Retroing Collabs: The New Normal?

Sneaker collaborations used to be special, one-time affairs. But is retroing them the new normal now?

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

This weekend, ALIFE will re-release the Reebok Court Victory Pump “Ball Out,” a tennis-ball fuzzy, neon green take on Michael Chang’s signature joints that originally dropped back in 2006. Other versions followed—day-glo orange, white, black—but none had the impact of that original drop. It wasn’t the first shoe done up in tennis ball material, Airwalk had done up the Jim the same way back in ‘94 (and retroed it twice themselves), but the fact that it was done ON a tennis shoe made all the difference. And in those days when a collaboration actually meant something, ALIFE was killing it regularly. For those who missed out the first time or wore out their original pair, this is fantastic. Or is it?



It seemed that collaborations, at least, were one-time only deals.


There is an incredible sense of entitlement throughout sneaker “culture” these days, where people (just look at Twitter on the day of any big release) take it oh-so-personally when they miss out on whatever the latest hyped-up release is. Not only do people not feel the need to pick and choose between releases, they feel a sense of affront, that it’s actually wrong, when they miss out on anything at all. This is hilarious to anyone who grew up in the ‘80s or ‘90s, when picking between releases—and missing out on MOST of them—was a simple fact of life.

But things are very different now. And just as collectors and sneakerheads alike feel the need to somehow acquire every single sneaker made, the companies themselves feed into this need. Jordan re-issues certain releases like clockwork, a black/cement III here, a black/red 1 there, and with the remastering program starting, “new” retros from the early 2000s will themselves be retroed. The cycle is getting faster and faster.

It seemed that collaborations, at least, were one-time only deals. Those that did re-release were somehow different: the UNDFTD Dunks were previously a friends and family release only, the Doernbecher Air Jordan IIIs were for charity. With most collaborations, it was either buy them on release day or best of luck on the secondary market.

Maybe this ALIFE re-release will just be a one-off thing. It’s probably not worth getting your hopes up for a re-release of the original Supreme Dunks, or a remastered version of the UNDFTD Air Jordan IVs (the people who paid four or five figures for their pairs just had minor heart attacks—sorry).

Because while retros have caused sneaker models to become untethered from the period when they originally released, collabs still stand as markers in time, a reminder of how things used to be and a tangible memory for those who were fortunate enough to get when they came out. Re-retroing them takes even this away. Is that what we really want? And part of what makes a sneaker desirable is the fact that not everyone has them. What happens when everyone finally does?

Russ Bengtson is a senior staff writer at Complex. He doesn’t have a pair of Ball Outs, but probably wouldn’t say no. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Latest in Sneakers