1993 Production Sample Jordan IX - A glimpse at what the IX could have been...

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I got these from a former Nike employee who says they came from a designer friend he had back in the 90s on campus. They appear to be a production sample of the original Jordan IX. The midsole/outsole and lace eyelets are the only characteristics of the shoe that remained on the final release pair. Interestingly, this pair is a low cut with higher heel area. I haven't really seen other shoes with that design. Other noticable differences include the checker-styled stitching on the uppers with triangular breathable holes and a completely different tongue.
The quality is tremendous and the shoe has held up incredibly against time. No cracking, chipping, etc. These may not be as visually appealing as the actual released Jordan IX, but it is a tremendous piece of history and gives nice insight into the design process that the designers used to create the IX.

Its been pointed out that these shoes were made in August of 93 and the actual IX mids were released about a month later. Maybe these are a sample pair of a Jordan IX low that never came out. That would be similar to the XI "i.e." low, which had a completely different upper.

As far as numbers are concerned, the previous owner says it best. This is a direct quote from him:
"The only other pair of these shoes are located in the Nike archive warehouse.  So good luck & u will never see these shoes ever again"
 
I got these from a former Nike employee who says they came from a designer friend he had back in the 90s on campus. They appear to be a production sample of the original Jordan IX. The midsole/outsole and lace eyelets are the only characteristics of the shoe that remained on the final release pair. Interestingly, this pair is a low cut with higher heel area. I haven't really seen other shoes with that design. Other noticable differences include the checker-styled stitching on the uppers with triangular breathable holes and a completely different tongue.
The quality is tremendous and the shoe has held up incredibly against time. No cracking, chipping, etc. These may not be as visually appealing as the actual released Jordan IX, but it is a tremendous piece of history and gives nice insight into the design process that the designers used to create the IX.

Its been pointed out that these shoes were made in August of 93 and the actual IX mids were released about a month later. Maybe these are a sample pair of a Jordan IX low that never came out. That would be similar to the XI "i.e." low, which had a completely different upper.

As far as numbers are concerned, the previous owner says it best. This is a direct quote from him:
"The only other pair of these shoes are located in the Nike archive warehouse.  So good luck & u will never see these shoes ever again"
 
Nice, I've never seen those. But, even with the tag, for some reason I'm having a hard time believing these are from '93.
 
Nice, I've never seen those. But, even with the tag, for some reason I'm having a hard time believing these are from '93.
 
Thank you for sharing.  Great to see posts like this still exist in the Jordan forum.
 
Thank you for sharing.  Great to see posts like this still exist in the Jordan forum.
 
Thanks for sharing. Never seen those before. I don't think the world was ready for argyle in 93.
 
Thanks for sharing. Never seen those before. I don't think the world was ready for argyle in 93.
 
The 1st thing the popped in my head was "fusions".
But in all fairness I'm just in awed with the tumbled leather they use.
 
The 1st thing the popped in my head was "fusions".
But in all fairness I'm just in awed with the tumbled leather they use.
 
Wow nice find! These actually look nice but they could've done without the pattern on the toe cap...apart from that the shoe actually looks good! I'm sure we'll see this in limited fashion as a retro in years to come...
 
Wow nice find! These actually look nice but they could've done without the pattern on the toe cap...apart from that the shoe actually looks good! I'm sure we'll see this in limited fashion as a retro in years to come...
 
The timeline of the story is all wrong....

this sample was made in late Aug of 93, and MJ wore the final version sample in Bulls practices in May of 93 ,and the AJ IX in the same form MJ wore them came out in Nov 93, so obviously this wasnt a scrapped version of the main AJ IX... A sample made in Aug would be for release in the Spring at the earliest of next year... AJ IX was already going into production at the time this sample was made...

the Tag reads Air Jordan OS, and a Look See Sample so it was probably going to be a modified low top version, like the AJ XI IE low, and when he retired before the start of the 93 season the whole idea was probably scrapped, is my best guess....
 
The timeline of the story is all wrong....

this sample was made in late Aug of 93, and MJ wore the final version sample in Bulls practices in May of 93 ,and the AJ IX in the same form MJ wore them came out in Nov 93, so obviously this wasnt a scrapped version of the main AJ IX... A sample made in Aug would be for release in the Spring at the earliest of next year... AJ IX was already going into production at the time this sample was made...

the Tag reads Air Jordan OS, and a Look See Sample so it was probably going to be a modified low top version, like the AJ XI IE low, and when he retired before the start of the 93 season the whole idea was probably scrapped, is my best guess....
 
Originally Posted by BigLescobar

The timeline of the story is all wrong....

this sample was made in late Aug of 93, and MJ wore the final version sample in Bulls practices in May of 93 ,and the AJ IX in the same form MJ wore them came out in Nov 93, so obviously this wasnt a scrapped version of the main AJ IX... A sample made in Aug would be for release in the Spring at the earliest of next year... AJ IX was already going into production at the time this sample was made...

the Tag reads Air Jordan OS, and a Look See Sample so it was probably going to be a modified low top version, like the AJ XI IE low, and when he retired before the start of the 93 season the whole idea was probably scrapped, is my best guess....
I think you're right. This could have been an "i.e." type Jordan IX release that never came to fruition.

  
 
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