The ‘Alternate’ series from Jordan Brand will continue in 2017, and the Air Jordan 8 Retro was just added to the lineup.
These take things back to 1993 in order to visualize what the classic Air Jordan 8 would look like if it was designed with a little less early ’90s flare and replaced with a bit more Chicago Bulls flavor. They keep certain ’90s touches such as the glitter midsole, chenille tongue logo, and crazy graphic along the interior lining and medial/lateral support plates. But the rest of the shoe is straight up Chicago with the simple Black/White-Red color palette — and they look fantastic, to me.
The only addition that makes no sense — and shouldn’t have made it onto the final version of the shoe — is the perforated straps. Yes, they coincide with the Air Jordan 6 Retro ‘Alternate’, but there is no functional purpose behind perforating overlays. The beauty behind Tinker’s original designs is that every aspect of the shoe had a fashionable function approach. Nothing made it onto the shoe unless it had a performance purpose, then he made it look cool. This is the one aspect that Jordan Brand seems to have lost when it comes to the most recent models; the brand has forgotten that everything on a shoe needs to have a purpose.
Check out official images of the upcoming Air Jordan 8 Retro ‘Alternate’ below, let us know your thoughts, and mark your calendars for February 25 if you’re interested in picking up a pair.
Images Via Nike
Super clean
I don’t usually like 8s but these are pretty clean. I’ll wait for the price drop.