Last Air Jordans? Nike unveils 23rd Air Jordan

[Cliff Levingston]

how much does cliff levingston thinks they cost to make?

Considering they're likely being made in a sweatshop in Indonesia... MAYBE $10.

[#1TKfan]

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Considering they're likely being made in a sweatshop in Indonesia... MAYBE $10.

ridiculous.

[suckfish]

I'm with those who say that the majority of Jordan shoes have been hideous, especially the newer releases.

Still I have always loved the Jordan 4's and own multiple pairs, I managed to get the Red and Black Spike Lee color ways signed by the shoe designer Tinker Hatfield in London.

Second to the 4's have to be the 11's, love the shoe to death, behind that is then the 3's although I wouldn't recommend actually playing ball in them.

11's

4's


The only other Jordan's I like our the 5's and I guess I don't mind the 10's.

I was kind of expecting a nice stylish shoe for the 23's considering the importance of the number, instead like most of the late Jordan releases we are treated to an ugly space boot.

[bullzman23]

Who cares if they retire the Jordan shoe. It'll start itching to be worn again and will probably come out of retirement in like a year and a half.

[BULLS4LIFE2]

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Considering they're likely being made in a sweatshop in Indonesia... MAYBE $10.

You know what its probably even less than that, whenever I go to China i buy sneakers and if you know how to bargain you can get them for between $10-$20 and im talking slightly worse quality than the originals.

The thing with China is the difference in price between the best quality and the next level down really isnt that much, and the workers make next to nothing, and if you dont want to work, fine theres literally a million other people happy to take your job..a real shame but thats the way it is

If i can buy the shoes for an average of $15AUD which is what about $11 or $12USD and theyre still making a profit then I would guess its costing them about $5 to make them, the material is really all theyre paying for, the labour isnt even worth adding up its that cheap


Either way, back to the topic as much as i was a Jordan fan in my younger days i pretty much have always hated the shoes except for a few of the older ones, ive owned just 2 pairs my whole life, not because im not prepared to pay for them, ive paid more for other shoes. Even at $15 in China i wouldnt buy the Jordans because I agree with a lot of people here, theyre just ugly

[the air. . . . .man]

I don't like a lot of the Jordans but I am absolutely in love with the IX, X, XI XII, and XIII. It was a great stretch of shoes and I'm not really into any of the other ones. I love the XIIs i have the playoff edition of those, and i have white and maroon Xs. I am looking to buy some XIII sooner or later.

[Polynice4Pippen]

I don't know, they look pretty sweet to me. I've actually liked the last few pair of Jordan's. There was about a 5 year stretch right after MJ's "real" retirement (1998) where I couldn't stand a single pair of the new Jordan's released. But these last few pairs haven't been that bad at all.

[Convoy]

Did someone say Tron?




Yes, I own these.

Myboyz, if you want to ID your Pippens, try here:

http://www.pickyourshoes.com/size/nike_Pippen.htm

[newskoolbulls]

This will not be the last pair guys, MJ needs to make up that 150 mil he just shelled out to Juanita.

[JordansBulls]

http://air23_jordan.tripod.com/airjordanshoes.htm

[Jo Jo English]

I used to love Air Jordans as a kid. It seems a bit silly now, but boy oh boy did I love me some overpriced sneakers when I was allowed one new pair a year (for school ) by the parents.

I think the last new pair I bought to actually wear was a little over a decade ago. I did give in and buy a couple of the retro re-releases in the years since, but only because I couldn't get them as a kid. They are still brand new, in their boxes, in storage.

I'm definitely past my days of caring about wearing the *insert current slang term meaning popular* sneakers. Heck, I just spent over two weeks shopping online for an acceptable pair of brown shoes to wear with jeans and khakis, that were appropriately stylish, yet still reasonably affordable. I also mostly let my lady pick them out.

Yeah. Times sure have changed.

Still, with all of that said... I still grin when I see an Air Jordan IV.

[Thabo!]

I live about two hours away from the Nike factory in Shenzhen, China. I have a couple of friends who work here in the leather and shoe industries (although not for Nike), so I have a bit of info on the subject. And I can tell you without a doubt that the cost of production of any shoe Nike might put out is rarely more than $10 to $20. The materials such as fabric, leather, or the sole, are the big expense when making shoes in China, labor is very cheap. So the likelihood is that Nike makes upwards of $100 in profit on a $175 shoe, a good chunk of which goes back to Michael and also goes into marketing the next line of shoes. There's a reason Phil Knight is one of the richest men in the world.

[CjayC]

LOL at paying $200 for a pair of shoes.

[DuckIII]

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ridiculous.

Not really. Basketball shoes are made of low grade leather, rubber, and twine. Bought in large quantities, and mass-produced with impoverished labor, it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that cliff's estimate is fairly accurate.

Of course, there are other overhead factors to consider beyond the labor and component parts. So it isn't as though every penny above those costs is pure profit for Nike.

Anyway, regarding Nike's costs to actually make a shoe, the following comes from Donald Katz's book about Nike and details the costs to make a $135 cross-trainer in the mid-1990s (its the best I could find without spending much time):

According to Donald Katz's corporate biography Just Do It (1994), the numbers broke down this way. About $4.50 went to pay the workers on the line and about $18 went to purchase shoe components, such as the synthetic leather uppers.

Now, it stands to reason that component parts have gone up in cost since then. However, Nike also has cut way back on the labor costs by moving assembly out of South Korea and into Indonesia since then.