Many Sneakerheads highly anticipate Trophy Room’s Air Jordan 1 collaboration. The inspiration behind the shoe was Michael Jordan’s first All-Star Game in 1985 when his teammates decided to “freeze” him out of the game by not passing the ball to him. The shoe uses the Chicago color scheme but adds a “frozen” look which can be seen in the sail midsole and translucent outsole. 

Trophy Room, the retailer, was expected to open their raffle at 10 AM. However, multiple website crashes led them to reopen an email-based raffle at 12:45 PM. It is rumored that only two hundred people won the raffle and bought the shoe. Although there were 12,000 pairs made, why did only two hundred people win the raffle?

This is due to the “backdooring” of sneakers. Marcus Jordan, son of Michael Jordan and owner of Trophy Room, blamed it on “thieves somehow snatching them from a Nike Distribution center.” Social media blamed Marcus Jordan for “backdooring”, selling most of their stock at high prices above retail so that he could make more profit. As a result, the Jordan 1 flooded the resell market weeks before it was released officially. The Jordan 1 Retro High Trophy Room Chicago is now selling on StockX for around $3000-$5000, which is an enormous profit for resellers. The Jordan 1 can be seen in the hands of many social media influencers like Benjamin Kickz.

Benjamin Kickz had so much of the stock that many people accused him of displaying fake sneakers. Many sneakerheads made comments on the post mocking Benjamin Kickz for not letting others have a chance in the raffle. It is clear that many famous resellers have an unfair advantage in getting sneaker drops. 

Many other resellers on Instagram can be seen showing an endless amount of the Jordan 1 sneaker. However, this shoe collaboration was not the first to have “backdooring” occur. Many stores with Nike collaborations have “backdoored” some of their supply. For example, Foot Locker employees backdoored the Air Jordan 1 “Royal” and less sneakers were given to customers.

The “backdooring” of sneakers should be stopped immediately. Unfair advantages are given to popular influencers and can be illustrated through their Instagram posts. Sneaker stores and Nike should do a better job on ending “backdooring” and offering equal opportunities to every customer.