AirJordans23 wrote:
The bottom line is this...getting a chance to buy a pair of basketball shoes - the Air Jordan XI or otherwise - shouldn't be worth risking your safety or your life. It's that simple. The way Jordan Brand/Nike purposely limited the number of pairs of the Concord XI just to build up the hype and frenzy surrounding their release isn't just irresponsible, it's ethically deplorable. I live in Indianapolis, Indiana and the mall I usually go to for Jordans - Lafayette Square Mall - was the mall shown on the national news, Pardon the Interruption, and SportsCenter in video clips with people literally ripping the doors off their hinges and trampling over each other just to get inside. I watched it happen live, and was just as horrified when I saw the replays on television later. I've been collecting since 1990 and this ONE release has absolutely drained any enjoyment or satisfaction I might've gotten from collecting Air Jordans in general.
I'm a grown adult now, I've learned how to be responsible with my money and how to pay my bills and my taxes through discipline and hard work. Collecting Air Jordans was always a fun hobby to me, a connection to the past, to my youth, and to the greatest athlete in team sports history. I was very fortunate to have seen Michael Jordan play 6 times in person, during his prime in the 1990s, at Market Square Arena against Reggie Miller and the Pacers. And each time I saw him, Jordan put everything he had into the game. It didn't always work out for him...I was there when he unretired and shot 7-for-28 and the Bulls lost in overtime...but that intensity, that conviction, that indomitable will was always present. I saw him try to rip Reggie Miller's face off and then score 40 points, many of them on impossible fallaway jumpers and angry, vicious drives to the rim. I remember the player he was. I remember everything he did. But what I remember the most was the level of sheer competitive greatness that has never been surpassed both before or since.
To me and others from my generation who grew up watching the "greatest player ever", Air Jordans aren't just basketball shoes or mere fashion statements...these MEAN something. They're symbols of who we wished we could be like when we were little, symbols of what can be accomplished with hard work and determination. But most of all, they symbolize *excellence*.
That's why it's so infuriating when the quality of a lot of these retros released is so poor while the prices are so high. And it's disheartening when it becomes near impossible to get a pair of a particular model - in this case the Concord XI - without a lot of undue physical and emotional stress.
All my friends and co-workers who know nothing about collecting Jordans have all asked me the same question regarding the XI riots...why don't they just make more pairs? Why aren't they more widely available? And that's a good question. You never see people riot over Air Force Is or Chuck Taylors, yet those shoes do phenomenal sales every single year.
Jordan Brand could've avoided this whole mess by doing two things - A) letting all the stores do pre-orders or reservations...putting a certain amount down to reserve your pair, then paying the remaining balance on release day (failure to pay means the pair goes back on sale to the public), and B) simply making more pairs and doing a few restocks both in stores and online. A lot of stores in my area only got ONE pair in each size. Supply was nowhere close to satisfying demand, and that's what fuels the frenzy to get a pair. And this is just unacceptable.
In my opinion, only a class-action lawsuit against Jordan Brand/Nike by thousands of consumers will wake them up. I don't have any legal expertise, but I'm sure there are some of you out there who do. What can be done? How can we unite to stand up to this corporate entity that does NOT care about our well-being and let our voices be heard? Who can make them listen? A debacle like this should NEVER happen again, and if it does one of these days somebody is gonna get killed. Is that what it takes? Does Jordan Brand want people dying over pieces of leather and rubber? As a collector I can understand the desire to acquire these, as a rational person in the real world however I can never understand the lengths some people will go through to get them, all because of hype. Michael Jordan was the greatest competitor in team sports history. But we shouldn't have to be that competitive WITH EACH OTHER just to buy his shoes. It's all just backwards and ridiculous. MAKE MORE PAIRS. IMPROVE QUALITY. STOP OVERPRICING.
It's time that Jordan Brand actually reflected the defining trait of the athlete who founded it - EXCELLENCE. We as consumers need to stand up NOW, and we need to be ONE.
I'm 35 years old. This is not a memo. It's a mission statement.
Seriously?
Blame the product/company and not the consumers?
Seriously?
The first thing that popped into my head when I read your post was the following:
"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
It's not just shoes that cause certain segments of our society to lose all rational thought...it is cheap TVs and cheap computers among other things...where is your rant against Walmart, Best Buy, Toshiba, Sharp, etc???
Same thing has happened with Furbie's and Tickle Me Elmo's in the past...it is THE PEOPLE that are the the problem! I recall a Christmas a few years back when the current generation of consoles was causing the same sort of problems at stores...did you band together and file a class action lawsuit against Microsoft and Sony at the time???
Sorry...I know you are trying to be serious and all...but, really?
JM
I have to say I agree with JM. JB has very little to do with the madness, its the "Christmas-Crazys" that mess it up for the real heads who are just trying to get a pair to rock. It really sucks, but we have to accept that our beloved Air-Jordans have become a Christmas fad like a Furby or Tickle me Elmo.
I dont think a class action suit would hold up against Nike/JB. I do however think that there are many malls and stores that could learn a few lessons about security and orginization through a lawsuit. I had been stressing how important security and having an organized number system for these releases to one of my local malls but nobody listened. Everyone I talked to on the phone said "I dont know where you are from, but this is a very nice area and we have not had any problems in the past". I tried to stress to this one old lady how hectic this release could get, but she had the "they are just shoes" attitude.
Fast forward to Dec 23 @ 5:30 AM - Mall gates open - 4 people get seriously injured in the madness
its getting to be about time (has been time ) for us to walk away. I know as far as jordan retros go, the higher prices and worsening quality have been a turn off to me personally. 180 for cheaply made concords which originally retailed for 125 is just not worth it to me personally, but is to others and thats ok if thats how they want to spend their money. same thing with zoom rookies, really bothered me 200 bucks for a flightposite with no zoom, just very disappointing. in any case, Phil is gone, the good old days are LONG GONE, and will probably never be back, so we have 2 choices, buy them or don't buy them. Nike is big business and the object of a business is to MAKE MONEY bottom line. if they happen to put out a great product and make money too, well thats great especially for us. if they can put out an inferior product, and make more money, well thats even better for them. as long as the consumer keeps buying inferior products at a higher pricepoint, nothing is going to change. our complaints are falling on deaf ears, because the money is rolling in and the shoes are going to sell out no matter what and they know it. I can't say that i'm upset , just disappointed, but business is business, of course, more profits, is better than less profits.
