John Kim 
Reproductions of Air Jordan originals have been under the watchful eye of Jordan fans, with the harshest criticisms being doled out for even the slightest discrepancy (refer to Air Jordan IV ‘White/Cement’). So when Jordan Brand decided on bringing back the Chicago X for January of 2012, the team in charge of the Retro catalog had quite the interesting predicament regarding the shoes. It had nothing to do with ‘Nike Air’ branding (the Air Jordan X never featured any such markings), but primarily around the number stitching on the upper; if you can recall, Michael wore two versions of the Air Jordan X ‘Chicago’ – one with a clean upper, and another with his newly selected ’45’. So which would be the version to make the return? ’45’ seemed like a foregone story, so the better route seemed to be the ‘number-less’ one, but based on this rare Look-see sample of the Air Jordan X ‘Chicago’, it seems as if Jordan Brand entertained the thought of going with ’23’, a number Michael never wore while hooping in the Chicago X. More of this rare look-see sample after the jump so take a look and let us know if you think a ’23’ version would’ve been better, and if you want to own this rare sample, head on over to the listing from gearsolegoods on eBay.
