is anything sacred anymore?

the year is 2005 — the swoosh people are in the earlyish days of developing a “retro” program:

bringing back iconic models from their rich archive & giving them a fresh reintroduction

it was at this time that this program was intentional. rare. done with purpose.

by halftime of the 2000s the original air jordan 4, commercially released 16 years prior., had only seen a full-on return under 10 times.

in 1999 the OG cement colorways came back. & a few new iterations like the “bling” & the “laser” 4 followed.

enter: undftd … the swoosh people approach them with the thought of adapting a brand new iteration of a jordan 4... the 1st boutique to be offered any such opportunity

the very 1st concept took form fast: a purple-y blue, space grey color combo?? inspired by what never left the undftd co-founders hands: a blackberry phone?? the hottest piece of tech at the time

after the sampling phase, EMINEM spawned(?) decided it had to be his design & ran with it for his “encore” concept… they only made 50 pairs?

back to the drawing board.

this time the undftd team drafted a concept that felt much more consistent to their militant branding

the colorway finds inspo from the classic ma-1 bomber jacket. a simple olive-based upper coupled with a bright orange inner-liner were enough to connect the reference... (it's worth noting two years before undftd sampled dunk hi's that semi-introduced this colorway)

anyway. they only made 72 pairs... most ended up going to f&f, the remains were sold via raffle to in-store shoppers.

engineered legend from the get-go... instantly inaccessible. u never even had a chance.

exactly how they wanted it to be. & thats exactly why everyone still talks about them 20 years later.

now its 2025, the world of sneakers is radically different. more established & corporatized than ever before. its no longer a niche-lifestyle scene connected by message boards & saturday morning queues on the block.

collaborations between nike/jordan & outside creators are commonplace.

its hard for even a seasoned sneaker guy to keep up…

anything & everything is subject to being retro'd.

evidently even the holiest of grails!

with a few little tweaks like replacing jumpman signs with nike air logos… the original UNDFTD 4 has a officially returned. for the 1st time at a full commercial level.

so what is this? what does this mean?

does this tarnish the legend of the original pair?

is this a charitable way to give back to the community who just wants to participate but will never afford the originals?

is it proper homage? is it uncreative?

personally i wish they took a note from nike 🤝 cncpts book & the lobster sb dunk legacy… continuing the story with a new twist

lmk ur thoughts

keep an eye out for more pairs arriving here at change clothes

these sold an hour after i picked em up