John Kim 
Sneaker News first broke the news of the Air Jordan 1 ‘Banned’ surprisingly hitting Nike Factory Stores last weekend. Since that news was made open, rumors began swirling around that the special edition of the Air Jordan 1 would break away from its banishment and hit other Nike Outlet locations in the near future. Today, June 1st, was indeed D-Day, as a number of Nike outlet locations opened its doors this morning to lines of sneakerheads, who had been waiting since the early morning hours. These locations, who received shipments of the supposed ‘B-Grade’ Air Jordan 1s, sold out of the limited stock quickly, even with stringent guidelines of allowing just one pair per customer while completely ignoring over-the-phone orders, which Nike Factory Stores typically allow.
The Air Jordan 1 ‘Banned’ release is unique in a number of ways; for one, the releases occurred exclusively at Nike outlet locations, and even though the information was not made public by Nike or Jordan Brand, news spread quickly and freely – resulting in the campouts. Secondly, the Air Jordan 1 Banned will likely not occur as a general release, because a B-Grade wouldn’t become available before an actual release, especially one of this magnitude. Thirdly, the shoes are marked as ‘B-Grade’, which usually denotes a cosmetic defect of some kind (perhaps the ‘B’ signifies ‘Banned’). And lastly, this Air Jordan Retro release occurred on a Wednesday, rather than the usual release date of Saturday morning. All in all, the Air Jordan 1 has caused yet another controversy in the world of sneakers decades after its release, and with resale prices online and at reputable dealers reaching half a thousand dollars, the AJ1 Banned will go down as one of the strangest releases of all time. Was this planned all along? Did Jordan Brand perform an ‘inception’ on the sneaker world, having us believe that these were meant to be scrapped? Thanks to Sneaker Box Clyde of Inside The Sneaker Box, we have a nice video of one of the releases as well as additional detailed images of the Air Jordan 1 Banned, so take a look and pick up a pair now on eBay.
