SOLE COLLECTOR: Sneakers

07/19/08 Air Jordan Collezione 4/19 Pack (limited release to urban accounts) 332567 991 Multicolor/Multicolor $310.00

This is the first retro card of this size designed and was issued in 1999 with the Air Jordan 4 Retro. It features the ever popular Jordan playground picture on the front as well as a brief summary of the year that the Air Jordan IV was originally released on the back with a shoe [...]

As the Air Jordan XV debuted in 1999 so did the long-lasting Jordan face box. It is an all black box with a grey top that features MJ’s face on it with lines going through it. This specific box was used for almost every single Air Jordan model over the next five years, and, at [...]

Here is the box for the original Air Jordan IV issued in 1989. It contains the same style boxtop as the original Air Jordan III except it adds the word “Flight” underneath the red Jumpman as well as the Nike Air logo on the side. It also, like the Air Jordan III box, features a [...]

As the year rolls on, so do the colorways. Only this time it's the last original colorway of the Air Jordan IV. Many of you are sitting there thinking, why does that sound so familiar? Well I will tell you. In 2006 when the Air Jordan IV was retroed it was this colorway the "military blue" that was the last to be released at that time as well.

In true Air Jordan tradition the third colorway of the original Air Jordan IV is in traditional Chicago Bulls fashion. Bearing the colors white, black, and red these got their nickname of "fire red" from the description of the colorway on the box.

This particular colorway of the original Air Jordan IV has a mark on history all on its own outside of the sneaker world. This is the same shoe that MJ wore in the famous game against the Cleveland Cavaliers where he hit the game winning shot during the 1989 NBA playoffs. You know the one where after he made the shot he jumped in the air in celebration and Craig Ehlo seemed to have "fallen."

Do these look familiar? Well if you're a fan of Spike Lee movies then you most certainly have. One of the first glimpses of this new Air Jordan model, the Air Jordan IV was worn by the character Buggin' Out in what is probably the most famous scene in the movie among sneaker heads.

Not to be outdone by the white/blue Air Jordan IV Retro sample, here is a white/red one. This just like the white/blue did not make the final cut. We do not know why and I for one would've loved for this to have been released. But as the story goes, some good things are left undone. That's exactly what we have here as we take a look at something you definetly will not see everyday.

As many should already know when a shoe is being tossed around for release many colorways are thought upon. As Gentry stated in his interview in issue 22 of Sole Collector colorways are made but not all of them make the cut. So what are these unreleased sneakers called? They're called samples due to the fact they are made to give the designers an idea of how something will look and it they think it will work or not.

Want a little bit of thunder? How about a little bit of lightning!? Well to go along with the "Thunder and Lightning" theme we also get this Air Jordan IV retro. These came packaged with a matching t-shirt and retailed for $250. Again not available in stores and only online to Team Jordan members. These like its "thunder" counterparts sold out instantly.

With the return of the Air Jordan IV retro in 2006 it's only proper that we get a lifestyle colorway. This being the first Air Jordan IV retro to be labeled as "LS," we get a very unique colorway. While the colorway is new we get a little bet of an original vibe as well. The speckled midsole that was originally on the white/black Air Jordan IV. Another unique feature to this is that the black/yellow Jumpman tag on the tonue is actually removable via velcro. If you detach it underneath in the velcro it says "Jordan Rare Air."