Reviving Retros: The Art of Bringing Classic Sneakers Into the Future
If you’ve ever worn basketball retros, say the or even worse the bulky strapped-up , you’ll know they ain’t ideal for putting up buckets. Yeah, they might look great on court, but you’ll leave the game with blisters, a pair of bloody Achilles and a handful of sore toes. This can leave people perplexed as to how Michael Jordan wore these shoes for entire seasons. The answer is simple: MJ ’s weren’t retros.
Despite all the hype, high price tags, big-name collaborations, and whatever else goes into marketing the retro editions of former performance sneakers, let’s face it – they aren’t always comfortable. Whether we’re talking Air Jordans, Air Maxes or Air Tech Challenges, a retro model is not built to the same standards as the originals from decades past. And let’s not only pick on Nike here. Over the course of retro sneaker history, , , and every other major brand has put out retros with inferior materials and mass-produced construction techniques in comparison to the originals. The uppers have low quality synthetic materials, the soles are often stiffer, and the cushioning tech like Nike Air or Reebok Hexalite is downgraded in size or not as effective as the original version. It all adds up to sneakers that aren’t very comfortable and sometimes, just straight up cheap looking.
But over the years, brands have been listening to consumers and changes have been made, at least in some notable cases. A more recent trend in the industry is to update retros with better materials and new technology; however, there’s a fine line between keeping the classic design and making it wearable and it can be hit or miss. Continue as we delve into why and how brands are reviving their retros.
The Retro Boom of the 2010s
After the initial surge of retro Air Jordan popularity in the early 2000s, Nike released more and more models to capitalise. Around 2010, it got to the point where they churned out so many Air Jordan retros in OG and new colourways that the materials really began to suffer. A classic case of quantity over quality, this was a bittersweet era in sneaker collecting. While nostalgic sneakerheads were finally able to get shoes from the 80s and 90s they never had the chance to wear as kids, the lack of quality and suspect comfort was often disappointing.
By 2012, Jordan Brand were dumping out plasticky ‘leather’ disasters like the offensive Air Jordan 9 ‘Olive’, which was a sorry excuse for the look and feel of the original 1994 edition in soft black leather and olive nubuck. Another notoriously bad retro was Nike’s re-release of the Air Up in 2014. The striped hoops shoe once worn by and on the hardwood in 1994 was a much-requested retro for years on sneaker blogs and forums, but when it finally came back, the disappointment was unanimous. Gone was the original nubuck upper with traditional stitching and in its place was stiff pleather that had all the wavy panels glued together. Yuck. If the comments sections from 2014 still existed, we could pull some quotes, but suffice to say, the collectors who had been patiently waiting for this shoe were not having it.
Retros Get Remastered
In 2015, Jordan Brand introduced the ‘Remastered’ initiative that aimed to recreate classic Jordans as close to the OGs as possible, coming replete with upgraded materials and more attention to details including the shape, colours, logos and textures found on their original counterparts. Nike even re-trained factory workers to make shoes the ‘old-fashioned way’ with less automation and more handcrafted techniques to capture the quality of the era.
The Remastered series kicked off with the – which kind of didn’t make sense, since that was originally a lifestyle colourway from 1999, not an OG Jordan 4 from 1989… but we digress. An early highlight from the series is the from 2015, modelled after the pair Jordan wore for his epic 55-point performance against the Knicks shortly after coming back from retirement in 1995. It came complete with a buttery leather upper and Jordan’s temporary number 45 stitched on the ankle. The finest example of Jordan Brand’s commitment to retro improvement has been the Air Jordan 1 High ‘85 model. A remaster of a remaster, the AJ1 ‘85 shows up the Air Jordan 1 High OG iteration as the most accurate reproduction of original 1985 pairs, and it is painstakingly detailed all the way down to the texture on the rubber midsole. Even the most critical, purist collectors are hard-pressed to find anything to complain about on the Jordan 1 ‘85s. Except maybe the price – given the chance, sneakerheads will always complain about that!
While Jordan and Nike get the most attention for their retro releases, good or bad, other brands like adidas and had been concentrating on high quality retro releases long before the Jordan Remastered series came along. PUMA can also be given kudos for their excellent execution of many retros throughout the years like the series that do justice to the originals. Not every brand is guilty of poor quality retros, nor did Nike/Jordan screw things up every time.
By the 2020s, brands had learned the errors of their cheap-ass retro ways for the most part, and they now knew the majority of heads buying remakes cared about the quality and accuracy way more than their average consumer. If you’ve been following sneakers for a while, you’ve likely noticed that today there are less retros in the market than a decade ago, unless we’re talking about specific mainstream models like or , which are released endlessly all over the world. Nike have shown collectors that they can get things right more consistently when they narrow down their focus, as we’ve seen strong retros hitting the market as of late like the ‘Big Bubble’ and the with bigger visible Air units that are more accurate to the originals.
Old Sneakers, New Tech
Now that the materials and look of many retros have gotten better, brands are upping the ante to keep collectors interested by modernising old school models with an injection of their latest technologies.
This concept in its most basic form looks like the . Externally, the illustrious canvas-clad sneaker appears the same as it did at a sporting goods store in the 1970s. But under the hood, the Chuck 70 is updated with OrthoLite foam insoles that are soft and comfy enough to hit the court in a pair and not end up hobbling off with an injury.
The most impressive example of updating classics with modern sneaker tech is Kobe’s ‘Protro’ series at Nike. Coined by himself, the portmanteau stands for ‘performance retro’, and it’s exactly that. Of course, it’s a lot easier to do this with the from 2008 than it is with, say, the Nike Air Flight from 1989, but under the direction of the late Bryant, the Protro line is Nike’s way of ensuring these beloved models are even better than the originals for today’s hoopers. When Nike first came to Kobe with the idea of retroing his past performance models, Mamba made sure that if they re-released his shoes, they’d have to be up to par with today’s on-court performance standards. ‘[Kobe] was always trying to figure out what he could do to be that 1% better than everybody else and have that competitive advantage,’ said Bronson Yim, Kobe footwear product manager at Nike. ‘So when it comes to our shoes, we want to make sure that we're replicating that and honouring that and that change.’
So far, the Protro range has included the Kobe 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9, each tweaked with modified cushioning, flexible and plush uppers for better comfort, and modified tread patterns. Look around an NBA court on any given night and you’ll usually see multiple players laced up in Protro versions of Kobe classics. If that isn’t honouring Kobe’s sneaker legacy, we don’t know what is!
The is another great example of a retro modified for modern performance. In this case, it’s a basketball shoe from 1985 turned into a skate-focused model. The original Dunk didn’t have Air cushioning, but the SB version is modified with Zoom Air in the heel for impact protection, plus extra padding on the tongue and collar to protect a skater’s feet and redesigned outsole tread for better board grip. The same concept was applied to the Air Jordan 1 Zoom CMFT, an updated take on the venerable basketball model with full-length Zoom cushioning built into the midsole.
Elsewhere, several sneakers are not just updated with new tech but fully redesigned while keeping the DNA of the original model intact. A perfect example here would be the New Balance 991v2, an updated edition of the original and totally classic from 2001. With New Balance’s Made in UK quality, the 991v2 updates the original with a more streamlined and sleek silhouette along with the addition of full-length FuelCell foam that works in conjunction with Abzorb cushioning pods in the heel and forefoot for all day comfort. The result is the OG 991 New Balance fans know and love, but better than ever. The updated design of the 991 is not ‘novelty for its own sake,’ according to New Balance. ‘Each tweak is carefully considered and intended to elevate both the visual and on-foot experience.’ And that’s exactly what we all want from our retro sneakers – all brands take note!
The sneaker community is always going to love retro sneakers from the 80s and 90s, and as the collectors that are most nostalgic for footwear from that era continue to age, we’re all going to need a little extra comfort. Once you hit the age of 40, a flimsy sole and stiff upper just ain’t gonna cut it any more. Fortunately for us all – whether you’re 14 or 44 – more retros that are faithful to the originals, built with quality materials, and have upgraded comfort are hitting the market each year. Thanks to technological upgrades, timeless sneaker styles can actually stay timeless.