Skate shoe retros: "Why don't they do them well all the time ..."

[DISTANT RUMOURS]

I'm a big "shoe" guy. Always have been. And I still collect sneakers to this day.

The main reason I got into shoes were the Vision street wear DV8's.
And later I became fascinated by Jordans and air max'es.

Over the years the sneaker culture grew and of course retros became a necessity because there was a huge demand for it.
People wanted the sneakers they grew up in to come back. And now we see a lot of retros with all "big" sports brands. Every month we're bombed by stuff.

The thing is most of those "big" sports brands do their retros pretty well.

But of course they're under the watchful eye of tons of "sneakerheads" that want their retros as close to the OG as possible.
Even the slightest thing that's off (colors, material etc.) gets picked apart by people that are into sneakers. If the shape's off they'll get cranky, if things are missing or added it's an absolute no-go.

Of course this whole retro-market is heavily nostalgia driven.
People want what they grew up with and I fully understand.

But why don't skatecompanies hold this in high regard?
What's their reason and/or excuse to change thing up all the time on retros?

It's obvious that there are people that are heavily inspired by 90's gear and everything comes back in waves.

When DC said they were going retro the syntax I was psyched!
And then they did this:




After this they redeemed themselves and the Lynx, Legacy, Kalis, Willams all were done pretty well.
Respect.

But why can't all companies do this?

I just heard Osiris redid the OG D3 recently.
And also here there's a lot of stuff that's completely off. (eyelids, sole etc.)




éS is the worst at "true" retros by the way. I was so stoked when the Kostons were coming back. And then they did this ...



They could have kept the shape, get rid of the terrible ridges on the sole, and put the és logo on the bottom again.
But they didn't.

And they did the same with other "retros" ... the SLB, silo's etc were all pretty terrible.

When you're doing a retro and when you're so close, patents and the "history behind the design" will not matter.
Why not make it 99% accurate then?

This was not meant as a rant but as a genuine question.
Why do skatecompanies always change stuff up on their retros?

Is there a reason for that?

Sketchy contracts, old molds (I know they wear out and get thrown outn but still ...)?
No capacity to scan shoes?
They don't care?

What's up?

[beatifk]

Nike is able to do retros because they can charge $175 for Jordan 1s while producing an insane number year over year, thus lowering the cost per unit, but people interested in retro skate shoes will NOT pay triple the original prices nor do the companies have large enough orders.

Business 101.

[DISTANT RUMOURS]

Yes, that could be a very good explanation.

Probably also the reason why DC could do the "better" retros?
Because they're the bigger company in the skatescene?

It's superinteresting stuff to me, but I don't know much about it.

[Mean salto]

In a way we've just been thru 13 + years of retros with all the vans, Adidas, converse, vulc Nikes etc. Dunks are hot again and look like the goofy shape they were in 2005.
I think with the DC syntax it was a few years back before the full resurgence of interest in old dcs and they were still being made for skaters of the time to actually skate them. They also had a lynx that was a slim one piece toe cupsole.
Thing is Jordan collectors are probably "cool" and cool people have money. Retro skate shoe collectors definatly aren't cool and are probably broke and spend most the money they do have on anime or something. There also aren't enough of them to make retro shoes worth it. There's definatly a few thousand people to buy every Jordan that comes out

[PAWL]

Not here for the debate just here to say
I want to see adidas Silas 1’s retroed

And emerica mj1s

Please

[Musicaldeath107]

I know I'm in the minority here but I love a lot of the stuff ES has been doing with their re-releases.  I love puffy old sneakers and I get the nostalgia buuuut I like that they are slightly updated.  The sole redesign they did for the Schemes was a huge improvement in my eyes looks wise to the original and the upper was pretty darn faithful.

The Koston itself has already seen multiple iterations including a vulc shoe years back.  They took a currently used split cupsole unit, which is comfortable as all hell and put it on there.  I think it looks great and I will definitely be grabbing a pair.

That same sole unit is on their update of the Quattro and its been my favorite more chiller shoe I have for the last year.
That new sole there was a MASSIVE improvement, the original was an abomination.

As for DC, most of their retros have been faithful because in addition to them being a much larger company that an afford to do more limited runs, I think the designs they have chosen for them have actually stood up better over time. I think this is especially true when it comes to how the soles look.  The old Williams and the Kalis OG as a whole package still looked fresh.

[Kombuch-A-Holic]

éS is the worst at "true" retros by the way. I was so stoked when the Kostons were coming back. And then they did this ...


They could have kept the shape, get rid of the terrible ridges on the sole, and put the és logo on the bottom again.
But they didn't.

WOW, I had no clue how similar two these actually are!! WTF The sole really did kill it. Sad.