Jordan Brand’s Homage To Mom and Pop Shops (and The Resale Market)

Jordan Brand will release the Air Jordan 1 “Lost and Found” next month, the latest version of arguably the most important sneaker ever created. Formerly called the “Chicago Reimagined,” the colorway is classic Chicago Bulls-era Michael Jordan with a purpose-built reconstruction that is intended to be as close to the original 1985 release as possible. The true beauty of this version of the iconic AJ1 is in its story, which is an homage to the “Mom and Pop” sporting goods stores that helped make the original Air Jordan an overwhelming success, and subsequently, planted the seeds for the sneaker resale market as we know it today.

For most sneaker enthusiasts and resellers, nostalgia plays a huge part in the story of their passion for the game. Collecting, reselling, and the overall business of sneakers has become a multi-billion dollar industry over the past nearly four decades of Air Jordan releases. A majority of the most important releases during that time period are retros that we’ve seen time and time again, albeit with slight variations with each new release. The “Lost and Found” Air Jordan 1 might be the latest in a long line of retro Jordan releases, but the significance of the story it tells cannot be understated.

When the first Air Jordan released back in 1985, the shoes sold incredibly well, but due to the mass production of the style, even though hundreds of thousands of pairs were sold, the sporting goods stores that carried the shoe heavily discounted the Air Jordan 1 in order to move remaining inventory. This created a unique opportunity for passionate Michael Jordan fans to find pairs as low as $19.99. While not everyone had the foresight to snatch up the discounted pairs and hold onto them for higher returns in the future, the opportunity the pricing presented did kick off a new way of thinking for a small handful of sports memorabilia enthusiasts.

Surprisingly, the opportunity was short-lived, and Nike produced fewer colorways and quantities of subsequent Air Jordan models. Thankfully, Michael Jordan threw a curveball at basketball fans and sneaker enthusiasts in 1994 when he decided to retire from the NBA and start a new career pursuing his dream of playing professional baseball. Nike didn’t make Air Jordan 1s for the baseball diamond like they would in later years, but they did reintroduce the Air Jordan 1 and other models as retros.

One of the first Air Jordans to re-release as a retro was the Air Jordan 1 Chicago. Sneaker enthusiasts welcomed the opportunity to get their hands on the classic Air Jordan with open arms, but Nike overestimated the demand and the same situation that happened in 1985, repeated itself in 1994. Small sporting goods stores and newly established sneaker stores found themselves with excess inventory. This time, however, the challenge to move inventory had changed drastically. Not only did these retailers need to find ways to sell the retro Air Jordan models, they still had the latest Air Jordan models on the shelves as well. 

This is where the “Lost and Found” Air Jordan 1, and its story, come full circle. Retailers, being overwhelmed with Air Jordans, would move inventory onto discount racks and sale tables, and push the retro products to the basements and back storage rooms of their stores in order to give the latest Air Jordans. Remember, at the time, there was no such thing as social media or even sneaker culture on the internet, so moving retros out of the way created a whole new hobby for enthusiasts.

“The hunt” for sneakers soon became a conversation throughout message boards like Nike Park, NikeTalk, and the InStyleShoes forums. Sneakerheads would travel to the long-forgotten “mom and pop” shops in their town or city, digging through old inventory, hoping to find a gem. The stories would pop up on sites like Myspace, which would send new groups of sneaker enthusiasts off on new adventures in search of “lost and found” sneakers that could be shared as personal grails, or flipped for a profit. 

Although many of the “Mom and Pop” stores have long since closed, the entrepreneurial spirit that they began with has evolved, much like the sneaker business, into the more dynamic and fast-paced sneaker resale business that we love today. While Jordan Brand might be paying respects to the small sporting goods stores of yesterday with the “Lost and Found” Air Jordan 1 release, they’re simultaneously celebrating the birth of the secondary market that grew from their ingenious marketing and limited edition production strategies. The nostalgia that many have for the early days of the sneaker community and the days of “lost and found” sneakers, gives this Air Jordan 1 a perfect recipe to be the hottest, most hyped, and most profitable sneaker release of the year.

For the highest profit margins, be sure to to consign your Air Jordan 1 “Lost and Found” with Stadium Goods as soon as possible.