Other than commiserating about their latest ‘L’ on SNKRS, there’s nothing sneakerheads love to talk about more than a shoe they think Nike should retro. And, if a sneaker does retro, there’s nothing sneakerheads enjoy more than debating whether Nike got it right. So, why doesn’t Nike bring back more popular models like the 2001 Jet Flight basketball sneaker or the Air Max2 runner from ‘94? A lot of them seem like no-brainers, yet Nike continues to ignore our cries. Instead, we see a barrage of Air Jordan 1’s and Dunks in almost every color you could ever imagine. Don’t get me wrong; I love AJ1’s and Dunks and enjoy seeing all the OG colorways and fresh new takes on these models. So why does Nike keep dropping the same shoes over and over instead of digging into their vaults and bringing back some more gems?
The reality is that bringing back a sneaker is a highly complex process. Nike doesn’t just snap their fingers and resurrect sneakers we’d like to see come back. There’s a lot of research, time, energy, and money behind the process. So, what does it take for Nike to give the green light to a retro release? Here’s a breakdown of what has to happen in order for Nike to bring back a classic silhouette.
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Field Research
For any model to even have a chance at retroing, there has to be research and feedback on whether the shoe would get anyone’s attention. Yes, focus groups asking kids what they think of a particular sneaker is real. It’s not always the best way, but it’s at least considered when deciding what to retro. And, if Nike holds a focus group with some 15 to 17-year-old kids, and they don’t love the sneaker for whatever reason, the shoe may just go away.
There’s already a lot of knowledge and data available to the folks over at Nike’s Beaverton headquarter, so there is more to it than just what the kids think is cool these days. “A ton of variables go into how Nike and other brands decide which classic sneakers from the archives to bring back as a Retro,” noted ESPN NBA Feature Writer Nick Depaula. “Of course, the product team will look at how successful and coveted a shoe originally was when it first released, and then try to plan against any anniversaries or upcoming moments that might connect back to what made the original sneaker so beloved.”
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For Jordan retros, there is a more predictable playbook. It’s not always the case, but typically the critical years are the 10, 15, 23, and 30-year anniversaries. Jordan Brand will end up with different silhouettes celebrating various anniversaries each year, with one of the biggest ones being the 30th. For example, the Air Jordan V was big in 2020 with the classic ‘Fire Red’ and the new Off-White releases. Then, add on a bunch of other colorways on top of that to maximize the moment and profitability.
Even if there is a lot of love for a past model, it may never even get off the ground if it was a signature sneaker for a former Nike athlete. “For past signature sneakers, brands will also weigh out how relevant a given player is in today’s landscape,” added DePaula. “They’ll often have to re-sign that player to a current endorsement agreement if a past contract has expired now that they’re retired, with players typically getting a 5% royalty on all sales and a merch budget.
This is often a lengthy process and not worth the risk of signing a former player without clearly knowing how the retros will do.” There is a little more flexibility when it comes to PEs, especially if the brand still has a relationship with said player. We often see this with Air Jordan PEs like the unofficial Kobe Bryant AJ9 or Hyper Royal AJ13 similar to the pair worn by Quentin Richardson.
The Mold
The most expensive part of the shoe is creating the die-cut mold, which is basically a two-piece metal cookie cutter with foam injected inside to create the exact shape of the shoe. And it isn’t just a single mold – they make one for every half size. So, there’s a mold for a size 9, and a 9.5, and a 10, etc. This is why you’ll only see full-size shoes for smaller companies – they can’t afford to make a mold for every half size. Storing a half-size mold for every sneaker ever is just not feasible, so they melt the metal down and use it again for something else.
Nike factory worker preparing an outsole mold (Image via Josh Spear)
Former Nike Global Brand Creative Director and The Bruin Co. founder Michael Hernandez broke it down in a recent post on his Instagram account:
“The factories don’t keep the tooling molds for most footwear models from the past. They recycle the metal for new molds. Reissuing an old model most often would require new tooling molds to be made from the original 2D drawings. To do this also requires a new investment to pay for the new molds. For a reissued model to pay for the cost of the new molds it would need to sell 100K to 500K+ units to pay for the molds. Depending on the complexity and quantity of the molds. Many of the old models couldn’t command those kind of units in sales. So, the bottom line reissuing an old model is not always cost-effective. Unless you project sales of the model to be strong over a few years or more. Not a few seasons.”
As much as people complain about Nike releasing the same models over and over again, it makes a lot of sense from a profitability standpoint. There is low risk involved when deciding whether to drop yet another AJ1 or AM95 colorway because they know it will sell well.
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Sometimes, destroying the molds can become a very costly mistake, like when the original Foamposite molds were destroyed. Nike had to completely reconstruct the mold from scratch when deciding to retro the Foamposite. Nike faced this same issue when deciding to bring back the Air Huarache in all its OG glory, which is why it took so long for those to retro. It took a lot of convincing by the product line managers and a lot of patience. To get it right, Nike Designer Colin Behr and his team had to completely redesign the tooling of the Huarache to match the original. Nobody could have predicted these retro models would dominate the market at the time of original production for these.
Getting It Right
It takes a lot of different people at Nike to bring a model back – from designers to marketing, to developers, to the product line managers. Typically, Nike can figure out what the success looks like before they start creating the shoe; that’s part of the job of the product line manager. So, if Nike decides to bring a shoe back to celebrate a specific moment, they will try to bring it back because it will have a market and consumer impact – not necessarily a business impact.
Even if there is significant interest and a special upcoming moment, that still doesn’t guarantee a sneaker will retro. 2020 came and went with no 15th anniversary Air Jordan 20, which still has mixed reviews. When Nike does a retro, they’re usually highly confident they’ll do well. For example, Nike spent the money to recreate the tooling for LeBron’s classic Zoom Generation. Or, Nike will bring back models in which the tooling hasn’t been destroyed and hope they’ll do well (some do, some don’t). One extremely popular basketball shoe from the early 2000’s – the Jet Flight – the tooling doesn’t exist anymore, so it’ll have to be remade and cost a lot.
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So far, Nike leadership and perhaps market research have not believed in investing in the model, so it hasn’t come back yet. That could change if it gets a lot of buzz behind it. They may see an appetite for the shoe. For the Air Alarm, a mid-’90s classic tennis sneaker worn by Andre Agassi and even Gary Payton, the Nike tennis division made a concerted effort to bring it back, but the dimensions were off. So even once they build the molds, sneakers still get denied. It is a highly complex project to reverse-engineer a shoe from scratch. But with both Travis Scott and LeBron James breaking out OG pairs of the 1984 Nike Mac Attack recently, maybe the Swoosh will get another chance to perfect a vintage tennis classic soon.
So, the next time you @Nike to retro a particular sneaker, just know that they have probably already considered it. There are many specific challenges at each step in the process of retroing a sneaker, and it’s a process Nike certainly doesn’t take lightly. If anything, we should be grateful they haven’t brought back more models that didn’t remain true to originals, just to make a few extra million dollars. With all that being said, @Nike please bring back the Air Jet Flight, the Zoom Ultraflight, the Air Alarm, the Air Max2, and about 25 other kicks. ?
