The Sneaker History Archive
A community-built record of the sneakers that matter. A few quick things before you dive in.
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Air Jordan 2 "Varsity Royal"
2015
Top@nickengvall OfficialFounding
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Don C, the Chicago designer behind the Just Don label, has one of the most distinctive collaborative relationships with Jordan Brand, and the Varsity Royal 2 is among its most coveted results. Released in 2015 at three hundred and fifty dollars, the shoe rebuilds the Air Jordan 2 in premium blue leather with quilted detailing and gold accents on the eyelets, lace tips and heel, a luxury reinterpretation of a model that has always been the quiet, Italian-made oddity of the early Jordan line. It sold out instantly and has become perhaps the most sought-after version of the Jordan 2 ever made.
The pairing makes sense. The Air Jordan 2 was the first in the line produced without a visible Swoosh and the first made in Italy, a deliberately upscale shoe from the start, which makes it the natural canvas for a designer working in a luxury register. Don C took that DNA and pushed it further, treating the 2 the way a fashion house would. For an archive the Don C Varsity Royal documents how Jordan Brand opened its archive to outside designers in the 2010s, and how the often-overlooked Jordan 2 found new life as a high-end collaboration platform rather than a forgotten early model.