THE AIR JORDAN 1 LOW

Sneakers_

11 August 2023

Words by Community member Damien aka @aussie.damo

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi, my name is Damien, I am married with 2 kids and will soon be 40. Please throw sympathy my way. I was born in South Africa and moved to the UK when I was 16, living in Derby since I immigrated. Yes, I know the IG name is a little confusing, but Gary (@us_gravy_seal) is to blame for that.

I work as a Senior Software Manager for a financial services firm, most of the time from home. Apart from sneakers my other interests are the Springboks, home automation, technology, keyboards (take it easy) and golf when I can. The other thing that is a real passion for me is my Smart car, yes, I am 6ft4, but I drive a Smart car.

I first got into sneakers around ‘96 when I saw the Uptempos on Pippen’s feet. I couldn’t afford them living in SA so never owned them. With my first paycheck in the UK, I bought some Nike Shox which I wore into the ground. My love for sneakers has only grown as I have gotten older and have more disposable income to afford the pairs I want.

Also being part of the wider OS Community allowed me to become part of a smaller retail only group called @TheSneakerLuminati. Importantly, I've made some good friends along the way. We meet up and often do non-sneaker related days where we just chat, food, and drink. Hit us up if you feel like you would like to get involved.

As an Air Jordan 1 Low OG collector, can you tell us about your personal connection with the silhouette.

In all honesty, I have only been an avid J1 Low OG collector for the past 4 years. I have always preferred low cut sneakers over highs, generally buying AM1s, SB Lows, GL3s etc. My first dip into the AJ1 world was the OG Spiderverse, I then got the W from OS on the OG Travis Mocha Highs. At first, I won’t lie, I wasn’t sold by highs. As I started to wear them though, I saw what all the fuss was about. The lows were then dropping not long after and I managed to get the rare SNKRS win with help from TheSneakerLuminati group with loads of us hitting.

As soon as I got the lows in hand, I knew I had found the silhouette for me. Everything I loved about Jordans 1s but in my preferred low cut. From that point on I had to start getting as many as I could, new drop, old pairs etc.

I currently sit at 25 pairs of OG Lows. With a mix of newer shaped OG lows and the preferred OG shape from 2015/16. I personally prefer the older shape, due to the larger swoosh, 8 laces holes and bigger toe box. Some of the older pairs also used some decent materials, for example the Vachetta Tan pack and the Swooshless pack. So, grab those if you see them for a good price.

Choose 1, Air Jordan 1 Low OG or Air Jordan High OG?

Haha well yeah, easy one for me, AJ1 Low OG 99% of the time, there are only 2 pairs of highs that if I had to choose would take them over lows. Those are the SoleFly and Union Black Toes.

The reason I like lows over highs is general wearability and comfort. As most may know, I live my life in shorts and lows generally go better with them in my opinion. Comfort wise, I have weird feet, maybe something to do with being barefoot for pretty much the first 16 years of my life, so the AJ1 shape seems to suit them well.

The Air Jordan 1 Low OG has seen various combinations and plethora of colourways over the years. Aside from the OGs are there any others that stands out for you?

What a question, obviously the OGs are great but the colourways from the CNY pairs over the last 4 years for me are some of the best! My favourite being the Year of the Tiger, which I have been lucky enough to pick up this year. The Year of the Rabbit are also an incredibly clean pair with such good-looking materials.

Another great colourway is the Ghost Green pair that dropped a couple years ago. The mini swoosh hits different and that light green makes for such a nice pair in the summer. Also, these are by far one of the most comfortable pairs of lows I own. Something about the lining and tongue just makes them top tier.

Lastly is the Zions, this pair is just incredible in every way. The only way these would have been better is with that older shape but other than that they are pretty much on point. Just the thought behind the pair and execution of them by Jordan Brand and Zion was amazing.

Some may say Travis Scott had a big influence in slowly getting the Air Jordan 1 Low OG model into the spotlight and into sneaker collections all over the world. Would you say the model plays a part in London culture?

I can’t really add much to the London culture conversation as I have never really been immersed into it, but what I can say is that Travis has really shown people out there that there is a lot to love about the Jordan 1 Low OG. People may think it’s being a hypebeast if the first pair you buy of a silhouette is a collab but sometimes taking that step opens the door to that silhouette that you may not have known of before.

In my case this was the exact way I got into the Low OG. This also ties in nicely with the fact that people should never gatekeep silhouettes. Just because I love this pair and own a few pairs of them means I have no greater entitlement in whether I should get access to the next OG Low release.

For me the more people that fall in love with the OG Low the more that will buy them, which then hopefully means the more pairs and variations Jordan will release.

If you could apply a colourway that has only been used on an AJ1 High OG to an AJ1 Low OG, which one would you choose?

This was a lot easier than I thought it would be, I would love to see the SoleFly’s made into a pair of older shape lows, with the same colour blocking and materials. They would easily be in top 5 OG lows ever for me. A non-collab pair would be the Taxi’s that released last year. I saw a custom/mock-up of the pair and they look incredible.

As an Air Jordan enthusiast, what would you love to see next for the Jordan Brand and/or the AJ1 Low silhouette?

Well, I believe they have already started the ball rolling on what I really wanted and that’s an ‘85 cut in Natural Grey and Metallic Blue based on the 2 original pairs that dropped in 1985. I cannot verbalize how excited I am about these 2 pairs as in reality I am never going to get my hand on the original ’85 pairs.

I would also love some proper retros of the OG Colourways in the older OG shape but with updated materials. Would be the perfect combination in my eyes.

Old Shape vs New Shape