What is the Legacy of Off-White “The Ten” Collection?

In 2017, the sneaker game was changed by a certain Mr. Virgil Abloh and his collaborative efforts with Nike. He took ten already popular sneakers from the Swoosh, broke them down and rebuilt them in his own creative vision. With that, the Off White The Ten Collection was born and needless to say, they have left a lasting impression on sneaker culture. With this being the first time Nike has really given true creative freedom to a collaborator, these ten sneakers were an instant classic, they were pure art. The hype for these coveted sneakers was at a fever pitch and became instant “grails” to some and a resellers dream to others. With the Jordan 1 leading the hype train of The Ten, Nike knew they had something special…but we all know what happens when something is a hit with the masses…complete overkill.

The popularity of this collection far surpassed just the sneaker community but infiltrated the world. Even if they didn’t know the name of each sneaker, they knew that they had to have the ones with the “hang-tags”. So to capitalize on this popularity, Nike decided, let’s pump out another release, but the kicker was, it wasn’t nearly as good as the first. Just like your favorite movie, the sequel didn’t live up to the same hype. But, just like before the masses came out to do anything possible to get their hands on these sneakers from waiting in line for days to paying ridiculously inflated resale prices. It didn’t matter, people had to have them! Especially when everywhere you turn your favorite athlete, singer, rapper, and of course social media influencer had them in your face. You couldn’t get away from them. So what happens next? You guessed it Nike pumped out more of them. So at this point, Off-White The Ten should be called The Thirty. Now you may ask, ”why are you mad if they make enough for everyone?” Well to be fair, everyone still didn’t get them. The same problems that plague every limited and hyped release hit this one as well, but that’s not even the issue I have. I feel as though the story behind this sneaker was ruined when Nike just kept releasing this collection in different colorways.

If Nike wanted to stay true to that story, they should have stuck with the original ten and just re-released the originals anytime they thought of releasing some other color. I mean let’s be honest, the original Presto completely overshadows the next 2 releases, and I think the same can be said for every other model. And, before anyone gets this confused, this is no knock on Virgil or the original collection, because he hands down has had the best showing a collaborator with Nike that has ever been seen to this point in time. I just wish the brand would have treated the sneakers with more respect and not just pimping them out to get as much cash as possible. Not only that, Nike has been using this style of branding on other models, basically ripping off their own concept of The Ten. I know you’ve seen the “Not for Resale Jordan 1”. This is a prime example of bleeding a popular concept to death. Virgil has recently come out to say that he will not be working on any more sneakers in this collection. Although the original release of Off-White The Ten will be considered classics, was this move to stop producing more colorways a little too late? Do you think the releases after the original watered down the legacy of this collaboration?