A funny thing happened on the way to buying a pair of the just released Air Jordan 3 Cyber Monday on Saturday morning. I had a written a short piece on why these kicks were going to become my new regulars and earn a place on my daily rotation alongside my cadre of Ultra Boosts and Internationalists. The simple color palette and positive buzz I was hearing from those who already had a pair only served to bolster my opinion of the kicks. My mind was made up that this was an easy buy as late as Friday afternoon.
But then I wore my Black Flip Air Jordan 3s that night and had a “revelation”. These kicks I had purchased just a few years ago are pretty great and guess what, they still are. While the elephant print upper might turn off some, I feel the concept gives them a leg up on a typical black and white sneaker, which is what the Cyber Mondays are. I already have a handful of Air Jordan 3s in my collection and as much as I wanted to add one more the following day, the remainder of 2016 has more than a few retros that I was interested in far more than the Cyber Mondays, including the Air Jordan 3 True Blue and the Air Jordan 11 Space Jam.
Basically, I convinced myself out of spending $190 (plus tax) on a pair of sneakers that would have gotten plenty of use but ultimately would have been a superfluous addition to the collection. Little did I know the rest of the sneaker world had the same idea.
I just assume that anytime an Air Jordan 3 drops, it’s an automatic sell out. It might hang around for a few days like the bizarre Joker or Crimson drops, but for the most part 3s typically aren’t long for the shelves. But with so much good word about the shoe and the fact that it was a versatile pair to boot prior to release, I just figured I would take the L on them and just save up for the next thing. As it turns out, that wasn’t the case as the Cyber Mondays can be had at any store online and in-person in any size for $190. That’s kind of crazy, but I think it’s a great kind of crazy.
The shelving of the Cyber Monday 3s follows in a long line of sneakers that we just assumed would be a pain in the ass to buy on release day but ended up sitting way longer than expected in 2016. If you’re a Jordan apologist, you could say that the lack of a story behind the shoe and the dropping day and date with the latest adidas Yeezy drop contributed to the lack of interest, but there are plenty of retros available now at stores that have been around for months and not all of them had to compete with a Yeezy. Seems like the “remastered” or “premium” concept only works on very limited releases. If the Cyber Monday had a PRM label and a $400 price tag, it would have sold out in seconds.
Over a year ago, I laughed off the trashiest of trash Jordan retros, the Pro Stars Air Jordan 5. I think they are an affront to the sneaker community in regards their terribleness and that if you paid retail price for them, you should pay somebody even more money to take them away from you. At the same time, I didn’t think that it would affect Jordan Brand’s bottom line because inevitably those monstrosities would disappear from stores and new retros would take their place. Now that we have multiple retros just sitting and stores are dropping prices in an effort to get rid of them, especially a model that is as revered as the 3, maybe this is the tipping point that Jordan Brand needs to see and revise their strategy. No, I’m not advocating a return to the 2010-2013 era when even the lamest of retros we selling out but rather a refocus on what makes something like the Shattered Backboards an instant classic (read: great story, materials and reasonable price and production numbers) and something that should be great like the Cyber Monday 3s (or even the 1s) a “failure”.
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