I got these from a former Nike employee who says they came from a designer friend he had back in the 90s on campus. They appear to be a production sample of the original Jordan IX. The midsole/outsole and lace eyelets are the only characteristics of the shoe that remained on the final release pair. Interestingly, this pair is a low cut with higher heel area. I haven't really seen other shoes with that design. Other noticable differences include the checker-styled stitching on the uppers with triangular breathable holes and a completely different tongue.
The quality is tremendous and the shoe has held up incredibly against time. No cracking, chipping, etc. These may not be as visually appealing as the actual released Jordan IX, but it is a tremendous piece of history and gives nice insight into the design process that the designers used to create the IX.
Its been pointed out that these shoes were made in August of 93 and the actual IX mids were released about a month later. Maybe these are a sample pair of a Jordan IX low that never came out. That would be similar to the XI "i.e." low, which had a completely different upper.
As far as numbers are concerned, the previous owner says it best. This is a direct quote from him:
"The only other pair of these shoes are located in the Nike archive warehouse. So good luck & u will never see these shoes ever again"
The quality is tremendous and the shoe has held up incredibly against time. No cracking, chipping, etc. These may not be as visually appealing as the actual released Jordan IX, but it is a tremendous piece of history and gives nice insight into the design process that the designers used to create the IX.
Its been pointed out that these shoes were made in August of 93 and the actual IX mids were released about a month later. Maybe these are a sample pair of a Jordan IX low that never came out. That would be similar to the XI "i.e." low, which had a completely different upper.
As far as numbers are concerned, the previous owner says it best. This is a direct quote from him:
"The only other pair of these shoes are located in the Nike archive warehouse. So good luck & u will never see these shoes ever again"
