2004 Nike Air Jordan IV Retro in White, Chrome, Classic Green

Here is another Air Jordan IV retro that came out in 2004. This was was nearly all white, with some green and chrome highlights. I bought a few pairs of these and only wore one but I was never really into them either. I don't think they were ever as popular as the originals. Below are photos of the pair I never wore and kept stored in its box. As you can see, the mesh 'net' areas turned yellow.

These also were fillers for me until I would be able to get one of the original colorways I wanted so bad. Having a pair of AJ4's that I could wear was better than not having any even if it wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Nike Air Jordan IV Retro in White & Military Blue

As I wrote before, the Air Jordan IV is one of my all-time favorite sneaker and I've had many over the years albeit mainly all retro releases. Of the original 4 colorways the only one I never happened to get a retro pair of was the white/red/black which was my 2nd favorite color scheme. I still plan to someday but since I got my beloved 'cements' it's not really high on my list of priorities.

Another of the colorways I bought during the retro years was the white & military blue. I had about 3 or 4 pairs of these but I was never all that into them. I wore one for a while and eventually sold it. Yeah, they're nice but let's face it--AJ aficionados have never been all that big on this pair. It might be because Michael Jordan himself never wore this color during his Chicago Bulls days. I'm not completely sure on that so don't quote me. But for me that wasn't an issue as I did not watch basketball in those days. For me it was a matter of these being more seldom seen than the other colors. In fact, during high I can really only remember one guy who wore these. So since I didn't see them much I didn't long for them much. You know what they say: out of sight, out of mind. Plus I never cared for the grey areas on these and those missing black areas that were present on the cement's and the red's were essential. At the time though I was pretty content with having a white pair of AJ 4's that I could rock until something better came along.

These photos are of a pair that I never wore.

This is a pair I will not be picking up if they ever retro it again. They are cool but I'm just a lot more selective about what I have and wear now. Instead of having one pair of every kind of cool sneaker I'd rather have 2 or 3 pairs of the ones I really like. But I will say these AJ 4's looked a lot better after some wearing, as the next photo will testify:

NEXT POST: More Air Jordan IV!!

Nike Air Jordan IV Retro (1999) in White / Black / Cement

One of my all time favorite sneakers--I'm talking top 3 here--is the Nike Air Jordan IV. I first saw these in 9th grade and fell instantly in love. They were to be seen everywhere--school, church, stores, the streets. I had no idea what they were but they looked really cool to me. On my way home from school one day I happened to encounter one of my grade school friends who ended up at another high school and he was wearing a pair of these. His were really beat up and worn but looked great. I don't know if by that point I knew what they were called but I do remember asking him how much they cost. He told me $100. I was like 'holy crap!' There was no way I was going to get $100 sneakers. The most expensive sneakers I had up to that point were like $45 and those were considered pretty expensive. Anyway, I'm sure this dude ended up throwing his away after that school year and I do regret not asking him to let me have them. He probably would have given them to me as no one at that time was anticipating that these would have been worth plenty of money nowadays.

I didn't get my own pair of AJ IV's until many years later and they happened to be from an online place called Vintage USA. That may have been the first online sneaker auction website and I was able to get a pair that was a bit worn down but looked really good. I really wanted to wear them eventually and I ended up destroying the foam midsoles which had broken down due to their age and condition.

Finally in 1999 I got my chance to get a brand new pair of these when they were being retro'ed. I ordered directly from Nike and the price surprisingly was still $100. This time money was not an issue. The issue was that they mistakenly sent me a size smaller than I had ordered. I tried to return it but they no longer had the size I had ordered. So I kept them and wore them not too many times since they were smaller than I needed and they hurt my feet. Afterwards I put them permanently away in their box and eventually sold them for over $400. This is how they looked before I sold them:

I had no idea that these were ever going to be reissued again. When they came out in 2012 I tried to get a pair but totally missed out. Then earlier this year my dream came true. Finally I had a chance once again to have them and I don't know how I managed but I was able to get through the Nike website on the Saturday they debuted and ordered the size I needed. Of course there is a huge difference in price as these cost $220, the most any AJ IV retro has ever cost. But now I am the happy owner of a sneaker that I have wanted ever since high school. And every time I go out wearing these shoes there is always someone who compliments them.

NOTE: ALL PHOTOS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR OF THIS BLOG & ARE NOT ALLOWED FOR REPRODUCTION OR USE ON OTHER WEBSITES WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED CONSENT OF THE OWNER.  

Nike Air Jordan V Retro in Black

Everyone loves Air Jordans, right? Or everyone has at least one pair they can't live without for sure. For me it's always been the 4's but I also like the 5's a lot. So much so that when they were retro'ed in 2011 in black I had to get 2 pairs. I got one in size 10.5 and one in 11 and my plan was to keep the better fitting pair and sell the other. Well, these sold out pretty quickly and I was lucky to have gotten 2 of them. I believe I ended up keeping the size 11 and sold the 10.5 for a little bit more than I paid for them.

I remember first seeing the 5's in 10th grade. There were white ones and black ones. They both looked great but were way out of my ability to get them. Thank goodness for retros, though I must admit as much as I still am passionate about sneakers, they were ultimately more meaningful when I was a teen.

For whatever reason I did not end up keeping these for long and I sold them after a few wearings. They were still like new and I sold them on ebay for just about what I paid for them new. In hindsight I do regret parting with these because I really like black nubuck and it's so hard finding any nice black sneakers made of nubuck these days. The good news is that these are coming out again this year and I fully hope to cop a pair.

Here are photos of the pair I kept and wore for a little bit.

NOTE: ALL PHOTOS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR OF THIS BLOG & ARE NOT ALLOWED FOR REPRODUCTION OR USE ON OTHER WEBSITES WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED CONSENT OF THE OWNER.