During Nike, Inc.’s Fiscal 2018 Second Quarter report, Trevor Edwards, Nike Brand President, spoke about the immediate future of Jordan Brand and its need to closer covet its most prized possession: retro Air Jordans.
It’s no secret that over the past few years retro Jordans have grown far less exciting. In fact, for the first time in a long while, beloved retros aren’t selling out. Adding further insult to injury, they’re sitting motionless on sales racks. Consumer fatigue, overproduction and increasingly lofty sales goals appear to be the cause of this change in dominance. A change that saw Jordan Brand lose its U.S. market share position to adidas.
Edwards, speaking of the sudden decline, plans to remedy the situation by ensuring that Jordans revert back to the exclusivity of years past stating “we want to keep Jordan icons coveted and special, which is why we are proactively managing the exclusivity of specific iconic styles.”
In lesser terms, starting next year it won’t be as easy to score “iconic styles.” Those included will likely stretch from the Air Jordan 3 – which celebrates a 30th anniversary next year – to the Air Jordan 11, making stops with the Air Jordan 4, 5 and 6. The Air Jordan 1 will remain a hallmark, consistent in its visibility and stance as an anchoring staple.
Even if Jordan Brand succeeds in making retros grailworthy again, they’ll still need to meet increasing and far-reaching sales goals. Slowing production on styles that sell well is a redundancy that makes this announcement, well, intriguing.
Nike brand president says “we want to keep Jordan icons coveted and special, which is why we are proactively managing the exclusivity of specific iconic styles”
Translation: Js are going to become rare / harder to cop again. $NKE
— Sara Germano (@germanotes) December 21, 2017
