Anniversaries are always a big deal. Especially when your popularity may somehow overshadow your accomplishment. We may tend to forget about the celebratory moments in the midst of everyday life, but nonetheless a great accolade is worth noting.
As millennials and baby boomers alike, we’ll be celebrating 2018 like it’s 1999 pretty soon. Remember any great happenings from 2008? I do, and it mostly consists of some of Jordan Brand’s greatest rollouts. Product was cool, (even if poorly crafted), concepts and marketing was in fluctuation, and people still had love for the Jumpman. Seemingly so, that same love seems to be waning going into a new year that marks a decade since. What can be done to fix this you may ask? I suggest JB enlist the help of two of Chicago’s finest and most notable designers, who also happen to already be under the Nike and Jordan umbrellas respectively. Those two people being the likes of Virgil Abloh and Don C. How would they contribute more than they already have? I suggest they bring back CDPs/Collezione Packs.
Here’s a few reasons why…
It commemorates a decade since the idea was conceived and brought to the market as well as the thirty-third year for the Air Jordan. $375 for the initial package (X’s/XIII’s) seemed extremely steep back then, while every package afterwards retailed for $310. Now, we have Jordan packages retailing for $500 and singular Air Jordan releases upwards of the $300 mark, all due to “inflation.” And we’re definitely only going to anticipate one of the two shoes. At least in 2008 there were some packages that weren’t hit and miss. Of course December was a culmination of two of the greatest silhouettes in the line from a fan perspective, and the aftermarket prices now show that.
Since a lot of the shoes have retroed for what seems like the umpteenth time, most notably with the Black/Cement 3 getting the Nike Air treatment in 2018, it’s an opportunity for Virgil and Don C to put their spin on old classics with new colorways. Just look at the Nike “The Ten” collection for example. If Virgil can make React Hyperdunks attractive to NBA players, imagine what he could do with some of the under appreciated higher numbered Jordans!
A XX8 and 5 package designed by the two to celebrate the thirty-third iteration in the JB line? Sounds pretty interesting to me.
It would be an opportunity for the two to develop apparel to coincide with each packages’ release. Don C has already wowed us time and time again with his Just Don takes on the Jumpman line, like Michigan and UNC shorts draped in embellishments or luxurious bomber jackets. Virgil has pushed past almost every one of your favorite high fashion lines with OFF-WHITE. Imagine if each shoe in the package got Just Don and OFF-WHITE apparel to pair with the kicks. Hypebeasts eat your heart out.
It would also be an opportunity for the two designers to develop special commemorative packaging that we all could enjoy. Virgil honing in on his design ethos and Don C being able to follow up the Just Don 2’s packaging would make any collector smile. Definitely worth noting that every CDP box was the same in uniformity the first time around. They could potentially do this differently. It may take longer than twelve months to make it happen, but the sky is the limit with a mass manufacturing giant like Nike/Jordan Brand backing you.
Last but not least, Virgil Abloh has only crafted an Air Jordan 1, and Don C only an Air Jordan 2. The former winning 2017s Footwear News’ Sneaker of the Year award. Paired together, they could bring some much needed hype and anticipation back to the line that has always been a basketball and pop culture phenomenon.
My how time flies! With all this being said, let’s just hope for some great new in-line product that rivals something of the recent Aleali May AJ 1. The brand that single-handedly changed the guard and shifted the culture could use a tune up in its thirty-third year. Especially for the fashionable folks with a basketball jones to boot.
Virgil Abloh and Don C could be the Best of Both Worlds indeed.
