Ninety-six percent of the people who voted call it a grail. Nearly six thousand votes, with just 276 against. I can think of few releases where the public was as united as it was about this Air Jordan 1 High.
And yet it’s not the result that’s been on my mind, but the price tag beneath it.
The numbers
We’re tracking six stores currently offering it. The cheapest is asking €1,135. The most expensive wants €3,500. That’s a €2,365 difference for the exact same stylecode, model and colorway.
With most sneakers, I’d call that kind of spread healthy competition. Not here. A difference of more than three times the price means there’s no market price, just a series of sellers each guessing what they think you’re willing to pay. That’s not a market, it’s a survey.
What you’re getting
To be fair: a good-looking shoe. Off-white leather with a subtle grain, panels in a muted military blue on the toe box, ankle and heel. Black swoosh, black laces, and a midsole deliberately given a yellowed, cream-colored tint. Blue outsole. The classic Wings logo on the ankle.
It’s tastefully done. More understated than you might expect from these two names, which is probably exactly why it works so well. But we’re talking about leather, rubber and laces here, and a silhouette that’s been around for forty years.
Where the conversation goes wrong
The discussion around pairs like this almost always comes down to whether the shoe looks good. That’s an easy question, and here the answer is simply yes. The harder question is one almost nobody asks: what does it mean that six thousand people enthusiastically click a button for something whose cheapest version costs more than a month’s rent?
I think the answer is that the vote and the price have become two separate worlds. You can consider something a grail without intending or being able to buy it. The result measures admiration, not willingness to pay. And as long as those two keep getting conflated, everyone will continue to conclude that this shoe is “wanted,” when the more accurate conclusion is that it’s being admired.
What I would do
If you still want it, and that’s a perfectly legitimate choice: treat the amount as exactly what it is. When there’s a €2,365 difference between two stores, half an hour of comparison shopping is the best-paid time you’ll spend all week. And look carefully at who you’re buying from, because in this price range, the store matters more than the shoe.
One final thought. With pairs like this, people often say they’re buying them “as an investment.” That’s a word people use to make an expense feel more acceptable. An investment generates returns because something productive is done with it; a shoe in a box does nothing. What you’re buying is a bet on what the next buyer will be willing to pay for it. That’s a perfectly legitimate decision, but call it what it is.
The rest of the model is on the Jordan 1 High page, and the brand is on the Jordan page. You’ll also find plenty of pairs there that the above doesn’t apply to.