Official Jordan XI Thread

Finally got a jersey and hat to match with the Cherry XI.
IMG_7709.JPG
IMG_7712.JPG
 
I didn't even notice that till you pointed it out, that shows JB QC was even bad back then.

The biggest difference with these shoes back then compared to now in terms of quality is that a lot of the materials felt better and of course the shoes themselves felt better underfoot because they used softer foams and were intended for people to play in. Today's actual BUILD quality is much better than it was back then; I used to have to return Nikes and Jordans all the time due to peeling outsoles and midsoles. The glue jobs back then could be pretty poor. If we could combine today's assembly techniques with the '90s shoes themselves, that would be the ultimate.

Def copping to wear over the summer especially because they practically can go with any outfit.

Annoying that they've gone back to blue accents rather than concord. That probably means it'll be blue again when they retro the mids again in two or three years :smh:
 
The biggest difference with these shoes back then compared to now in terms of quality is that a lot of the materials felt better and of course the shoes themselves felt better underfoot because they used softer foams and were intended for people to play in. Today's actual BUILD quality is much better than it was back then; I used to have to return Nikes and Jordans all the time due to peeling outsoles and midsoles. The glue jobs back then could be pretty poor. If we could combine today's assembly techniques with the '90s shoes themselves, that would be the ultimate.



Annoying that they've gone back to blue accents rather than concord. That probably means it'll be blue again when they retro the mids again in two or three years :smh:
Yeah they were for performance so better quality materials and comfort makes sense. I wish I wore Jordans when I was little so I coulda got a vision on how they feel compared to the retros we have today. Yeah its a pattern JB seems to do between the lows and mids. You would think they would make the accents on these space jam lows concord especially considering they did release a concord 11 low years ago so it would go well next to it like they done with 2016 Space Jam & 2018 Concord.
 
Yeah they were for performance so better quality materials and comfort makes sense. I wish I wore Jordans when I was little so I coulda got a vision on how they feel compared to the retros we have today. Yeah its a pattern JB seems to do between the lows and mids. You would think they would make the accents on these space jam lows concord especially considering they did release a concord 11 low years ago so it would go well next to it like they done with 2016 Space Jam & 2018 Concord.
shoes in the 90s were indeed much comfortable compared to what they are now unless they have some great cushion tech on them. for example, the disparity between the regular zoom or airmax is just noticeable. another one is the transition from PU midsole/insole to regular EVA midsole/insole. Nike kept on promoting that EVA is more comfortable than PU but I've never encounter a regular EVA to be so other than it being more durable. the comfort thing about EVA is BS imo.
 
Ultimately it’s a trade off. Do you want your 4’s to feel like pillows on feet, but crumble in 10 years, or do you want them to last longer than that but you sacrifice comfort for durability. If you keep all your shoes deadstock, the latter makes more sense. But if you wear them like I do, it becomes more complicated. Since I wear my shoes and they retro most of them every 7-10 years anyway, I kinda wish they were more comfortable, though I do have an appreciation for the better durability on pairs I buy multiples of. I have two pairs of the 2019 Infareds for example. I’m still on the first pair and they are still going strong. They could be more comfortable, but since they are broken in they actually feel ok on foot. Not sure when/if I’ll ever get to the second pair, so I this is where my appreciation for the higher durability comes in.
 
Ultimately it’s a trade off. Do you want your 4’s to feel like pillows on feet, but crumble in 10 years, or do you want them to last longer than that but you sacrifice comfort for durability. If you keep all your shoes deadstock, the latter makes more sense. But if you wear them like I do, it becomes more complicated. Since I wear my shoes and they retro most of them every 7-10 years anyway, I kinda wish they were more comfortable, though I do have an appreciation for the better durability on pairs I buy multiples of. I have two pairs of the 2019 Infareds for example. I’m still on the first pair and they are still going strong. They could be more comfortable, but since they are broken in they actually feel ok on foot. Not sure when/if I’ll ever get to the second pair, so I this is where my appreciation for the higher durability comes in.
it's not just the foam that is an issue with DS pairs. you have to consider the glue, oxidation, etc...

like you said, they retro these shoes every 5-10 years but really it almost happen every year now so what's the point of wrapping these shoes up, vacuum sealed or putting them on ice. considering we have more better options nowadays, I don't believe the nostalgia aspect of the classic Js would live that long. I am still hoping that if they ever retro the Jordan 11s again is that they would use some zoom cushion in them or something better. as of the moment, I love the 38s way better.
 
Since I wear my shoes and they retro most of them every 7-10 years anyway

This right here in my opinion is a key point, and it goes back to the early 2000s. I've said this before: Back then, the retro thing was in its early, early days. You had collectors and people on NT and maybe a couple other "social" internet sites that still had OGs. As the "old shoe" thing began to slowly gain some traction, people started to wish they could wear their old shoes again, but they couldn't. So then you had guys posting pics of their crumbling shoes and lamenting the fact they were unwearable and that they were made in a way that led to them falling apart. It seems like Nike listened to all this and responded by doing what it did and making the retros more durable but also less comfortable.
Thing is, this was done in a time when the company wasn't yet automatically cranking out retros of all the classics every 5-10 years over and over again. So some of us would plan to sit on certain retros for a long, long time because we weren't yet aware we would get to a point where there was no need to do so because the shoes would always come back again. The way it all worked out, there really isn't a need anymore to use materials that let people wear the shoes for 15 years without them crumbling.
 
Back
Top Bottom