Nike Air Tech Challenge / Agassi is back

[mizanation]

i know. they were like $65 a pair or something. now, i spend more than that on a night of drinks, probably even with adjusting for inflation.

i thought before that i may have been in grade school when these came out, but that was wishful thinking. i was well into middle school. damn, getting old.

[peteyross]

Didn't mean to imply that these are above criticism, but people need to calm down a bit until we see what shows up on shelves.

I too played in these when I was 9 (albeit in a kids size 7) and have fond memories of them. Even a non-identical retro will bring back some joy for me though.

If you're old and you hate em, well that's unfortunate because these have been a long time coming.

[triniboy27]

I had the white/orange pair - there were my very first pair of Nikes ever (I was a reebok boy back then) - and I too actually played tennis in them as well.

Oh the memories. Must grab them when they come back out.

[mizanation]

peteyross, do you know if they are gonna come out with a retro of the black/pink colorway?

i'm not a huge sneaker head but how can i resist these ATC's?

[ILLset]

to be fair to Nike the changes they have made, a lot of them are so that it is a better performing shoe for a tennis player. that seems to be there intention with the shoe rather than for nostalgia and shoeheads.

Only problem i have is with the shade of neon, rest of shoe is fine.

[swisloc]

i know. they were like $65 a pair or something. now, i spend more than that on a night of drinks, probably even with adjusting for inflation.

i thought before that i may have been in grade school when these came out, but that was wishful thinking. i was well into middle school. damn, getting old.

i remember being on the verge of tears trying to get my mom to buy me Nike Aqua Gears (yellow neon with the velcor strap) for summer camp in 1989. I think they were like 25 bucks.

she wouldn't buy them for me, btw.

[cheapmuthafukr]

yeah, i remember wantng these so bad... especially since aggasi was kinda a local star since he trained at the tennis acadamy that was right next to my middle school. i never got them.

never got any of the nikes i wanted actually...

[swisloc]

to be fair to Nike the changes they have made, a lot of them are so that it is a better performing shoe for a tennis player. that seems to be there intention with the shoe rather than for nostalgia and shoeheads.

Only problem i have is with the shade of neon, rest of shoe is fine.

ummm... VERY few who play tennis seriously are buying this shoe for that purpose. the advancements made in performance sneakers over the last twenty years is staggering. i mean, these probably weigh almost twice as much as current tennis footwear. none of the changes shown could be adequately described as "advancements".

the issue of these is ALL about nostalgia.

[mizanation]

man, the original ATCs were heavy as FUCK!

i also had a pair of head tennis shoes, they were the heaviest fuckers i've ever put on my feet. they had dimples on the toe for traction.

[ILLset]

ummm... VERY few who play tennis seriously are buying this shoe for that purpose. the advancements made in performance sneakers over the last twenty years is staggering. i mean, these probably weigh almost twice as much as current tennis footwear. none of the changes shown could be adequately described as "advancements".

the issue of these is ALL about nostalgia.

yes the main purpose is for nostalgia, but i still feel Nike believe despite not being of a top quality they like to improve the product a little for the times.

[vvoc]

im sure u guys searched this already, but thought id post anyways:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKE-AIR-TECH-CHALLENGE-ORIG-1990-AGASSI-DEADSTOCK_http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKE-AIR-TECH-CHALLENGE-ORIG-1990-AGASSI-DEADSTOCK_W0QQitemZ280092493228QQcategoryZ63850QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

legit, but price is goin up...

[MiniW]

so sad to see the classics ruined this way. makes you wonder what shoes you should be buying now and saving for 15 years...

just a quick response to this quote... did anyone ever collect baseball cards and/or comic books back in the day (late 80's, early-mid 90's). Well if you did you'd know that they are pretty much worthless now and from what I see sneakers are heading towards the same trend. I mean Jordan OG's used to be worth 2-3 times the original price but ever since the retro's came out, only the ones whose specific colorway was not retro'ed are still worth anything. Also I am not an expert on the quality of Nikes but some of the shoes made 10-15 years ago by Nike have brittle and flaking midsoles (take the agassi's for example) and are no longer wearable. And while improvements in technology have been made, the quality of Nike shoes I have been told are going down because Nike is cutting production costs anywhere they can (take for example the Jordan XIII retro's that have ugly red glue squirtin out the seams).

Anyways back to my original point, collecting sneaks now for sentimental value is perhaps not a bad idea (and perhaps this was swisloc's intention), but for investment purposes I would stay far, far away.

P.S. I have a pair of OG agassi's in white and neon yellow colorway (nonwearable) if anyone wants to buy

[mizanation]

yeah, collecting as an investment scheme is a bad idea.

i only buy things that i love to have for myself. if it gets me money later, great. but i'm not banking on it.

[willy cheesesteak]

Pictures from Purchaze.com, mens size:

Nike Air Tech Challenge "White/Black-Neon"

Description: White/Black - Sonic Yellow

Worn by Andre Agassi in 1990. They were the first signature shoes of the American Tennis Champion. He won 4 tournament titles during that year, wearing those kicks! They feature a strong ankle support, with a soft, white but durable leather upper with a clear transparent Air-Sole at the midsole with a unique flourescent yellow markings across the entire shoe.

Weight: 900 g

Looks brighter. Still missing the black part on the back midsole. I'll have to see these in person first.

[Salad]

^ They look better in those pics. Orig. are unwearable because of the fragile old foam. Yeah, the retro's are off, especially the perf. texture and that logo looks like something from Powerpoint. That said, I'm still going to get them.

[Guest Methimphibian]

Does anyone know what kind of release this is going to be? Footaction? Footlocker? urban?

[corporategrunt]

Hopefully they will make it to the sale rack, I don't think I can stomach paying full price for a butchered version of a shoe that meant so much to me at one point in my life.

Nike is coming out with Air Flare this summer as well, hopefully I will get my hands on those in a sale - they may not look as good, but it surely performs better than ATC.

[poly800rock]

why do they always leave out the really amazing accents on their retro colors? the stab og colorway they reissued wasn't the same because the left off the black on the air part. Idk, if you're going to retro an og colorway, might as well do the whole thing insted of just little parts missing.

[PanicOf06]

Hahaha... I am sure anyone can pull chix with those fresh kicks back in the day and today as well.

Shame on you Nike... you fucked up a classic.

Keeping it mad fresh on the baseline!

mmmm...still have these and scared as shit that they'll fall apart if i ever wear them.

[hard2chui]

When do these come out? I'll need to see em in person....

[Waxy]

the pink ones were the best. i remember seeing a kid with those but like they were white where it was neon pink that'd be nice if they reissues those. sucks how they changed the logo on the back of the yellow ones.

[mlproject]

Z726znyzHKI

finally did that right.

[heBAY]

For those that don't know, that comparison is a an OG kids version vs. a somewhat old sample. Any proportion conlcusions you've drawn based on this comparison may not be correct. Of course there are some obvious differences (ie tennis ball) but I would wait to comment until you see a pair of retros in person. Most people complaining about these aren't even old enough to have owned the OG's! If you want a real opinion, ask Alex (aka RetroKid) and you'll see that he's quite satisfied with these. He's one of the most prominent collectors of Agassi gear and he isn't complaining. People cried for years to get a Stab retro and then they cried when they showed up. Boohoo. Maybe people need to get off Nikes for a while...try something new. Hell, get off the retro footwear. We're not entitled to anything on Nike's behalf.

I'm actually glad these are coming out again. Of course we've gotta take all of the bastardized colorways that follow, but ignore that crap. While everyone else is complaining on Niketalk about differences that are out of our control (and hardly noticeable when worn), we should just be wearing them.

Agreeeeeeeeeeed