By now, you should expect to see a number of gems on Black Friday each year (see The Complete History of Black Friday Retro Jordans).
For our latest installment of Kick Chronicles, we, the Nice Kicks staff, identify and detail our favorite and most memorable Black Friday release of all time. Check out the shoes each of us selected, and share with us your favorite and most memorable Black Friday ever.
Ian Stonebrook
Jordan Melo 5.5 and Air Jordan 3 Black/Cement
When I think of Black Friday, I think of going to the Howell outlets with friends or going to Best Buy and trying to talk my mom into getting me the BG album with “I Know” on it. Honestly, I’ve never been big on the whole Black Friday thing. The excitement of getting up earlier in the cold with friends and fam and the energy of the lines is cool, but it’s just got to be a tad too much.
The two Black Friday releases that really stand out to me are the Black/Baby Blue Jordan Melo 5.5s from 2005 and the Air Jordan 3 Black/Cement from 2011. In 05, I was in the mall in Indiana with my mom when the 5.5s dropped. I was pretty set on getting them to hoop in but just wasn’t all the way for them. If I recall correctly, that was the same holiday season when the History of Air Pack dropped and Finish Line had a ton of White/Red Air Max 1s on display. The mesh looked so clean. I passed on both and ended up scoring the “Last Shot” 14s and “Infrared” 90s for Christmas. Not sure how I worked that one, Mamaw and Papaw must’ve got me on the Jordans and my folks on the 90s. What’s funny is with the weather in Michigan I couldn’t break out the 90s until spring.
The Black/Cement 3s were the only Black Friday launch I suppose I’ve ever gotten and they’re actually the last pair of retro Jordans I’ve ever purchased. I remember being super hurt about not getting the 4s the next year, but in hindsight I’m just fine without ’em.
The worst Foamposite? Where do I start? It’s funny, when I was in high school I remember hearing guys on Nike Talk that were five to ten years older than me bellyaching about shoes like the Air Force Max coming out in too many colorways and how their favorite shoe was getting ruined. I never really got that until Foams popped. I understand it’s a business and you’ve got to get it while the getting’s good, but so many Foams came out over the course of a four year run that it really diminished my interest on my favorite shoe. My boy Brett put it best, half of the Foams that came out during that period looked “sweaty.” An already out there shoe was glitzed up to further glamorize its price tag, when in fact the price tag originated from the tech and the design. I feel like the shoe’s price point and positioning as a status symbol was overworked and ended up kind of deading the shoe for me. These elephant print ones would never be worn on my feet, but hey, I like the “Wheats” a lot so it ain’t all bad.
Twitter: @ianstonebrook/Instagram: ianstonebrook
