Back in 1992 I bought a pair of original “White-Light Silver/True Red” Air Jordan VIIs at a little sporting goods store on Long Island called, of all things, “The Sports Bug.” It’s long gone now, as are the shoes, although I still have the box somewhere in storage. This marked a return to Jordans for me, having foregone the VIs after having the “Fire Red” IVs and Vs, both of which were acquired via a season’s-end discount. The VIIs were on sale, too. In fact, it wasn’t until the black/red Jordan XI that I paid full price for a pair of Jordans.
NOSTALGIA IS BEST WHEN IT’S ACTUALLY YOURS.
Those Jordan VIIs, since re-dubbed the “Hares” by a generation that seems to feel the need to nickname every retro release, return this weekend. They likely will not wind up on sale again, even if the 2015 production numbers dwarf those of 1992 (Jordan isn’t telling). After all, it’s their first re-appearance since 2008, and this time they’re not packaged with a pair of XVIs. The nostalgia mavens (many of whom weren’t even born in 1992) and resale speculators will be out in force.
1.
Nostalgia is a funny thing. As Brandon Edler pointed out yesterday, it’s a hugely powerful marketing force that is likely never going away. And it’s something that no longer has to be acquired first-hand. Many people buying retro sneakers even have retro nostalgia—fondly remembering commercials that they saw for the first time on YouTube. Which is fine. Really. It’s inevitable when something lasts far beyond its initial popularity. Heck, there are very few people alive who ever saw Chuck Taylor play, but Converse still sells an awful lot of All Stars.
What’s most interesting about nostalgia to me, especially the second-hand kind, is how it can be focused. This particular Air Jordan re-release is all about the Hare aspect, with Bugs Bunny appearing on all sorts of complementary apparel and gear. And make no mistake, the initial commercial made a huge impact. Jordan had finally won a championship the year before, and he was finding his cross-cultural wings. By the end of the Air Jordan VII's run, he would win another title, then gold in Barcelona, establishing himself as perhaps the biggest star on the planet, period. Marvin the Martian, who’d make his appearance the following year in the Air Jordan VIII campaign, was as likely an opponent as anyone left on earth.
2.
Did Bugs Bunny influence my decision to buy Air Jordan VIIs back then? Maybe. The commercial was great, but then again so were all the other Air Jordan commercials. I was a huge Bulls fan (as I remain), and a huge Jordan fan (ditto), but the biggest reason I bought those VIIs was that they were on sale. If they were still $130, I probably would have bought something else. But for $110 or $100 or however much they were, yeah, why not.
I needed new sneakers and there they were at the spot that also carried checkered Umbro shorts and printed up my old team’s soccer shirts. The nostalgia I feel for those particular Jordans now—which is quite real, and built off of my wearing them for a year when I was 21—hinged entirely on a markdown. Marketing is deceptively hard, reality is deceptively simple.
What does this all mean? Maybe nothing, maybe everything. All I do know is this: that nostalgia is best when it’s actually yours.
Russ Bengtson is a senior editor at Complex. 'The Russ Report' appears every Friday and you can read previous columns here.
