Personal Thoughts on the Present State and Future of the Jordan Brand

[sneakerafi]

My thoughts on the present state and future of the Jordan Brand. Well let's see Michael Jordan has been officially retired since 2003, but even sincethen he has produced a number shoe, some critics may say that since his retirement that the numbered shoes have been wack, but let's be honest here,there's only like maybe 2 shoes that all sneakerheads across the board have agreed on in general the XI Space Jams and the VI Infrareds. Personally sincehis retirement my favorites have been the Stealth 20's and the Bred 23's, but back to the discussion at hand

The Jordan Brand has decided that the 23 will be the last Jordan signature shoe, which I along with alot of sneakerheads believe it should end at 23, butjust because it ends doesn't mean that the brand will fold or will it? It just means that they will have to go back to the drawing board and up with otherkicks as well as really push the other members of Team Jordan to have signature shoes. If any one has noticed the brand has been trying different sneakers overthe last few years to get a gage of what we would buy after the signature shoe was going to end, examples include the Dub-Zeros, which the first two pair werefire, the last 3 you could find at the Nike Factory store, the Spizikes, which most people loved, and now the Fusion which is a neat concept, however it'sbeing milked just alittle bit too much, and will probably get worse next year. The newest concept that's coming out is the 6ix rings, which I'll behonest I hate, I'd probably only wear them if someone bought them for me. It comes a point where you have to be creative and think outside the box,that's how they came up with 23 unique signature sneakers. Now I guess we're in a stage of mutant Jordan's where they just decide to take 5 or 6kicks and mash them together every year and hope we will buy them, if this what the brand is going to do in the future, I think they are in trouble. You canonly go to the well but so many times before you have to come up with a new fresh idea. If you notice the well is dry if Spizikes, Dub-Zeros, 6ix Rings,Fusions, 12.5, 14 SE's, etc..is the best they come up with? What happened to the Jordan line being innovative year after year? I used to look at Jordans asthe Lexus of sneakers and Nike as Toyotas. Now with the current state it's like the Nike SB's are turning into the Lexus.

When I look at the sneaker game today, the bootleggers have diluted it by making pretty much every Jordan you can think of and charge maybe 50 bucks forthem. Which I'll be honest with you as a steal if you got the kick that looks like the real kick, except most real heads like me know it's fake,especially with some of the wild colorways the bootleggers have been producing, not too mention you don't buy them in a store. Jordan has combated thebootleggers by using materials that they can't easily get ahold of like Titanium, or placing interchangeable soles in them like the 21 and 22, or justdetailed craftsmanship like the 23. But as soon as they combat bootleggers, I think the Brand falls in the trap of aiding them by making sneakers like the 6ixrings which looks like something a bootlegger would do or the Fusions with uncanny colorways and designs like lime green/grey, plaid, etc.... Jordan kicksused to be clean, basic colorways, but they looked fresh. I think most of us ole skool sneaker enthusiasts have a certain connection unlike the newergeneration of sneaker wearers or collectors because we grew up with Mike in his prime, we saw him play, and I don't mean when he played for the Wizards, wesaw the commercials. Nike and Gatorade had us thinking that we could Just Do It or Be Like Mike. So for us the sneakers have a certain legacy and nostalgiaabout them. Nowadays I think the Brand is just putting out kicks for the sake of profit as opposed to upholding a legacy....but then again, maybe times arechanging and this the Brands way of adapting and being relevant with the new generation. Anyhow this is just my opinion......feel free to chimein.

SneakerAFI out...

 

[indohan]

Sign up blogspot.com.

 

[trieze k]

hahahahaha blogspot.com. At anyrate you make some pretty good insights and have some good opinions playboy

 

[yungpyro07]

I think they're on a slippery slope on the way to the bottom if they dont fix this quickly

 

[supermanblue79]

Present-
*Mike's retired.
*Limited colorways, quickstrikes, flightclub, regional releases, outragously low production numbers, and other gimmicks being used to create demand foruninspired products.
*First generation no longer the driving force behind sales

Future
*Signature shoes continue
*Over saturation of the brand causes huge decline in sales
*JB plays the "Nike Air" trumpcard to bring back lost customers with rediculously priced, more accurate retros

 

[abernja]

You make some good points, but you also make some contradicting points.


1 - what we would buy after the signature shoe was going to end, examples include the Dub-Zeros, which the first two pair were fire
*You said Dub Zero's were FIRE - SMH

2 - Now the Fusion which is a neat concept
*Horrible concept

3 - When I look at the sneaker game today
*If you consider it a game then I have no respect for you. It's all about love for sneakers.

4 - Nowadays I think the Brand is just putting out kicks for the sake of profit
*The whole reason Nike started was to make a profit. All they wanted to do was dethrone Adidas as the industry leader. If you ever thought it was to have alegacy then you've been mislead. Legacies can come with good product etc, but that's not why they started.

 

[bako1]

Lets face it, Michael Jordan made Nike what it is today. They were getting clobbered by Reebok before
his arrival. He revolutionized sports marketing and catapulted nike into the global juggernaut it is today.
Now, this icon is retired. It is a miracle that the shoes are still as popular as when he played. I think
Nike and Jordan brand are out to squeeze everything out of the Jordan Legacy before the unlikely event
that it fizzles out.

 

[bundy9]

1 - what we would buy after the signature shoe was going to end, examples include the Dub-Zeros, which the first two pair were fire
*You said Dub Zero's were FIRE - SMH

2 - Now the Fusion which is a neat concept
*Horrible concept

3 - When I look at the sneaker game today
*If you consider it a game then I have no respect for you. It's all about love for sneakers.

4 - Nowadays I think the Brand is just putting out kicks for the sake of profit
*The whole reason Nike started was to make a profit. All they wanted to do was dethrone Adidas as the industry leader. If you ever thought it was to have a legacy then you've been mislead. Legacies can come with good product etc, but that's not why they started.

1st off co-sign to this response,

and hate or love it the brand will fall to these types of tactics...... its bizz!!! they have to make the money somehow with MJ worryin about if larry brownwill be an appropriate coach for teh bobcats. its a shame though how seemingly uninspired the brand has become with releases/colourways like the AJF5black/cactus, killing the 18's with a variant lookin black/red colourway etc...it has to be done cuz the product has way surpassed its maturity stage andis going into decline, they have to re-invent themselves somehow, even if its efforts like the collezione packs etc. i believe its fitting that the brand endat 23 also and hopefully the brand will sustain itself at the helm of guys like chris paul and ray allen and rip hamilton, etc

the brand wont die (hopefully) its too successful and is a major earner for nike, so they gotta produce. my opnion on da future, the brand will be sustained,with some lovely releases for chris paul (who i believe is the strogest JB assest right now) and PE's for ray allen and JJ etc and with the right designersemployed. adidas right now is makin a roaring come back with some very impressive shoes and some successful endorsements, but once JB stops this oversaturationof kicks and dropping some releases in a more sparse fashion (to repeat somethin i heard Gentry said in some interview where certain celebratory edition ofj's will return e.g. shoe he hit his 20K point milestone, etc) the brand will be ok.

Lets face it they survived for 23 years, longest running sneaker line ever, even after the 23rd edition the brand wil continue to be the market leader andsustain itself, only until they stop this craze of flooding the market with high prices, which gets everyone just a bit tired of it.

next move that may help it for a few yrs down da line, instead of the alter-ego projects they're thinkin of (like enterin the SB market with the flipsideor whatever shoes they were) would be to target teh NBA contract once adidas' contract is over. you can surely bet that such a move would guarantee somemajor revenue that would sit the brand on a very large pedestal...just look at what its doin for adidas.

 

[haydenhouser]

Originally Posted by Supermanblue79

Present-
*Mike's retired.
*Limited colorways, quickstrikes, flightclub, regional releases, outragously low production numbers, and other gimmicks being used to create demand for uninspired products.
*First generation no longer the driving force behind sales

Future
*Signature shoes continue
*Over saturation of the brand causes huge decline in sales
*JB plays the "Nike Air" trumpcard to bring back lost customers with rediculously priced, more accurate retros

Right on. I agree. The driving force behind Jordans are the people who grew up with

Mike playing on TV. JB hasn't treated their shoes the same way the OG consumers did

i.e.: whack colorways, limited releases, etc. The Brand is getting saturated big time, and

I don't believe the new faces of JORDAN will have anywhere near the same amount of

impact in the future. Everything Supermanblue said was spot on!

 

[haydenhouser]

JB plays the "Nike Air" trumpcard to bring back lost customers with rediculously priced, more accurate retros

-Supermanblue79

WOW I can definitely see them doing that in the future. It's going to happen.

 

[billyoshun]

Personal thought : Thank god its ending at the 23.

The future: JB isnt in the picture ...

 

[elgallo23]

I stopped caring about Air Jordans after XI, and basketball after his 2nd retirement. So the only J's I care about now are III-IX and XVI, XX…. But even ifthey made them true to the originals it still won't bring back Mike, or that 90's NBA legacy. So my problem, like most people here is that we just likethe shoes from the past. And that's okay, but Gentry's job is about expanding the brand and creating profit. So in order to move forward G's goingto make a brand that has signed players, has new apparel for every season, and shoes that carry the Brand name. It's moving forward and it's futurebottom line will be to create as much profit by offering sig. shoes/apparel, than just retro's. So just be happy they're even making retro's andjust buy what you like, or move on to other shoes. Personally I'm done with what it will offer, but not with those classic OG retro's. And as far as apair of sneakers that bring back that old feeling of owning the latest in shoe technology that only NASA can figure out, I have to say I'm really hypedabout Nike's new Hyperdunk.

 

[sneakerafi]

Originally Posted by abernja

You make some good points, but you also make some contradicting points.


1 - what we would buy after the signature shoe was going to end, examples include the Dub-Zeros, which the first two pair were fire
*You said Dub Zero's were FIRE - SMH

2 - Now the Fusion which is a neat concept
*Horrible concept

3 - When I look at the sneaker game today
*If you consider it a game then I have no respect for you. It's all about love for sneakers.

4 - Nowadays I think the Brand is just putting out kicks for the sake of profit
*The whole reason Nike started was to make a profit. All they wanted to do was dethrone Adidas as the industry leader. If you ever thought it was to have a legacy then you've been mislead. Legacies can come with good product etc, but that's not why they started.

1. Ok maybe I went alittle overboard by saying Fire, I'll say they were coppable.

2. The Fusions I think are a nice concept in the sense of having two legendary shoes put together to come up up with one shoe, but to each his own. But in thesame respect the concept was misleading in the sense that JB tries to stay away from the whole "Nike or Nike Air", only to merge with a Nike productand have Nike Air on it, Hell the Countdown Retro 2 has Nike on it, why can't everything else, but that's another blog for another day.

3. Of course it's for the love!

4. Blame it on the Jordan Commericals from back in the day..lol

 

[burns1923]

Lets face it they survived for 23 years
You mean 11 years, this fall (1997-present). There was no Jordan Brand before 1997.

Present thoughts: The people running JB don't seem to have any class, respect, or style. I used to think the Jumpman was ultra awesome as a kid and now Ican't stand it. It represents selling out the MJ legacy, cheap, overpriced, unsatisfying products, cutting corners, and low standards.
They couldn't even get the CDP's right. MJ's "letter" on the box about the packs being a thank-you to customers? Yeah, the CarmineVI's with good quality and Nike Air with an OG colored XVII would've been a "thank you". Black/Cement IV's with the original (or atleast the '99) mold and Nike Air would've been a "thank you". Indiglo XIV's with the IX's would've been a "thank you". Black/Cement III's with Nike Air and Stealth XX's would've been a "thank you". Concords or Spacejams would've been a "thankyou". Please... most anything JB says now is spin or marketing. And MJ wants to talk about being true and authentic, never compromising? Hyp-o-crite.

JB's future: If they're going to continue with what they're doing now, for the sake of us as consumers and the possibility of salvaging anythingof the meaning of Air Jordans, then they should end the Jordan Brand and let Nike run things once more.

What's most likely? They'll keep with the garbage until sales start gradually falling, and then they'll drop Nike Air again - the very two wordsthey've gone out of their way to distance themselves from. People prefer Nike Air over the Jumpman. Always have, always will. They're NIKE AirJordans, and JB will never be able to shake that connection and history.

 

[jay1027]

i think its going downhill quick in 09 unless they decide to retro the white/infrared 6's

 

[jumpman623]

Supermanblue79 hit the nail on the head.

 

[lebrongames]

I hate the way they package 1 hot shoe then 1 ugly shoe....they could've just released em individually...

 

[neptunesfinest]

Originally Posted by Burns1923

Lets face it they survived for 23 years

You mean 11 years, this fall (1997-present). There was no Jordan Brand before 1997.

Present thoughts: The people running JB don't seem to have any class, respect, or style. I used to think the Jumpman was ultra awesome as a kid and now I can't stand it. It represents selling out the MJ legacy, cheap, overpriced, unsatisfying products, cutting corners, and low standards.
They couldn't even get the CDP's right. MJ's "letter" on the box about the packs being a thank-you to customers? Yeah, the Carmine VI's with good quality and Nike Air with an OG colored XVII would've been a "thank you". Black/Cement IV's with the original (or at least the '99) mold and Nike Air would've been a "thank you". Indiglo XIV's with the IX's would've been a "thank you". Black/Cement III's with Nike Air and Stealth XX's would've been a "thank you". Concords or Spacejams would've been a "thank you". Please... most anything JB says now is spin or marketing. And MJ wants to talk about being true and authentic, never compromising? Hyp-o-crite.

JB's future: If they're going to continue with what they're doing now, for the sake of us as consumers and the possibility of salvaging anything of the meaning of Air Jordans, then they should end the Jordan Brand and let Nike run things once more.

What's most likely? They'll keep with the garbage until sales start gradually falling, and then they'll drop Nike Air again - the very two words they've gone out of their way to distance themselves from. People prefer Nike Air over the Jumpman. Always have, always will. They're NIKE Air Jordans, and JB will never be able to shake that connection and history.
You basically summed up exactly how I feel about JB. I feel EXACTLY the same way about the Jumpman. Back when the only Jordan was his signature shoe,the Jumpman represented the man himself. It was awesome. Now, lets see...it represents nothing but compromised product design, poor quality and profiteering. Way to ruin it JB.

 

[gime2purr]

They need to bust that mean screechy.
(Screechy=U-turn)

 

[TheGift23]

JB plays the "Nike Air" trumpcard to bring back lost customers with rediculously priced, more accurate retros

Great point.

 

[bundy9]

Present thoughts: The people running JB don't seem to have any class, respect, or style. I used to think the Jumpman was ultra awesome as a kid and now I can't stand it. It represents selling out the MJ legacy, cheap, overpriced, unsatisfying products, cutting corners, and low standards.
They couldn't even get the CDP's right. MJ's "letter" on the box about the packs being a thank-you to customers? Yeah, the Carmine VI's with good quality and Nike Air with an OG colored XVII would've been a "thank you". Black/Cement IV's with the original (or at least the '99) mold and Nike Air would've been a "thank you". Indiglo XIV's with the IX's would've been a "thank you". Black/Cement III's with Nike Air and Stealth XX's would've been a "thank you". Concords or Spacejams would've been a "thank you". Please... most anything JB says now is spin or marketing. And MJ wants to talk about being true and authentic, never compromising? Hyp-o-crite.
very good points for real. JB could've at least have the decency to supposedly "close out" the line one a good note, with OGcolourways to the CDP packs to illustrate that "thank you" he so wishes to express. those packs could've been a lot more desirable with all OGcolourways. not that they aren't now but they are definitely a step down. YOU GUYS AT JB ARE DROPPING THE BALL. the ability for even larger sales, whichyou guys ultmately want are being missed. or is it that the strategy to milk the market with these take down versions which tease older OG sneakerheads andgive the younger ones somethig to say "cool" about, and then when even both these market segments get frustrated and have moved on (to the lebronline) come back with all what we asked for? its time to rethink da strategy.....

 

[vegatts]

Originally Posted by Burns1923

People prefer Nike Air over the Jumpman. Always have, always will. They're NIKE Air Jordans, and JB will never be able to shake that connection and history.

you're wrong. people in this community do. the vast vast majority of people do not. you people think they are holding back nike air for someconvoluted future selling strategy? it is far more simple than that. the average consumer does not know what an original 3-6 look like, they do not miss NikeAir on the back. all they know is that the jumpman is "cool." and so they sell. the fact is nike air on the back will not generate more sales to theaverage joe customer. overall i would say sales would be worse. people on here have the hardest time stepping outside of their opinions and looking at whatregular people think. we are not regular people. our opinions are the minority by far. we are not the only people that buy sneakers. we buy a lot of them buttheres so much fewer of us. i understand everyone on here's opinion but you guys all look at it from your personal shoe collector point of view and thenassume this is how everyone feels, but its not. and thats why we arent going to win. JB is a business, if you cant satisfy all of your customers wouldnt yousatisfy the much larger group?

 

[bundy9]

^ i think thats why much of the disgruntled opinions come about, but i agree with you...the whole aim of business is numbers and thats what JB is tryin to getat...to us: sucks, to business: bible-like philosophy. but i guesss that's why we minority are making the noise that we are though, tryin to see that theycould at least get it right without abusing the business objective.

 

[kickmatic23]

currently jordan brand sucks... future wise... jordan brand will suck

 

[Animal Thug]

Believe this:

JB will eventually re-release the HEAT that you guys all hope for. Like the White/infrared VI's, Bordueax VII's and even NIKE AIR on back ofsome of the best AJ's.

But that might be like 5-10 years from now..

Look out for the Slam-Dunk Package in 09'!!!!!

^