Still got some white/cement 94 retros and they held up pretty well overall for over 20 years. 3-4 years ago the backtab started swelling and became sticky and started to crack later on, that's when I retired them.
The Air Max bubble had started to haze after about 15 years or so but no yellowing and still seems pressurized. The foam still hold pretty well, no cracks, started yellowing a bit after a few years of use and stayed the same to this day. Midsole has never come unglued. The white eyelets yellowed after a few years as well. Leather stayed perfect.
Those shoes were well used from the get go to play ball in College, for practice, even some outdoor use during summer time, for 500-600 lbs squatting for a few years even, plyo training, you name it and to wear casually even in the rain at times and they really stood the test of time like GOATs, these are tanks!
Always stored in box and kept clean whenever not wearing.
Probably lasted longer than average because I live in a mixed climate area, stored in box, no direct sun exposure when stored and worn right from the start. Those have history and will forever remain one of my favorite ones for so many reasons and because they were such high quality.
Got some 01 black/cement retros, still like new, no signs of structural deterioration. Slight and very subtle midsole change of color as far as the foam is concerned if you are very picky and air bubble still in perfect shape, no haze.
wht/cement 03' retros backtab started to yellow like crazy after only about 3 years being kept DS in box. Started wearing them in 2012 to train at the gym, ball in and on rare occasion for casual wear since at that point they had started to deteriorate too much too fast to my liking for their age IMO for no good reason at all, plus I had the 2011 version at that point. After 9 years DS, the Air bubble was already hazed like crazy, that's why I decided they'd be my test mule Jordans in a way. before they be declared dead by themselves in their OG box! Except for what I just mentionned, surprisingly they've held up better than expected inspite of the early aging signs. The midsole has some slight yellowing which is to be expected, cracked black paint at the back from basketball use but that's only cosmetic. In 2020, I retired them due to the outsole that started to become unglued. If it wasn't for that, they'd still be perfectly useable.
wht/cement retro 3's from 2011 still look brand new(except for slightly dirty outsole due to wear) and zero yellowing at all.
Last blk/cement OG retros, too early to really say at this point but no complaints for both used and DS pairs.
I know I skipped a few retros, but since I had some DS ones all along waiting during all those years and initially not knowing that the midsoles wouldn't last forever even if kept DS, I didn't buy every re-issue possible at the time.
Durability seems to be affected by many factors starting with climate, storage, production era and early wear but in my experience 3's have been one of the most durable J's, coming from a guy who's had every numbered OG model since the V and at least the 1st retro version of every model before it became just too crazy to be able to keep up buying every re-issue at some point, but I still buy many retros a year along with the yearly iteration and test'em all on court and off court to this day, every day, still enjoy to experience and compare every single one of the Air Jordans now that we're at 36!
Here you go, that pretty much sums up my retro 3 experience and even more! Hope you enjoyed the information.
. Just curious how long would these be wearable for? My wife's True Blue 3 2016 is still wearable despite the yellowing of the rubber front toe area. I was thinking of starting a collection of 3's, so is that a good idea? I'm in Malaysia by the way climate here is very humid here so everyday at night I will switch on the AC and it will auto switch off by 03.00 hours. I would love to hear some feedback on 3's lovers out there peace 
to me true to OG shape its nicer.
part of fashion nowadays aged and worn sneakers and I definitely wear them daily 
