This Air Jordan 7 Tribute to Ken Griffey Jr Isn’t Releasing

Sneaker industry mogul Franklin Cooke, aka @frankcooker, has been behind some of Jordan Brand’s biggest releases from the past few years. Of all the heavy hitters that make it to the shelves, spare a thought for the ones that didn’t – but really should have. One example is this Air Jordan 7 bearing the distinct colours of the Air Griffey Max 1, the signature sneaker of baseball legend Ken Griffey Jr, and an equally lauded design.

There’s a bit of revisionism at play here, as the AJ7 predates the Griffey by about four years, but the ‘Fresh Water’ teal and black colourway of the latter translates over to the basketball shoe so, so well. This is thanks to the layered upper and alternating colour-blocking. White elements break up the stark contrast, and the red forefoot and pull tab Swooshes are a fantastic retrofit to the model, which never featured the logo back in 1992. Another nice touch is the hybrid Jumpman and Swingman logo on the insole. The only missing component is Griffey Jr’s number 24 on the heel instead of Jordan’s 23!

As cool as these are, Cooke confirms this is one of many ‘untold stories’ from Jordan Brand (they aren’t releasing), and he also won’t be sharing any more of their unreleased samples. Enjoy the snaps above!