Air Jordan 12 (XII)Retro “Playoffs”

AIR JORDAN XII

Tinker Hatfield and Michael Jordan collaborated to create the durable, stylish Air Jordan XII as a follow-up to the XI.

Inspired by a women's fashion shoe and the Japanese flag, the Air Jordan XII was clean and simple. The rich leather upper was stitched to resemble a rising sun, while the toe and accent overlays were made of faux reptile leather. The XII featured the slogan "TWO 3" down the tongue, metal lace loops with Jumpman logos and a pull tab that ran up the entire heel that read, "QUALITY INSPIRED BY THE GREATEST PLAYER EVER."

Many Air Jordan heads were happy to hear the news that the Air Jordan 12 was going to be retroed; however, many collectors started to get irritated as more and more kept getting released. The original Jordan 12′s were released in only 5 colorways, but there were 10 colorways retroed when counting the women’s colorways.

On November 28, 2003, Jordan released the first of its kind – an online exclusive shoe that was sold in a package. The Black/Carolina “nubuck’s” were $200 and came with a matching hoody and hat. Many fans were happy to pay $200+ just for an exclusive shoe, but collectors were far from happy when news got out that Nike released this supposedly “limited” and “online exclusive” shoe to retailers to be sold at only $135 or less. Some pairs ended up at designerathletic for only $99.99 angering Jordan followers even more.

The Nubucks were not the only Air Jordan 12 release that angered Jordan collectors. Originally, the White/Carolina was a women’s colorway only made up to size 15W and in limited numbers in large sizes. These of course sold out opening day and hit the $200+ mark in a hurry. More were released as a general release only 2 or 3 months later making these shoes nothing special at all.

The other colors of the XII saw the floor during that season as well. Jordan wore the black/white shoe during 1997 playoff games. With the Air Jordan XII on his feet, MJ made his 11th All-Star game appearance, won his ninth NBA scoring title and was named first team All-NBA and first team All-Defense. He won his fifth NBA title and NBA Finals MVP while wearing the XII.

Beginning in 2003, the Air Jordan XII was re-released in several additional colors. all new color on site: http://www.cradleshoestrade.com/productlist.asp?id=n1338