10 Sneakers That Are Too Good To Be Retroed

Image via Complex Original

Year: 1989

We've asked for long enough, and we're giving up. The Air Flight '89 Low - a great shoe in its own right - has been retroed countless times in countless colors, while its hightop brother still waits in the wings. Well, forget it. Rather than churning out countless makeups, just leave it alone. "The Best Sneaker Never Retroed" has a nice ring to it.

Year: 1996

Here's the thing: The And1 Stephon Marbury II wasn't a very good shoe. Despite the running-shoe-made-hoops-silhouette profile it just didn't fit very well and was closer to a Starbury than a basketball version of the Air Max 97. But as long as its not retroed, no one has to know that. It looks great in photos - let's keep it that way.

Year: 1998

The quintessential Zoom runner, the JST was Michael Johnson's signature trainer, only offered in black with gold trim. Its minimalist makeup meant not many people viewed it as a serious runner in '98, and it didn't really fit the profile of a street shoe either. Which means original examples are nearly impossible to come by these days. Don't make it easy for people.

Year: 1993

By the time the ERS Alternator was released in 1993, it was already obsolete. The Shaq Attaq, released that same year, was lighter, lower, and did away with ERS entirely. And Hexalite soon come. The ERS Alternator was still a great design, but it seemed to be a time traveler from 1989 or so. A context-free retro release would make such things irrelevant, but it's best remembered as a charming oddity.

Year: 1986

Some shoes take on mythical proportions before they even disappear from shelves. The Air Python - equal parts Air Jordan II and Air Force II - is one of these. No one can seem to explain where it came from, or what it was intended for. All of the needed components have been retroed, so the tooling exists to recreate the Python, we just hope they don't.

Year: 1994

The Equipment Racing was the featherweight sibling of adidas' Equipment line, with several varying silhouettes over the years. And while turning one-time performance shoes into lifestyle plays has fueled nearly every company's retro divisions, it's cool to let some historical oddities remain just that.

Year: 1989

The Air Force STS was a big-time college shoe in the late '80s, worn by the likes of Derrick Coleman. It was also one of the few performance shoes outside of the Air Jordan line to utilize elephant print. We shudder to think of what would become of an STS retro - lowered ankle collar, on-trend colorways. Let's just keep the memory pure.

Year: 1986

Xavier McDaniel had a signature shoe? Yup. Shave your eyebrows to look more intimidating and anything can happen. And while the X-Press was an amazing shoe for its time, the fact that Spot-Bilt is no more (and a retro would no doubt have Saucony branding) is reason enough to put it back in the vault.

Year: 1984

Back in the mid-'80s, Reebok made some serious technical runners. The Victory GTI was an all-weather model complete with Gore-Tex that must have cost a bundle back then. Only a select few would even remember it at this point, which is how it should stay.

Year: 1990

Judging from the recent retro of the Air 180 High, it doesn't seem like Nike has the technology - or the inclination - to remake the inflation system that was so integral to both that shoe and the lower-priced Command Force. And without the pump, the Command Force just isn't the Command Force. There's no doubt that a Command Force retro would be welcomed with open arms, but if it's not gonna be complete, please don't bother.