The Jordan 4 Undefeated is having its moment. This shoe is exactly what the sneaker community needed. Nike and Undefeated went all in on this shoes release. Social media was in a chokehold over this one and it absolutely did not disappoint. Let’s get into it.
Bond. James Bond. The other one. James Bond is the owner of Undefeated. The Philadelphia born Bond watched his father open a store in the 70’s called Kicks and Lids. The shop sold sneakers and Kangol hats. Kicks and Lids offered two products to a growing group of customers, but other companies began to notice a demand for athletic shoes as well. Footlocker and Athletes Foot put his father’s company out of business, but it fueled the fire that James felt he had to be successful in a similar space. Undefeated on the surface is a sneaker store. The Los Angeles based brand is dedicated to the aspirational, affluent lifestyle. Undefeated opened its doors on September 11th 2002. James Bond discussed the idea of “doing something” with his partner Eddie Cruz at a BBQ. The next thing they knew, they had a store. They focused on the accessibility of sneakers and street wear to the culture.
Undefeated’s first collaboration with Nike was the Dunk High. It was a simple white colorway that would get a re-release in 2013 with the Undefeated 5 strike logo on the tongue that the original did not have. 2003 and 2005 would both see additional Dunk High collabs. These Dunks released with military inspired colorways but both releases would be limited to 1000 pairs. 2003 would be the first collab on the Dunk low with the graffiti inspired “splatter” colorway. Its an unbelievable shoe, but as a consumer, Undefeated felt tied to the dunk.
In 2005, Undefeated produces 72 pairs of the Undefeated Jordan 4. It becomes the first Air Jordan collab ever. The 72 pair edition size celebrated the 72-10 record of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls who at the time held the best NBA record in the history of the league. Its colorway is inspired by the MA-1 flight jacket of the 1950s and other military colorways which would become the vernacular for the Undefeated brand. The shoe becomes an unobtainable grail for sneakerheads for two decades. Until now.
This month’s re-release of the Undefeated AJ4 was a spectacle. The Undefeated 4 came in a Undefeated branded silver box with an Undefeated post card. Both shoes are individually wrapped. The right insole has the Undefeated branding and the left insole has the Nike Air logo. It’s a high quality buttery nubuck with as satin tongue. The Undefeated 4 is a new Jordan 4 shade and early pair owners have said it’s a more comfortable design. The shoe has an Undefeated hang tag and the second pair of orange laces are an absolute must lace swap.
Chicago would get the first release. And they should. Every Jordan release is a tribute to MJ. So Chicago makes sense. There were some rainy skies for the release, but the dark clouds wouldn’t stop lottery winners and sneaker influences from converging on the four stacked shipping containers that were dressed up in olive green and orange. The upper container had a huge orange QR code that could be scanned ahead of time to enter the lottery to purchase the shoes. Los Angeles and New York would follow Chicago with lavish release events for one of the most coveted shoes in the Jordan library. The rest of us would be third.
I have been an Undefeated customer for years. Arizona has an Undefeated chapter store on Central and Camelback. So I instantly crossed my fingers for a FCFS launch. I am absolutely willing to put in the work to line up early for a pair like this. So, as we got closer to the release, we were told that there would be two ways to get the Jordan 4 from Undefeated. There would be an online drawing for Undefeated.com and an online drawing for a in person pick up at the chapter store. All they wanted was an email address to enter, and you could enter for both options. Now I know how sneaker heads are. We all entered with every email we had, for everyone we know. We used parents’ email, friends’ email, fake email…. All of em. So I knew the chances were low, but I had hope. Silly me. I struck out. Early pairs were north of $700 on your favorite app, but the shoe market is super down. So maybe I should wait.
Over the next week, the Undefeated Jordan 4 took over everyone’s feed. Every platform was flooded with images from everyone that scored a pair. And I was here for it. Even if I didn’t get ‘em. There were so many posts and feeds about this shoe that I began to feel like I was the only one that didn’t get ‘em. Even a colleague of mine got two pairs with two separate emails. Nike SNKRS had a shock drop and I still missed them. I don’t know what the edition size is of this shoe. But it must have been a little higher than what I expected. There were some quality issues on a few pairs. But there usually are. There were pairs that had an unfortunate defect on the “Rare Air” within the Velcro patch on the tongue, but you can look that up on the internet. Overall, it felt like an amazing release for an amazing shoe.
James Bond personal pair was sold to a client who’s son was attending Michael Jordans camp in 2005. He sold them at cost. Pairs from the original run of 72 pairs are priced over $30K. In 2018 a few prototypes were discovered and the rumors of a rerelease swept through the sneaker community. And now, here they are. The trifecta of the Wu-Tang Dunk, Galaxy Foamposite and Undefeated 4 is complete. And the results are surprising. Pairs of Undefeated 4s are currently around $300 - $400 dollars depending on size. Wu-Tangs and the Galaxys are both just above retail on the resale market. Turns out that the pairs that we dreamed about for decades don’t appeal to a new generation like we thought they might.
James Bond spoke about the re-release of the Undefeated 4 in recent interview with the boys from Complex. He said that there are shoes that were perceived as “precious” and that some shoes had a mystique to them. He said that some collectors believe that some shoes shouldn’t be rereleased. But he recognizes that the industry beliefs have changed.
He’s correct. In the 90’s, a lot of us were buying two pairs on release day. We needed a pair to flex and a pair to keep on ice. But we didn’t know that Nike never intended for their shoes to sit in storage units for decades. They aren’t wearable. Sneaker rot is real. The adhesives and materials break down. So when Nike and other brands open up their vaults and give us pairs that we never had like the Undefeated 4 or pairs that we have but cant wear. Only the sneaker heads win. Give us Paris Dunks, and Dior Jordan 1s and Pigeon Dunks. We will wait outside in the rain for all of them. And we will wear them.