Does Nike hate the military?

Nike — named after the Greek goddess of victory — is seemingly too scared to be associated with US armed forces; or more aptly, too frightened to offend someone. Their famous Military Blue sneakers have been renamed: as the “Industrial Blue” Jordan 4.

I was watching Nike’s “Jordan Retro Preview” event on the Nike Sneakers app, tempting my urge to buy yet more sneakers (at more than sixty pairs, I desperately need some more). In most ways, it was like every other Sneakers Live stream. There was good releases (the Jordan 1 “Artisanal Red”), some very bad ones (dear God, the green Jordan 1s) and many, many, many more that I expect to see on clearance shelves across America. But the almost 80,000 viewers were waiting to see just one pair of shoes: the Jordan 4 “Military Blue.”

First released in 1989, the Jordan 4 is one of the most famous sneakers of all time. Unlike many other Nike retro shoes, it still sells out to this day, with each year’s signature colorway becoming one of the most beloved shoes released that year. There was the green and tan SB Jordan 4 last year, and just recently we had the “Bred” (albeit in leather rather than suede); but the Military Blues are one of the original colorways, last re-released in 2012 (the 2021 golf pair don’t count), and the 2024 pair, marking the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Jordan 4, will be coming back exactly as the original shoes were.

Except, as we learned on the stream, for one thing, the name. 

Turning to Elon Musk’s Threads competitor, I saw that fellow-sneakerhead, general manager of Sole Collector, Brendan Dunne had noticed it too: “Wait a minute did they rename the shoe to make it more woke?”

It’s worth noting that Nike has changed products before to counter controversy. They recalled the Air Bakin in the 1990s because the logo looked like “Allah” in Arabic, and more recently removing the Betsy Ross from the 2019 Air Max One Fourth of July, because Colin Kaepernick whined about it — but it’s hard to think of an example as dumb and small as this, on a product this important. With this kind of short-sighted, shallow thinking, it’s not surprising that the business as a whole isn’t in a great state. 

You could argue — as a Nike PR rep will invariably do — that they have simply changed the name to keep it aligned with the named convention of their other blue shoes, with the Dunk High and Low, Roshe One, Uptempo, Janoski, Air Max Tailwind IV and Huarache Run Ultra all baring the “Industrial Blue.” Similarly, this may be a slightly darker shade than “Military Blue” pairs; but come on. This is one of the most famous brand names in sneakers, for an incredibly famous shoe, which is going to be advertised around how authentic this is to the original shoes, but they won’t call them by the right name. Every customer will — and Nike would too had they any stomach. 

But hey, maybe Nike should continue down this line. Some commenters suggested further names for Nike to continue in this theme; perhaps “Proletariat Red” and “Military Industrial Complex Blue.”  Given that Nike has collaborated with Tiffany’s, Jarrito’s, Power Puff Girls and Ben & Jerrys, why not give me some Raytheon 2s? That nice logo on the wings and blood red on the sole would look fantastic. Or what about a Monsanto collab; all white with a saffron sole called the “White Phosphorous 4s?” I’d cop those.

Until then, I’m still on the hunt for a pair of the 2013 Air Max 90 Hyperfuse “Independence Day” pack, in red, white and blue, with the flag on the tongue. But if they release, I expect they’ll be called the “Colonialism,” or “Day of Mourning” pack.