Nike Bows Jordan 23
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NEW YORK — The shoe that honors No. 23 is turning 23, and Nike’s Air Jordan is marking the occasion with a green look.
The newest shoe from the Jordan line is the first of the company’s basketball shoes — and in fact, the first performance shoe overall — to conform to Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike’s
sustainability model, which it calls Considered. As part of the environmentally sensitive design, a new stitching technique holds the upper together and allows the shoe to be made with minimal adhesive, and throughout the line, environmentally preferred materials are used, including Nike Grind, which makes use of waste materials from Nike factory floors.
But the company is promoting the shoe to consumers as a true performance product, according to Nike VP of innovation design and special projects Tinker Hatfield, who was involved in designing the XXIII. At a press conference last week, he called it a “beautiful and com
pelling object of desire.” To that end, Nike put Michael Jordan-specific and technical-basketball details on the model, including the basketball legend’s fingerprint on the outsole, and a lower-profile midsole for improved ground feel.
The Jordan XXIII will officially launch with an extremely limited-edition blue-and-gray
colorway to be released on Jan. 25, with 23 pairs at $230, available at 23 select retailers across the country — including the newly opened House of Hoops Nike-Foot Locker collaboration in New York’s Harlem neighborhood. On Feb. 16, an All-Star Game colorway, priced at $185, will launch at selected retailers, and the official nationwide launch of the standard colorway, selling for $185, will take place on Feb. 23.
Analysts contacted by Footwear News agreed that the Jordan XXIII will make a splash with
collectors and sneakerheads, but some thought it could have larger ramifications. “Obviously, the overall industry needs an infusion of some newness,” said Christopher Svezia, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group. “[The Jordan XXIII] could bring that to the marketplace,” he said, but added that only Nike would likely benefit from any halo effect.
“I think the fact that it’s 2-3 is going to be wildly meaningful to collectors, Jordan fans and basketball fans,” said Matt Powell, an analyst at SportsOneSource, adding that he thinks the shoes will “evaporate” from the shelves. But Powell emphasized that the shoes won’t change much in the marketplace for the overwhelmingly dominant Nike. “At some point, there’s not much more market share for them to steal.”
