The Story

If you’ve been around long enough then you’ve probably seen photo’s of the mysterious OG “Splatter Print” Nike Air Jordan 4 as well as what appeared to be some random Sample Jordan 5’s circulating online for over two decades.

Over the years rumors ranged from being OG unreleased Samples -the most common rumor- to some limited edition release -I’ve legit seen people say they were for sale in their local town back in the late 80’s-. In fact, these oddities have been so highly coveted and mysterious that Drake and company received their own OVO F&F release based off that one shoe in the photo’s back in 2017.

Sneaker folklore at its finest.

Fast forward to 2020.  Somehow under the radar of many, these seemingly rare “OG Samples” appeared on eBay for sale as did the Jordan 5’s all ending in the 200-300 dollar range.  The Jordan 4’s wound up in the hands of IG Collector Timmydatiger and Instagram went crazy.  Here they were, the shoe that had evaded the public eye for decades outside of a few photo’s and now it was on IG for the world to see and with it came all the theories and rumors, sadly all untrue.

The Truth

The Truth however is that the original shoes (both the Jordan 4’s and 5’s) weren’t samples and instead were nothing more than customizations -Yes, customized shoes.  Not samples, not fakes, just OG Shoes customized-.  In fact, the customizations were done so well that even a seasoned sneaker restorer IG Nikeairfiend couldn’t figure out how it was done.

So, where does that leave us all with this new found knowledge?

Well, for one its quite the history/story.   Despite the shoe not being a legit Nike rarity it is still a significant piece of sneaker history and for that Timmy and fans alike should cherish these for generations.