Leavened Breds (2026 Air Jordan 1 Retro Low OG "Banned") - a retrospective
tl;dr: 2025 85 OGs > 2026 Banned lows > 2016 Banned highs (a shock to no one)
It's been 10 years since I got my favourite pair, so I'm gonna write like it's 2016 again.
I never would have thought the breds were gonna get any "better" than that. Despite the shape differences, despite the departure in colour. I accepted it to be the 2016's quirks. No different to the 1994 nubuck swoosh, 2001 ultra vibrant red and nubuck swoosh, 2009 having the jumpman logo, etc.
And then the hits kept on hitting, and those deliberate deviations stopped feeling like compromises. But all of them are pretty in their own right, and all of them are (or will be) special to me. I've got a couple of unstructured thoughts surrounding the bakery, acting as my (tough) love letter to the breds, and I'll demarcate each thought with dashed lines.
As a side note, I will be noting the 2011, 2016, and 2026 pairs as the Banned I, II and III, respectively. These three pairs are the only ones to be marketed with that aesthetic. The 2025s are a non-canon event based on the fact that the only thing I actually saw about these from a marketing context was that it was limited? What a foolish decision.
Cross-Sections the leather panels of each pair I own
Notes:
- I do wear these pairs and use shoe care products. These have changed how the materials look today
- I don't have better instruments right now. I'll be using a phone and a zip tie to standardise these photos
Saphir medaille d'Or or bust. But, maybe buy a Muji horsehair brush to save some money?
2026 Banned (III) Low
2025 Bred '85 OGs
2016 Banned (II) High
Banned off - 2026 vs 2016
Truth be told, from both the cross section and the "feel" of the panels , the quality of leather between the 2016 pair and the 2026 pair are actually quite close. The thickness of the polyurethane coats, the bounce, the plush-"ness". But the intangibles make the 2026 pair feel so much more "right".
There's a confidence in them the old ones didn't. A larger swoosh, the black panels not needing to be stamped with fake pores, the use of the pebbled leather pattern across both colours. I wouldn't be able to tell without destructive testing, but there even seems to be a difference in formulation of the polyurethane coats.
- In the 2016 pair
- The red panels absorbs oils and conditioners too readily
- The black panels refuse to absorb oils and conditioners, but will still bloom fats???
- In the 2026 pair
- More predictable, feels like any modern (quality but not expensive) sneaker
Faithful Adaptation - 2026 vs 2025
Seeing the Banned (III) lows puts the 2025 pair in such a new light to me. I can't know for certain, but I'm confident in guessing that the 85 OG line uses veg tanned leather (vs chrome tanned), and is the reason why the '85s age so much more gracefully than the retro OGs.
An extra .1~.3 mm of leather and or PU coating cannot account for such a drastic difference in stiffness. And I'm also confident that "tumbled" pattern on any banned's is not from softening
- The debossing becomes more faint when I applied conditioner
- Crease marks are not faithful to the pebbling on the leather. If they were tumbled for softening, those "debossed" areas should be weak points.
RetrOGs
I'm frustrated as much as anyone that Nike/Jordan fumbled last year's bred 1s, reverse shadows, and royal lows, but the 85 OGs truly are sublime. I wish they don't shelve the line; that price increase is well worth the return on quality.
The crux of the issue was the false scarcity, but the price wasn't all that jacked up as it first seems (but it still is). Using the following reference points:
- Lows: Chicago (140 USD) vs Royal 85s (160 USD)
- Highs: Shattered Backboards (185 USD) vs Bred 85s (250 USD)
I can't say this elevation in quality was always present in the OG line, but the Bred high OGs DNA is at least shared with the Royal lows.
If the marketing is to be believed, and bred price covers research cost of revamping the OG line, it should float around the 210~220 USD mark when we do see the return of the OG cut. Still insane, but I'd gladly pay that price in retail.
But maybe it's dead? The chicago and Banned (III) lows were sold under the retro line, and the OG cupsole has been in purgatory since the start of this year.
OG Quality
I wish I owned the older pairs just for the sake of comparison, but I believe that the 2025 pairs are the best built (official) Jordan 1s, quality wise. 1985 material selection with 2025 manufacturing quality? yes, please. My hunger is satiated, however.
To be a sneaker head
Generally, I'm liking where the community is going. Back to being a circle of nerds who are here for the love of the worthless. That same vacancy allows any individual to define how they get to enjoy it. I hope the door stays open to as much people that care about this.