I still remember the original 1990 release like it was yesterday.
Sitting like a shrink wrapped masterpiece on a wall that included other masterpieces such as the Nike Air Trainer SC II, SC III, Tech Challenge II, Nike Air Command Force Pump, Reebok Twilight Zone and SXT Pumps -among tons of other gems -there stood the one everyone wanted, the Nike Air Jordan V in a stunning white, black, purple and teal.
There are different stories in regards to this shoes popularity back in the day but make no mistake, the original was highly coveted – at least in New York. It was a shoe that would evade me as a pre teen and towards the later part of the 90’s would become difficult to track down in the earlier days of internet sneaker culture
For me it wasn’t until 2004 that I’d find a brand new pair in my size, complete with the original box, hang tag, wrapping paper and insert card. They were pristine and for someone that believes in WEARING his shoes they went straight to my feet. At that time I was working a desk job at an insurance company and so I assumed there would be minimum wear and little to no chance of these falling apart – up until that point all my OG shoes had held up under casual wear-. I made it through an entire day of stares, oh $%*^# and are those real? under the assumption that I had scored a winner. Yup, I was feeling pretty complete as far as my wearable shoe stash went that was, until a walk from the kitchen to the couch revealed a flapping sensation. I couldn’t imagine what this feeling was, so I rushed to the couch to look at the my shoes and my worst nightmare was realized, the midsole was literally flapping off the side of the shoes. Toast. Realizing I could no longer wear them -reluctantly – off to eBay they would go. Fast forward two years later and the Grape Teal V would FINALLY get a retro alas, without Nike Air on the heel. Although I was pissed about the the lack of Nike Air branding like the originals, multiples were picked up since overall the retro was pretty good.
It would be another 7 years before talk of this color way returning and renewed hope that Nike Air might return to the heel of this shoe but ultimately that didn’t happen. Adding injury to insult the leather that was used on them was as stiff as cardboard.
Image Via Flight Club
On to 2018. FINALLY, for the first time ever Nike Air returns to the Jordan V grape and teal as well as with premium leather. Boom! It appeared that finally after 28 years of waiting we would get our hands on this shoe in all its OG glory that was until it was announced there would be no laces, no option to lace and thus no lace locks -an ode to Will Smith wearing these with no laces once or twice on the show and in press photos for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Will Smith himself -in a recent unboxing- declared that he hadn’t worn these with laces
but in actuality he was only half correct. Will DID wear these with laces on the show
and in press photos
which has lead many in the sneaker community to see this as a poor gimmick to create brand hype when in actuality Will already received a tribute Jordan V (WITH LACES) in 2013.
Talk on the forums such as Niketalk have been nothing short of hilarious
and given a lot of us the Jeffrey face
Whats next? Stone washed denim stitched into the uppers because Chris Rock wore them like that?
or some wack Seinfeld tribute because he wore them
Ultimately it appears that most people aiming for this shoe have hopes of possibly customizing the shoe to include laces. The official release date will be September 25 (Smith’s birthday) and availability will be limited. Will you be copping? What are your thoughts on this release? Check out photo’s below and Vote!
