How The Jumpman Can Jump Back Over Adidas
How Jordan Brand can overtake Adidas and save their product from sitting by pulling a page from its past
Sneaker culture in 2018 was very interesting, to say the least. It seems like every week there’s a new Yeezy or collab shoe dropping. With those drops comes a bunch of hype from various media outlets, “influencers,” that one guy that you use for your sneaker connect and countless other places. The problem with hype is that if something isn’t considered “cool” or “trendy” then the product is likely to sit on shelves. There’s no greater example of that than most of the Jordan retro releases last year.
Jordan 18 “Suede Pack,” Jordan 3 “Chlorophyll,” Jordan 10 “Shadow,” Jordan 11 “Platinum Tint,” Jordan 1 “Lincoln High.” Those are just some of the J’s released last year that are still sitting on shelves at stores. Some of those may have even hit clearance by now. This isn’t a case of a shoe not selling out locally, but of the shoe not selling at all.
It would be extremely short-sighted to allow the success of December’s “Concord” Retro 11 release to trick you into believing that Jordan Brand doesn’t have a problem with shoes collecting dust on shelves. The Concords are still available in grade school sizing. Jordan Brand isn’t putting enough attention and stock into the value of true collectors or sneakerheads, while overvaluing the “It’s a retro that’s under the number 15, it’ll sell no matter what color or quality of job we do” sentiment.
In addition to mass producing shoes that most have little to no interest in, Nike is betting largely on selling hype. However, Nike and Jordan have previously used a multipart solution to prevent shoes sitting on shelves that’s worked for them in the past.
The first part of the solution is simple: bring back the Defining Moment Packs, or just packs in general. I can hear the groans from those of you reading this now, and I’m reminded of Gotty telling me how NOBODY really bought that Jordan x Converse pack from last year. Look, even the best miss shots every now and then. But, Jordan Brand doesn’t miss when it comes to creating unique, definitive moments when they want to.
That’s exactly what these packs have done for the brand, collectors, hype beasts and casual buyers alike in the past. They created a moment for everyone involved. Bringing those moments and feelings back would be a wise move for the brand. If you’re wondering what releases would make sense for the return of packs, look no further than the man behind many of the iconic designs we love: Tinker Hatfield. Several of the Jordans that are currently sitting on the shelves of stores across the country come from the “Tinker” series.
Instead of releasing a Jordan that’s not going to move at a cost of $190 plus tax, you can take that model and pair it with the shoe that inspired the colorway. How about a properly remastered release of the Nike Air Trainer 1 in its original colorway, paired with a properly remastered Jordan 3 with Nike Air branding? Putting those shoes together along with some of Tinker’s sketches and notes from the design process for both of those would create a memorable pack. It would pique collectors interest and also allow fans of the Air Trainer to grab a remastered pair to add to their collection, with a set of J’s as an added extra.
The second half of the solution to the issue of Jordans sitting for months is simple: less is more. There was at least one retro pair released every single week in 2018. Oftentimes, there were multiple different pairs being released on the same day. From a simple math standpoint, by releasing at such a frequent rate, consumers are forced to pick and choose what they can buy. As a matter of fact if an individual was able to buy every “signature” release last year they would have spent $32,800. With that process, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Maybe it’s by design to release product so often so that more of it can make its way to outlets and clearance racks. The motivation behind the strategy is unclear. However, that doesn’t necessarily seem like the best approach to things for a brand that prides itself on “Quality inspired by the greatest player ever.”
Space things out a bit instead of releasing shoes every week. Maybe give us two pairs a month. Hell, some months don’t give us anything. Use that time to build up interest in the next big release. Think about an artist releasing an album. Instead of flooding the market with singles, drop one or two to build up buzz to something bigger. A way to do that would be taking a month or two off, letting “leaked images” and the like start finding their way online and getting people talking. Imagine if Nike took the month of January off — with the exception of the yearly Chinese New Year releases — and just started releasing teaser images and trailers for February’s Black History Month collection or the All-Star Weekend releases.
No matter what, anybody that is a fan of Jordans, sneaker culture, or is just a hypebeast can clearly tell that the iconic aura is starting to falter and may need to learn from its past. If the Jordan Brand wants to continue moving forward as the GOAT, maybe, just maybe, the brand should be inspired by the “greatest player ever” and learn from its mistakes like he once did. Isn’t that right, Detroit?
Jacob DeLawrence is a wizard with words. Follow him on Twitter, @_jdela.
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