The Daily Jordan: Air Jordan 4 Retro Black/Cement Grey – 1999

Tuesday’s Daily Jordan isn’t simply a look back at a classic Air Jordan release, it’s also marking a key 16th anniversary.

On May 5, 1999, Air Jordan 4 in Black/Cement Grey released as the first modern Air Jordan retro. Some say this is the very shoe that lit the retro craze match. The shape, the Durabuck material, the correctly angled mesh, the fat Nike Air on the heel tab – all details that sneaker fans haven’t seen in concert since. It was pretty much the ideal retro release, almost as if someone thawed a secret stash of 1989 originals.

Adding to all of this amazingness, in the halcyon spring of ’99 there weren’t widespread campouts and online server crashes to get these or any other sneaker. With a little awareness and some time on your lunch break that Wednesday, you could walk in, pick up a couple, three pairs, and walk out having paid $99.99 per pair plus tax.

Talk about a bygone era in every facet. Still, with diligent sneaker collectors and their photo records like dependablejay‘s here, we get to remember, as Terence Mann put it in Field of Dreams, all that once was good and could be again.