Why did the OG Air Jordan VIII only release in 3 cws?

sthebest said:
Typically the colorways went like:

One Home colorway
One Away colorway
One alternate team colorway
One lifestyle Non-Bulls colorway
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It makes you wonder wtf they were thinking releasing OG 1s in so many cws... I wonder if someone got fired for that because there are only 2 cws of the 2s (or maybe they didn't produce as many because they were originally Made In Italy).
 
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HEADdetective said:
It made the shoes more special, IMO.

Nowadays, cats like Bron, Kobe and KD have about 20 GR colorways of each model :smh:

Probably why each line is garbage now to.
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Sneaker culture has changed though, kids nowadays want MORE options and not less... What inevitably happens is that individual cws often lose their significance.
 
We wanted more colorways back then to though.

Nike/Jordan could care less about what kids want.

Money/greed outweighs colorway significance.
 
StaffSgtDignam said:
It makes you wonder wtf they were thinking releasing OG 1s in so many cws... I wonder if someone got fired for that because there are only 2 cws of the 2s (or maybe they didn't produce as many because they were originally Made In Italy).
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You have to keep in mind that Nike alot riding on the Air Jordan 1 and wanted it to be one of Nike's flagship models, so it wasn't uncommon to have it in a multitude of colors to have it match nearly any basketball uniform. Same happened with the Dunk.
 
sthebest said:
You have to keep in mind that Nike alot riding on the Air Jordan 1 and wanted it to be one of Nike's flagship models, so it wasn't uncommon to have it in a multitude of colors to have it match nearly any basketball uniform. Same happened with the Dunk.
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You're right but it makes me wonder why they didn't continue this trend with the 2s, 3s, 4s, etc. Etc.
 
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The NBA had regulations On shoe colors because of uniforms so it made no sense make all sorts of colors
 
In retrospect, I was happy with the 3 color ways released for the VIII's. I think in time those 3 color ways stood the test of time and are a lot more memorable than any Lebron, Kobe, or KD shoe (with the exception of only a few).
 
Everything seems like it had barely any colors looking back, when you compare it to lebrons and kd's now releasing jillions of colors + nikeid to feed the demand. Back then very few people had huge sneaker collections. Right now people are racing to build 50+ shoe collections in a very short time trying to mimic the OG sneakerheads. Nike may as well capitalize
 
Super Producer J said:
airgolden2123 airgolden2123 , the XVI has 4 og colorways, counting just the mids. And didn't the XIX have more than 2 as well?
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XIV:
1. Blk/Rd
2. Wht/Rd
3. Wht/Blk-Rd
4. Wht/Ox Grn
5. Blk/Indiglo

As I also said there was a limited UNC mid and a GR low that was exclusive to Eastbay.

Yes, technically there was 5 XIXs, but three were regional and limited to each section of the U.S. Two were the GR colors mentioned.

There are plenty of OG samples, for whatever reason, things were scrapped or limited to what ended up releasing. The Navy/Caro Vs that came out this year were inspired by a 1990 scrapped sample for example.

The colors then were simply limited to what you wore during the season home/away (I'm sure Nike didn't want to get fined again after the Air Ship fiasco) and then playoffs.
 
StaffSgtDignam said:
You're right but it makes me wonder why they didn't continue this trend with the 2s, 3s, 4s, etc. Etc.
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I think Nike had just evolved and the trend had changed by 1988 entering the 90s. This abundance of colors and themes is very, very new. Even recent lines like the a Reebok Answer, Adidas T-Mac and Nike Penny all only had a few per model (minus the Questiok and T-Mac TB colorways).
 
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AIRGOLDEN2123 said:
The VIIIs were long designed, completed and had all already released by the time Michael Jordan's father was murdered in July of 1993. In fact, they were already looking ahead to the Xs (as the IXs would be released that following season).

Simply put, signature models didn't release in the abundance of colors that they do now. Air Jordans have almost always averaged anywhere from 3-5 colors.

II: 2
III, IV and V: 4
VI and VII: 5
IX: 4
XI: 3
XII: 4
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XIIs had 5 colors: Taxis, Wht/Red, Blk/Red, Playoffs, & Obsidian.
 
StaffSgtDignam said:
I've been wondering this a lot lately... There were a bunch of OG cws for the 6 and 7s but 8s only had these three:

jordan_og_viii_group.jpg
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blw843 said:
Lookin back the aquas were really wild for JB back then. Glad I got em.
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ditto
 
AIRGOLDEN2123 said:
XIV:
1. Blk/Rd
2. Wht/Rd
3. Wht/Blk-Rd
4. Wht/Ox Grn
5. Blk/Indiglo

As I also said there was a limited UNC mid and a GR low that was exclusive to Eastbay.

Yes, technically there was 5 XIXs, but three were regional and limited to each section of the U.S. Two were the GR colors mentioned.

There are plenty of OG samples, for whatever reason, things were scrapped or limited to what ended up releasing. The Navy/Caro Vs that came out this year were inspired by a 1990 scrapped sample for example.

The colors then were simply limited to what you wore during the season home/away (I'm sure Nike didn't want to get fined again after the Air Ship fiasco) and then playoffs.
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he said 16 not 14.
 
Speaking of non-traditional colorways, I would love to get a peek at MJ's exclusive UNC-inspired models starting from II. Just based off the II mids/lows from '87, they would most likely have OG colorblocking and not some of the retro + looking garbage that gets thrown into stores.
 
AIRGOLDEN2123 said:
The VIIIs were long designed, completed and had all already released by the time Michael Jordan's father was murdered in July of 1993. In fact, they were already looking ahead to the Xs (as the IXs would be released that following season).

Simply put, signature models didn't release in the abundance of colors that they do now. Air Jordans have almost always averaged anywhere from 3-5 colors.

II: 2
III, IV and V: 4
VI and VII: 5
IX: 4
XI: 3
XII: 4
Click to expand...

Ohhhhh, i see.. Best Jordan model, in my opinion..
 
h2k4 said:
 
Such a cool looking color way.  I bet people would have hated this colorway if released in current times and the original sample never existed.
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People seemed to HATE the non-carpet/sample tongue on the 3peat 8s last year so I highly doubt these would move.
 
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