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Air Jordan 13 Retro ‘Grey Toe’ – Detailed Look & Review

The Air Jordan 13 Retro returns in the morning in an OG colorway that hasn’t been since since 1997.

They fit true to size, material quality is nice and the craftsmanship is a hit or miss so make sure you check your pairs. You’ll be able to grab them at all Jordan Brand Retro retailers, including ShoePalace.com.

7 comments
  1. The leather looks on point. Disappointed to see them skimping and not having the suede like the OG’s. It definitely makes the shoe look less premium just having phylon. It also takes away from the artistic vision of the shoe being inspired by a panther. Also for $185 I would expect better quality control. But what can you do? Its Jordan brand. They half a$$ things. They make money. We bitch. The world keeps on spinning. This time I think I will keep my money and sleep in.

    1. For the remaster series, Jordan retros will be $190 so they will skimp on quality when they charge less, even if it’s $5.

  2. Hey Nightwing2303, in the summer of 1997 right as Brand Jordan was becoming its own entity under Nike, my brother and i were at the Cage on West 4th playing in a tourney. This was before the OG “he Got Game” color way dropped, my brother and i saw this kid with the grey toe 13’s on. We had no idea what shoe it was, because this was way before ever see a show before release, back in the good old days before hypebeasts. We asked the kid, being the sneaker heads we were, what were they. All he said was it was some jordan that was supposed to come out. Later he told us he worked for Def Jam and Nike/Brand Jordan came through the office and was basically handing out sample sizes of everything. #PERKS Back in the day Footlocker used to get posters from Nike that showed everything that was coming out and a tentative release date. I was working at Footlocker at the time, around December, before the “OG” wht/red/blk color way came out, but on the poster it showed the grey toe as you have it now, except like the one the kid from Def Jam had on, it was all red suede, and yes it did bleed on the white pods. All this to say, the grey toe was supposed to come out, but ended up being an urban legend of sorts, but I actually saw them in person and it was a beautiful shoe. I’m disappointed that they left the suede off, now it looks like a big kids version. Back when “quality” was a benchmark of Jordan, there was no way they’d release a shoe that would bleed on itself, so I’m assuming that was the reason they pulled it from production and came out with the one we are familiar with. It was a hurtful moment to open the box back in late 1997/early 1998 thinking I was gonna get those joints I saw on West 4th, only to get the other ones.

    1. I bet the bleeding was the reason they were somewhat scrapped in the US. They did release overseas, so who knows what the reason was. Back in the day there would be tons of samples floating around. Hardcore collectors had a black market type thing setup where everyone knew everyone and it was like one giant swap meet. They used to bring sales samples to major retailers and literally show what was coming out in the following quarter. Due to image leaks and all that, they’ve changed things up quite a bit.

      1. I know when i worked for Nike at an outlet we used to get samples every so often. They’d sell them to us for $20. When I worked for Niketown NYC, I got in good with some grassroots basketball people during that Nike Freestyle Campaign and was laced with the Nike Signature Player in Dark Royal/Blk about 3 months before it released and an all black TB colorway of the Flightposite 3 with the matte black finish. All around NYC there are spots that are off of normal traffic areas that will hold sample sales of all kinds of brands. I came away with a ton of LeBron gear in 2004-2005 that never hit the market.

  3. Hi nightwing 2303
    I really want to know above this 13 retro version..
    The heel zoom air felt as springly responsive as OG version?
    Could you describe heel zoom air feeling on this retro version after you wear ?
    Thanks! B/R

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