Back in like 2004, I remember I used to have a mental list – I had THREE shoes on my hit list that *once I found* I swore would get me out of the shoe game. They were:
– Penny II Retro Black/Atlantic Blue
– Jordan XII Playoff Retro
– Black/White Air Force 1 Mid
Believe it or not, around that time, this was an almost IMPOSSIBLE goal to hit. There was no ‘retro releases’ on the horizon and any and every pair of Penny II’s or Jordan XII’s had long since sold out or hit sales racks and sold there. The AF1’s – I don’t know that I had actually even ever *seen an actual pair in real life, but I knew they simply had to exist.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw these. The girl (now wife) and I were walking around Rockefeller Center in New York right after I got off work and started walking towards Times Square. We were walking down 6th avenue on the east side of 6th and once we got to 49th or 50th I glanced across the avenue and saw a middle-aged black dude walking up the street wearing them. If you’ve never been to New York – 6th avenue is quite wide – I’d say I was a good 80 feet away in a crowd a people and my eyes zeroed in right on a pair of black and white AF1 lows with the NYC logo. I said to my girl – ‘I need to run over there and ask that dude where he got those’ and I think she kinda smirked…I looked at all the cars running back and forth and decided…’meh, I’ll see them at @jimmyjazzstores in a week’. I never saw them at ANY of the shops I routinely hit and always wondered if that dude woulda put me onto a new spot. I shoulda asked him.
Still, this pair has eluded me throughout the years. I still don’t own a pair nor have I ever owned a pair. I don’t think I saw them again for 15 years. It was great to see @kith re-release this pair but I somehow missed them again. I think…once all this madness is over…I’m gonna pull the trigger on a pair. Or…maybe not…Maybe it’s just as dope to have a pair that you are never actually able get your hands on.
