At 43 am I too old to be wearing Jordans? A few of my friends think so. Was having a conversation recently with a friend from college about the latest release of Jordan’s and a few pairs I’ve recently picked up. My brotha laughed at me and basically said, when he sees guys our age wearing Jordan’s he thinks it’s “Lame as Hell.” My best friend of nearly 36 years also recently said something similar, asking why am I wasting money on the same shoe that was released several years ago, when there are other options available?
Are they right?
Now it’s my money and I can spend it on what I choose, so I wasn’t offended when they shared their opinions. I also partially understand why both may feel the way they do. Both were fortunate enough to have many of the Original Releases of Jordan’s, during our high school and college days coming up. They typically kept them in great condition and got great usage out of each pair. Today though their, if and when it comes to sneakers, purchases of choice are more designer brand sneakers such as Bally, Balmain, Ferragamo, Giuseppe, Gucci etc. as some of those sneakers honestly if you compared with high in demand Jordan’s are roughly in the same price range.
I on the other hand did not have a lot of Jordan’s growing up. Even with the money I was making from my weekly recording duties at church I never quite had enough to persuade my mother to allow me to get that Jordan sneaker that was over $100. If I did get a pair of Jordan’s in high school it was a hand me down from my cousin who worked at a sneaker store, and I was grateful for those pairs. College please…that check from Target was not cutting it to make Jordan purchases.
Therefore when I started making decent money of my own, I made up for all the pairs I felt I missed out on. However, 18 years later I still find myself pulling the trigger on Jordan 1’s and some of the OG retro releases that create a bit of nostalgia from my childhood watching Jordan play. I do understand where my friends are coming from though as most Jordan’s are not the most comfortable pair of sneakers to wear for an extended period of time. Though they do wear better the more often you wear them, I definitely don’t like wearing mine so often to develop creases or risk possibly the sole detaching from the shoe. I also have a bit of a collection to which I can’t wear all of them consistently.
Personally I never really got into the more exclusive designer sneakers as my friend enjoys wearing today, because I personally do not feel they fit my current wardrobe or direction in which I am going in style. I also don’t look at many of them and think, that’s a good looking shoe. Now I will say some other brands such as New Balance and or Adidas have captured my attention and I’ve yet to purchase any of them either. Yet from those around my age who own a few pairs, many claim they are the most comfortable shoe you can wear right now.
I wouldn’t call myself a Sneaker head as the majority of sneakers I purchase are Jordan’s, but this love affair of mine with Jordan’s may be coming to an end soon, but who knows what the future may hold. Right now I just need a good sneaker to run in, and I can with confidence say for me Nike nor Jordan makes that shoe.