point, there were about 125+ people in our organized line, and about 50 people crammed next to the other door saying f the list and trying to cut the line. Come opening, about 8 local police walked up with assault rifles and escorted six of us in at a time according to the list we had maintained. We got to simply stroll up to footlocker get our sizes and get out. No pushing, shoving, or running whatsoever. The first people there got their pairs like they should have. Sorry to hear about all the craziness some of you experienced, but that's all cops, security, and retailers.

 

[cashm0neyand1]

Michael Jordan = Great basketball player. But he has never been a great role model or public figure.  He doesnt even like people or his fans. Hes a "richard". He doesnt care about anyone but himself. Sure his shoes are expensive and sought after, but these turds that break down mall doors and abandon their children need to be accountable for their own actions.

MJ is still a complete

 

[23sole]

Please watch the documentary dvd "Just for Kicks" and watch bonus interview with Tinker Hatfield. He briefly discussed about this issue with huge line ups and people getting killed over Air Jordans. He says Nike just trys to make the best product possible point blank. People are responsible for their own actions.

 

[khadafi252]

so... as a nike employee, of course i take a stand against the company i work for. i read the article posted, and while there are good points made in the article, they're wrong for attacking nike and jordan.

the author of this article fails to realize the amount of dollars and time nike itself does put into communities, academics, and athletic programs. they failed to mention N7. they failed to mention doernbecher. they failed to mention nike's investment into ANY employee who wants to donate their time to a charity. nike will match the amount of time an employee invests into the charity, plus some. and there's so much more that nike does to put dollars and time into the community (it's insane what they do just in the portland area, which i was fortunate to take part of). at the other end, nike IS a retail company and they're in the business to make money. jordan hasn't played in 'nearly a decade' the article said. how are you supposed to keep a brand fresh for someone who hasn't played that long, and whose loyal followers, like myself, are an aging demographic??? i'm 30 years old and was fortunate to see jordan play, as opposed to these high school kids growing up in the age of lebron, derek rose, dwayne wade, and so on. i have a family, own a home, have my regular job, and work part time at nike to enjoy its benefits. somehow i still find the time to invest into sneakers despite having a wife and THREE GIRLS. nike has been smart in keeping the aging people like myself into this mainstream and i guess hip, brand while also welcoming the new-age teenagers. so don't fault nike for simply having a genius business model.

 

[rojanjon]

There's much more going on here than what you see on the surface, or the obvious let's blame this guy and this company. Technically, it's ignorant aggressive and desperate people acting like clowns. But, there is a grand systemic issue going on behind this sort of explosion. Social unrest and upheaval is starting to boil over. This is just a taste of things to come.

 

[noblekane]

Originally Posted by BrotherForReal

Originally Posted by NobleKane

Originally Posted by BrotherForReal

some of you need to get MJs midsection out of your face for a quick second and be unbiased.

How often are people clamoring to go to FL? Exactly. Only when there's a LIMITED RELEASE or a GR Jordan release that has been HYPED by Nike themselves. Why make us camp in the first place?

Jordan really went all in with the Banned 1s. They made profit on a scraped shoe because they built the hype around it by letting a few release to test the waters and when they saw kids ate it up, all of sudden we had people camping at an OUTLET STORE.

I know for a FACT, a FACT...the majority of people HATED concords before this release. But, with all the negative press and hype, all of a sudden everyone thinks its the greatest shoe of all time, a grail, a must have.

The last time there was a riot was for COOL GREYS and that was because Nike Limited the hell out of them. That shoe was one of the first shoes in the pre re-sell, prepubescent "sneaker head" era that a Jordan XI was hard to come by.

I agree people are to blame for their actions but you have to look at the cause and effect in a bigger picture. Quit making your shoes "MUST HAVES" that force parents and kids to wait in line over night, sometimes NIGHTS just to spend the money they dont have.

Bring back the days of coming mid day and copping your size with no hassle.

people hated concords???????? 

i stopped reading after this. young man that is a big negative
no wait i need a good laugh...

quit making your shoes MUST HAVES??? 

omg i cant breath 

Genius, by the stories posted in this forum you would know that most kids called these the white space jams and originally everyone hated them. They went on sale in 2000 you buffoon. Look in the mirror if you need a good laugh.

 Captain Smart Ive been on this board since its creation and most kids in these forums werent even around when they first retroed. On sale? Maybe in your little city. These were wiped out here in northern california. If i need a good laugh ill follow your stupid little posts around.
white space jams? you probably werent even born when these were released with that bs talk.

be right back. im going to go make the petition to stop jordan brand and nike from making their shoe releases "MUST HAVES" 

 

[mbilla4rilla]

Isiah is still mad about the Bulls beating the Pistons in the 1993 playoffs. Oh yeah, and the fact that MJ made sure that Isiah didn't make the Dream Team is another reason for his saltiness.

 

[b0r0ugh]

Good discussion.. Can't put all the blame on Jordan Brand though for people's specific actions. Carrying your baby to wait outside for a pair of shoes for x amount of hours cannot be tied to Jordan Brand. That's something wrong in the individual's mind to do something like that. These shoes aren't necessity for individuals to fight for or do anything crazy for such as the violence and chaos that happened in December. Yeah, Jordan Brand and Nike created a huge hype behind their shoes to sell it out so they could make profit, but that's just business, might not be 100% ethical which I agree with some of you are saying, but Jordan Brand and Nike aren't the only ones doing this. Individuals are 100% responsible for their actions. These are sneakers, not a cure for cancer. If people want to go crazy over them in the fashion in which they did, that's on them and no one else. Another point was the way some retailers organized the release, I agree that's a huge contributing factor to people's behaviour but they can't be held accountable for people's choice of actions.

For example, At my Nike in Toronto's release, I lined up at 4:30 am I was 12th in line. At 7:30 am a Nike employee came, handed out numbered wristbands and wrote down what size each wristband was for, there was about ~60 of us in line. The store opened at 10am, at about 8:30am (line was about 100+ then) the Nike employee told everyone who didn't have a wristband that they were not going to be able to get a Men's size pair and told them some store's to try their luck at. This was my first campout and it seemed pretty organized, no fights, there was a small argument about someone cutting in line, but security stopped it.

Now, at a mall by me there was a line of 80+ early in the AM outside for the Champs Sports. When the mall opened a huge crowd formed outside the store and when they opened the staff just started to let random people in and refused to do wristbands "because they didn't know who was 1st" So obviously people got pissed, some chose to fight etc. but that's on them...

 

[snaggykicks]

Originally Posted by you go boy

this release was way more crazy than any iphone release period.... you can buy an iphone after it sells out the same thing cant be said about sneakers in general... once that restock is depleted thats it!

 

[asiaknows]

I dont see a line for the Isiah Thomas shoes.. Stop hating.

 

[secretzofwar]

In situations like this, it's rare that the big corporation isn't in the wrong. However, I think Nike's clear on this one.

They make great, highly desired products. Sounds like what capitalism is all about.