rk to reconsider and restrategize how they releas

[Labi1995]

To start, this is really a combo entry, encompassing both Nike’s Air Foamposite One “Galaxy” and 2011’s Air Jordan 11 “Concord.” The AJ11 released in December with the Foamposites arriving two months later, both of which caused absolute pandemonium at stores all around the States. The hype around the first should be obvious: the “Concord” is one of the most iconic sneakers of all time and prior to 2011, it hadn’t seen retail shelves since 2001. The Foamposite on the other hand, was simply riding out a wave of popularity during the 2000s, peaking with these particular galactic theme (and later the “Paranormans”), its most ostentatious at the time.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people camped outside of any given store for these kicks, leading to fights, riots, arrests, cancelled releases, back-door sales, and threats against store clerks when supply did not meet demand. News outlets both local and national covered the chaos that ensured, turning the world onto the fanatic community of sneaker collectors.The violence and negative publicity persuaded Nike and its retailer network to reconsider and restrategize how they release sneakers with hopes of making the process more inclusive and safer, while still maintaining its core values of community and fun. They may not be the sole causes, but these two releases didn’t just bring sneaker culture to the mainstream, they pushed for a digital revolution in footwear:

At the same time this mainstream adoption was happening, fashion and footwear were deep in a digital revolution, where blogs and ecommerce supplanted longstanding print publications and physical storefrontsWe also can’t forget that the “Red Octobers” were so popular that over the next few years seemingly every sneaker model released in an all-red colorway.And that same company who thought to track the value of sneakers on the secondary marketplace in real time is now valued at over a billion dollars.When Kanye West ended his partnership with Nike in 2013, citing money, creative freedom and marginalizing executives, sneakerheads were undoubtedly frustrated. Kanye was hitting a stride in the footwear design world, having launched two popular models with Nike and equally revered collaborations with BAPE and Louis Vuitton.