The Daily Jordan: Air Jordan 3 “Mocha” – 2001

Let’s take a quick roll call of old school “Retro+” colorways that are back for 2015: Air Jordan 5 White/Metallic Silver, Air Jordan 11 Low Citrus, Air Jordan 6 Low Chrome. Two things to glean from this list – one, all of these shoes originally released in the early ’00s and two, Jordan Brand clearly understands the current appeal of that era’s lifestyle colorways.

So? Well, it brings us to today’s Daily Jordan and the Air Jordan 3 Mocha. Like those listed bringbacks, the Mocha released in the early ’00s (September 15, 2001) and a quick scan of any sneaker forum will tell you that it’s got enough “I shouldn’t have slept on those” traction to warrant a re-release. True, Mochas did not fly off shelves back in ’01. Chalk some of that up to the pre-hype era and the rest to people not being ready for unconventional, non-OG colorways like they are now. Who would want white and brown Jordans? Not too many at first but once they’d silently filtered out of the retro mix and became far less attainable, people took a second look, kicked themselves for sleeping, then kicked themselves once more for sleeping when Mochas sat around on nice discount. (They chilled on Nike.com at $79.99 for weeks in early 2002. Yep.)

Now, with all these secondary colorways returning to high praise, the Mocha 3 is again just sitting there, waiting to be picked for a re-release. You can still find pairs, like this deadstock example via eBay seller mopar_mike21, but the tough spot is that it’s risky to wear any 14-year old sneaker and the Mochas all unavoidably yellowed along the midsole and heel tab over time. Jordan Brand put AJ3 on hiatus and there aren’t any imminent plans for it, but short of a “Nike Air” reissue of Black/Cements, Mochas would be a shoo-in candidate to reappear. We want to gauge your interest in this sleeper sneaker and in other lost gems of Jordans past, so hit us on Twitter @jordansdaily, Instagram jordans_daily, and the Jordans Daily Facebook to share your thoughts.