sneakers
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Source: Focus On Sport / Getty
Some more classic Retro Air Jordan from yesterday-decade are set to release as it’s being reported that the OG “Metallic” colorway to the Air Jordan 5 is going to return in 2025.
According to Sneakernews Nike will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Air Jordan 5 “Metallic” Breds by retroing the original colorway that made it’s debut in the 90’s and had everyone in love with the reflective tongue. Though the sneakers did release back in 2016 in its original glory, sneakerheads have no problem with plans of another release almost a decade later. Well, resellers holding onto the 2016 pairs might, but who cares.
Per Sneakernews:
First debuting in 1990 at the All-Star Game, the Air Jordan 5 “Black/Metallic” is regarded as one of the greatest OG Jordans in history. Noted for its black nubuck upper, oversized reflective tongue, and translucent rubber netting on the upper, this all-time classic last hit retail in 2016 with a $220 MSRP. That heightened pricing was a reflection of the Jumpman’s Remastered execution of Retro footwear — a true-to-original approach in regards to shape and material.
According to @zsneakerheadz and Sneaker Files, Jordan Brand is planning to bring back this OG classic; full specifications are unknown, but these are expected in 2025.
These are definitely double or triple-up worthy.
Will you be copping the Air Jordan 5 “Metallic” in 2025? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: @jbalvin / Instagram
The J Balvin x Air Jordan 3 was one of the most hyped releases of 2023 and now the black version of the sneakers and best believe these will not be an easy copp.
According to Sneakernews, the J Balvin x Air Jordan 3 “Rio” is set to release this May 22 and with the sneaker already getting all kinds of hype thanks to DJ Khaled forcing his security to carry him so he wouldn’t dirty his exclusive pair, you can expect to have a hard time coming by a pair for retail. Having made their debut on J Balvin’s feet himself not too long after the first cream colored pair released in September of 2023, sneakerheads were wondering if the black version would ever see the light of day with a general release.
Well, those prayers have been answered and heads will have an opportunity to copp what’s sure to be one of the most hyped drops of 2024.
Per Sneakernews:
Last September, J Balvin released what is undoubtedly his best project with Jordan Brand to date — the Air Jordan 3 inspired by the picturesque sunsets in his hometown of Medellín. As a follow-up to this applause-worthy collaboration, he’s teaming up with the Jumpman for a variation of the design inspired by his unbreakable bond with his son.
In fact, Balvin was so eager to show the public his upcoming release that he was spotted in them in New York City way back in Fall of last year. It wasn’t until an Instagram post from the Colombian superstar weeks later that revealed the true nature of the design; although primarily black in its color, the J Balvin Jordan 3 “Rio” is inspired by the light given to him by his son.
As of now the sneakers are set to drop on May 22nd for a cool $250, but don’t be surprised if Nike pushes that date back as they’re notorious for switching up release dates on hype sneakers.
Check out pics of the J Balvin x Air Jordan 3 “Rio”‘s and let us know if you’ll be trying your luck when these drop next month.
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Source: JD Sports / JD Sports
It’s been a slow few weeks for hypebeasts as the recent Nikes and Jordan drops have been less than stellar. But anticipation has been building for the long-awaited Air Jordan 4 “Military Blue”‘s and judging from the numbers, it should be an easy copp for sneaker enthusiasts.
According to Sneakernews, Nike has gotten the memo from sneakerheads to mass produce their most highly-anticipated releases (instead of making them limited) and will be dropping a million pairs of their retro Air Jordan 4’s. Originally the sneakers were only going to be seeing a 500,000 pair drop as the “Reimagined” Air Jordan 4 “Bred”‘s did, but with the hype behind this colorway reaching a fever pitch, Nike decided to give us what we want while cashing in bigly as these are basically a guaranteed sell out on arrival.
Sneakernews reports:
When comparing the Military Blue and Bred Reimagined 4s, it’s worth noting that the Military Blues will most definitely be met with more demand. While sneakerheads were able to satiate their need for “Bred” Jordan 4s as recently as 2019 before the Reimagineds dropped this year, the Military Blue colorway hasn’t surfaced in any shape or form since 2012. For that reason, news of high stock numbers come as promising development for all those looking to secure a pair (sorry, resellers).
If production does in fact meet consumer demand, we’ll most likely see shock drops and other non-traditional rollouts just as we did with the Bred Reimagineds both before and after their official release on February 17th.
This is a good look for true-blue sneakerheads who’ve had to deal with sneaker resellers and sneakerbots that eat up inventory on hyped up sneakers that drop in limited quantities. With a million pairs available not only will it give heads a fair shot at copping for retail, but resale prices shouldn’t be ridiculously high.
Hopefully they do the same with their future Travis Scott and Off-White collaborations. Damnit, Jordan Brand, drop those purple and white Travis Scott Air Jordan 4’s!!!
The Air Jordan 4 “Military Blue”‘s are set to drop on May 25th. Will you be copping? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: @ninachanel / Instagram
Jordan Brand may have a new must-have collaboration on their hands as the sneaker world was buzzing on Thursday (March 28) when Nina Chanel Abney gave us a sneak peak of her upcoming Air Jordan 3. The shoe promises to break a few necks and earn even more double takes when they hit the streets.
Two years after releasing her first Jordan Brand collaboration in the Air Jordan 2, Abney returns with her take on the highly popular Air Jordan 3 silhouette, which she remixed with an interesting color blocking that immediately caught the eyes of sneaker enthusiasts across social media. Aside from the spiffy colorway, the materials used to remix the silhouette add to its allure. According to Sneaker News, it’s all about the details when it comes to these.
Sneaker News reports:
Relying heavily on green shades — Bicoastal and Malachite to be exact — the Nina Chanel Jordan 3s are built with premium suede and canvas uppers, with Fossil-colored midsoles set to match the laces, eyelets, interiors, and the customized heel back Interestingly, these Air Jordan 3s also feature thicker roped laces which aren’t too common on Air Jordans, but they add that lifestyle aesthetic that Abney is clearly looking to capture.
Yeah, these might hit “Grail” status before they even hit the shelves.
The Nina Chanel Abney Air Jordan 3s are set to release June 20 for $225. Check out pics of the kicks and let us know if you’ll be copping in the comments section below.
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Source: WREG / WREG
The high-stakes sneaker robberies doesn’t seem to be slowing up as authorities continue to announce new busts on damn near a monthly basis.
This time around, police in Memphis (where Nike’s warehouse is based) busted nine people in connection with the robbery of a boxcar, where looters made off with $50,000 worth of Nike sneakers earlier this month. According to WKRN News 2, a “concerned citizen” tipped off police to what they said seemed like a gang of stolen Nike sneakers being stashed at a Frayser home in the 1400 block of Todds Creek Cove.
When police began surveilling the house in question, they observed a few men loading boxes of Nike sneakers into a Dodge Durango that was parked in front of the property. That was all the evidence they needed to move forward with the bust and put the cuffs on the nine-person operation.
WKRN News 2 reports:
Approximately 35 cases of Nike shoes were found inside the Dodge Durango, three boxes were found inside a Dodge Grand Caravan, and 30 cases were discovered inside the house, based on the reports.
Police confirmed the Nike shoes were stolen overnight from the CSX rail yard located in the 1400 block of North Holmes Street. The total value of the shoes was determined to be approximately $50,000.
Nine individuals were arrested but as of now, only the following five have been identified:
Tracy Fleming (46)
Rah’heem Tuggle (25)
Darren Stewart (28)
Troy Gaines (31)
Tray’Vion Smith (25)
Though police didn’t say which sneakers were amongst the stolen property (inquiring sneaker minds always wanna know), with the March lineup that Nike and Jordan Brand have coming up, it was more than likely a bunch of bricks that made those boxes that much heavier to carry. Just sayin’.
The five men identified were hit with burglary of a vehicle and theft of property worth $10,000 to $60,000 for their transgression.
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Source: @fatjoe / Instagram
Fat Joe took to Instagram to cop pleas for securing a pair of Donald Trump’s Insurrection-worthy sneakers. Needless to say, the social media sneaker community was not pleased, and they let him know.
It goes without saying that Fat Joe is one of sneaker culture’s most prominent members, and had a hand in boosting its popularity when he famously licked a pair of soles back in 2004 on an episode of MTV Cribs. With this in mind, Joe Crack took to IG to explain that he is in no way a Trump supporter, but he felt obligated to cop a pair of January 6’s because he’s a “collector.”
“If you collect art, do you really know what Basquiat was into?” said Joe. “Do you know what Andy Warhol was into? Any of these artists that you was into? You love the art, so you get it. I guess they separate art from the person.”
Okay. The Bronx rapper’s rationale didn’t improve as he went on, respectfully.
He added, “Now, me as a sneaker collector, I had to get my hand on the Trumps. But listen, I have thousands and thousands and thousands of pairs of sneakers. When everybody flipped on Kanye, I went and bought the two most exclusive Kanyes ever.”
Again, okay.
And just for good measure, he said, “Once again, I’m not a Trumper. I dislike Trump. I’m not voting for him, not now, not never, but I’m a sneaker collector into the art.” Joe also made sure to mention that he didn’t pay for the kicks, so there’s that.
This is where we gotta mention that there’s a difference between art and kitsch. A constant criticism is that Trump is the same guy who was tossing paper towels at Puerto Ricans like it a game after a who hurricane wrecked much of the island.
Peep reactions to Fat Joe copping Trump’s Scammer 1’s in the gallery.
5. Where is the lie?
8. They called it…
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Source: LAPD / LAPD
Sneaker heists and robberies have become more and more common over the last few years, but with authorities taking down these sneaker theft rings, thieves may want to rethink their strategies as police are becoming wiser to the game.
Source: LAPD / LAPD
Earlier this year, the LAPD busted up a sneaker theft operation that led to them recovering $5 million worth of stolen Nikes and Jordans at a stash house in LA. According to the Los Angeles Times, the people involved in the theft ring paid off people at UPS and even Nike to help them secure millions of dollars worth of stolen merchandise by having them print up fake shipping labels that would “deliberately misdirect or redirect” tons of sneakers across numerous spots in Los Angeles. And that was just the beginning.
Per the Los Angeles Times:
In the theft ring, detectives say, members would “intercept” packages with swapped labels, snatching them up somewhere along the supply chain of docks, highways and warehouses. Sometimes they would hijack packages by swapping addresses with the shipping companies after they had left Nike’s warehouse, according to Sternin’s affidavit.
Sternin said officials from Nike, which had been investigating the thefts internally, contacted the LAPD. Several emails seeking comment from Nike went unreturned.
A Memphis police sergeant working with that department’s cargo theft task force told Sternin that he had been working the case since last June, when he first became aware of “numerous unidentified co-conspirators” working at Nike’s Memphis location.
The ring has also recruited UPS employees in Tennessee and California “and possibly elsewhere within UPS and Nike supply chain network,” according to Sternin.
And we thought FedEx was doing us dirty by “losing” our sneaker shipments in the system. UPS and Nike were also out here in on a whole other kind of scheme SMH.
Ultimately, the investigation led back to one Roy Lee Harvey of Memphis. After obtaining a search warrant, authorities went through his email, iCloud data and cellphone records and found he had more than 1000 exchanges with Nike employees in Memphis, Tn., over a six-month period. Harvey was arrested Jan. 27.
While this may dissuade others from going down the same route that Harvey and his co-conspirators did, don’t think there aren’t others thinking of other ways to cash in on the sneaker market. It’s a billion dollar business with enough hypebeasts to fill a continent.
It’s only a matter of time before another sneaker bust leads to millions of dollars worth of stolen grails as this will only serve as a lesson of how to better prep for the next jux. Hopefully whatever grails you win don’t end up getting “misdirected” to another address.
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Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
There are racists, then there are FOX News elite-level racists. Case in point, Raymond Arroyo is getting dragged for saying that Black people will inevitably support Trump because of their love of…wait for it, sneakers.
As you might have heard, Donald Trump attended Sneaker Con in Philadelphia to announce that he was selling his superbly terrible signature sneakers. Besides getting clowned for his audacity and blatant grifting online, (the struggle January 6’s won’t even ship for months) he was also loudly booed at the event.
Nevertheless, on The Big Weekend Show on FOX News, resident doofus Raymond Arroyo—don’t let the name fool you—saw this as a political win for Cheeto because he seems to think Black voters are all about kicks when it comes to choosing their Presidents.
“This is connecting with Black America because they love sneakers,” Arroyo said. “This a big deal, certainly in the inner city. So when you have Trump roll out his sneaker line, they’re like, ‘wait a minute, this is cool.’ He’s reaching them on a level that defies and is above politics. The culture always trumps politics. And Trump understands culture like no politician I’ve ever seen.”
Spoiler, no it’s not (connecting with Black America). Stereoptyes much, Arroyo? Wait til he finds out Blacks don’t only live in the “inner city.”
Never mind that Trump has historically been a racist, sexist, bigot and any other disagreeable adjective you can think of to go along with facing multiple indictments across various courts of law. Also, he’s on the hook for sexual assault, too. But yeah, his sneakers, though.
So for Black people that may be considering, this is what Team Trump thinks of you.
It goes without saying that social media is going in on the latest FOX News fail, and we compiled some of the better reactions in the gallery.
1. Plies knows the jig when he saes it.
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Source: The Washington Post / Getty
What does Donald Trump, who just got fined for a cool $355M by the state of New York, have to do with sneaker culture? We’ll wait…
Despite the answer being “absolutely nothing,” the former President of the United States—and who allegedly tried to spark an insurrection after he lost the elction—took to his bandooloo social media app, Truth Social, to announce he would be attending Sneaker Con in Philadelphia on Saturday, February 17.
No it was not a photoshop as Sneaker Con offered up a cryptic statement that said nothing about Cheeto actually attending the event. Just some malarky about sneaker culture being all-inclusive. “Sneaker Con’s mission is to support and promote sneaker culture through our worldwide live events and digital platforms.” read the statement. ”We are thankful and appreciative of the sneaker community, and recognize individuals who generate awareness and authentic sneaker related engagement towards our community.”
We’ll go out on the limb and say sneakerheads aren’t generally with the hate, racism, sexism and all-around tomfoolery Citizen Trump promotes, though. However, the sneaker detective are on the case, noting that reportedly a Sneaker Con co-founder, Alan Vinogradov, has donated to the Trump campaign. Jig is up.
As word got around sneaker culture that Trump would tarnish Sneaker Con with his presence, people were not too happy, letting everyone, including the organizers know. Good look digging out of this hole. Case in point, The Daily Beast reports that Sneaker Con had to turn off their comments.
As if folk taking L’s on that Air Jordan Bred 4’s drop on Saturday wasn’t bad enough. Peep some of the more animated reactions in the gallery.
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Source: Eric BOUVET / Getty
With the success that John McEnroe’s “Mac Attack” silhouette experienced in 2023 (mostly thanks to Travis Scott), Nike is looking to retro another 90’s tennis star’s sneaker and truth be told, we’re not mad.
According to Sneaker News, sneaker legend Andre Agassi’s Nike Air Tech Challenge II is set to release sometime in 2024 and the man himself posted a picture rocking a pair of the upcoming retro. Rocking the kicks alongside his wifey, fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf, the sneaker community was excited to see that the OG sneakers would once again see the streets in 2024.
Per Sneakernews:
The Air Tech Challenge II, designed by Tinker Hatfield, is considered to be one of the greatest Nike footwear designs in history. It also helped popularize the blazing hot red shade on Swoosh footwear, adding an element of personality in a sport that once had strict on-court rules regarding attire.
Currently, a release is expected this Fall 2024 season with an MSRP of $150. It last released in 2016, so this re-issue should be met with open arms.
We personally prefer the Nike Air Tech Challenge 4 which was a bit more stylish and less bulky than the II’s, but these are pretty dope. If Travis Scott gets his hands on these and blesses them with the reverse swoosh, watch out! Heads will go crazy for those.
Check out pics of the Andre Agassi Nike Air Tech II’s below and let us know if you’ll be copping a pair when these drop sometime later this year.