I had linked to TypeInShirts Blog’s post about Nike marketing the new Jordan XX3 sneakers. This was supposed to be one of the biggest sneaker launches in recent history since this is the 23rd Jordan shoe. Now if anyone knows anything about sneakers, they’ll agree that each year, the new Jordan’s are always the hottest kicks on the street. This year, the only difference is that it is the 23rd pair and they are launching in style.

Here’s a break down of the launch:

• January 25th - 23 pairs of the 23rd Jordan will be available at only 23 stores at $230.
• February 16th - Other colors are released at $185 at selected stores
• February 23rd - Full launch. $185 per pair.

The staggered launch technique works perfect with the famous Jordan shoes. And to top it off, they got really creative and tried to reinforce the brand and identity to 23 - the shoe’s mark/brand. We’re nearing the end of January and coming into the early days of February and already these shoes are being buzzed about all over. This may be the cause for Nike’s stock rising nearly 6% over the last couple of days.

If you check on Ebay, the shoes are easily going for over $1,200 a piece. Here are couple interesting auctions that feature the new shoe:

• This auction is going for $1,225.00 so far.
• This auction has a whopping $3,000 BIN price.

One of the demographics that Nike is targeting are their loyal shoe fanatics. They secured great exposure in the popular Entourage show where Turtle looks for the best shoes in town with some cameos of the Jordan XX3.

And that’s not all - these pairs are the 3rd Generation(?) of Nike’s new effort to make “green” shoes. They are environmentally friendly and the process which the shoes are made cut down on hazardous materials. However, Nike didn’t make this their strong marketing point as they preferred the “limited edition” marketing hook.

The Jordan sneakers have come a long way. They really spawned a new market of basketball shoes and after the initial success of Jordan, contractors all over went on a hunting frenzy to capitalize on popular basketball players to land shoe contracts. An interesting tid-bit is that Jordan’s shoes were initially banned from the NBA. However, he continued to wear them and was fined $5,000 every time he did. However, he didn’t have to pay a cent. Nike, determined to give their shoe the best exposure possible, paid for every single fine until finally the NBA relinquished the rule.

Kudos to Nike for pulling off such a massive and successful (so far) launch of their flagship shoe brand. Each auction is well over $1,200 and each auction has about 10-30 bids. This reminds me of the Wii when it first came out…

What do you guys think of this? Why do you think Nike went with the Limited Edition hook, rather then coming out with “regular” and “limited editions”? Why do you think they didn’t push how “green” the sneakers are? And finally, would you buy a pair of these?