 Is it me? Or does this shoe mark the end of sneaker collaboration? Today, we're gonna be taking an in-depth look at the Air Jordan 1 Union BBS collab. There are definitely a lot of different features added to this shoe compared to the first release, and don't worry, we'll be comparing these two later in the video as well. But you know, on this channel, we always gotta go over the history first. Oh yeah, oh yeah, and if you didn't know by now, my name is DJ, and this is The DNA Show. So looking at this box right here, this actually tells a lot about the history of the Air Jordan 1 Union BBS collab. Right here it says Summer 96, and it has the Jordan Jumpman logo, the BBS, also known as Bethes Beauty Supply, and then the Union logo right here. Now, why do they have three different collaborations? When it comes to Union, a lot of people think about Chris Gibbs, but they also forget to mention the other co-founder and his wife, Beth, and she is the owner of BBS. So it's dope to see them bring it in her brand as well when it comes to this collaboration, which we will see those details a little bit later on in the video as we go over the shoe. Now, behind the text and the logo is you can see a basketball hoop right here and then an apartment complex, and on the side of the box it says Air Jordan with an apartment complex as well. On the back end it has Union, and then it has the BBS logo right here, and if you turn it sideways, you can see it says Bethes Beauty Supply right here on the front end of the lid. Now, opening up the box, you can see on the top of the lid right here, you have 1996 and the three different logos as well, and then you got the black and white paper right here with the image of the apartment complex matching just like the box, it says Air Jordan right here in the white text, and then just behind that you got the white paper and then you got the shoe. Oh, you got the shoe. So I'm sure a lot of people are wondering why does it say 1996 on the box and what is the story behind this shoe? So back in the summer of 1996, this is when Chris and Beth actually met, and from that point on as they built their love story, they were also building their brands, BBS and Union. So no better way to take a nod from a sneaker back in 1996 to footscape and integrate some type of cool feature on that shoe from then to now and add the woven element to the upper on the Air Jordan one. Now, like you guys have seen before on the channel or on the internet, there have been a bunch of different union collaborations and the Jordan one in particular from the older release, the black toes and the storm blues was considered to be one of the greatest union collaborations to ever come out. They added some cool elements to this release back then by giving you that zigzag stitch on the side and then switching the upper half of the shoe on the back end by having a different colorway right there. Similar, you got your natural gray with your black toe Air Jordan one. And it's actually very interesting because if you look at these, which we will get into comparisons in a second, but this is a natural gray Air Jordan one colorway just like old time. So with rising hype and demand behind collaborations and different sneakers over the years, it's very interesting to see a whole new twist when it comes to this shoe in particular. And a lot of people are saying this could potentially be the end of collaborations. Have they gone too far? We'll find out a little bit later in the video when we check the poll results. But for now, let's go ahead and take it to the studio so we can break down all the styles, cuts and materials and I can show you the differences between the old release and this current release. Oh yeah, and before we get any deeper into this review, I forgot to mention, shout out to my homies over there as Soul Steals. If you guys haven't already, make sure you guys hit the link down below in the description. They're a full subscription service with a monthly subscription. And when you have the membership, it gives you access to exclusive drops, free raffles. They do drops every single Sunday at 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. They get early releases, they get bulk on a bunch of other stuff. Sometimes you get access to stuff like this or drops in the future or restocks on other stuff and they might get it and they have it at a better rate than the market price. So many different scenarios. Either way, I've been using Soul Steals for multiple years now. I love it, you guys know I use them. I've done mystery boxes, we've done other things. At the end of the day, like I said, we got a lot of people that are happy campers with them. So if you're interested in getting shoes early or wanna be able to get shoes at a discount, start saving money and really making money to help grow your collection, this is definitely a really good option and I recommend it to a lot of people. So hit that link down below in the description. I had to mention them, you know how it is. Them is my homies over there. Appreciate you guys as always. Now let's keep going with this video because this is a very interesting shoe. So like typical fashion, I like to start with the bottom of the shoe and work my way up. So let's go ahead and get into all the details and then we'll get into the comparison. Looking at the outsole right here, you got your classic Air Jordan 1 bottom on your new retro vibe. And going up to the midsole, you have a two toned midsole slash outsole area. So you have that sail kind of colored on the bottom. And if you look a little bit closer around the toe area where the stars are at, you can actually see it is definitely a darker color when it comes to the outsole compared to the midsole. Now going up to the upper, this is gonna be more of a pure white compared to that midsole. You can definitely tell the difference between the shades and the tones, giving you that neutral gray or natural gray Air Jordan 1 color blocking like we have seen from the OG colors in the past or even the previous retro from a couple of years ago. Now when it comes to the standard cut and shape of this shoe, it's gonna be the OG 1 high, not the 85 high. The shoe is predominantly covered in a white tumbled leather all throughout and it feels pretty solid. It's a little thick. It doesn't have too soft of a feel to it, but it's definitely softer than normal. And you could say yes, they added a premium material when it comes to the upper on this shoe. Now another hit that's similar to the previous release, you have a yellow finish all throughout the raw cuts on the edges of the leather. That's gonna go on the toe box area around the eye stays, here around the swooshes, on the back end, on the panel, around the heel, the collar area right there, even the little tab. Now some common details that we typically see when it comes to union collaborations is the little yellow union tab right here. Another thing similar to the other release in the past. And like we talked about at the beginning of the video, you have the BBS branding right here on the back end around the heel. Small subtle hit, just like the union hit right there. And they let the design of the shoe kind of do more of the talking. Than the actual branding of their own selves. Now these come with a standard pair of flat sail laces. They're a little bit silkier than normal. And on the front half of the lace, they're actually dyed gray. So it has a two tone vibe to it when it comes to these laces if you were to unlace the entire shoe. Now the other, let me see what's on this side right here. Okay, here we go. So you can see right here, they also have an additional set of yellow laces right here with the move to zero packaging. And like we talked about with the previous release, those ones had a couple of the laces as well with an additional set of yellow laces. And a lot of people like that look with the yellow laces in there. And I think with these, with the yellow accents on the shoe, it might make it pop a little bit more. And I think it might be a cool look. Let me know what you guys think down below in the comment section. Now before we move to the back end in full comparisons against the black toes, the tongue on these right here is sail all the way throughout. Then you have that zigzag mint colored stitch right here in the center of the tongue. Your gray patch with the Nike air branding in white. And then on the back end, it's just all exposed foam. Now going to the sock liner, we have a gray mesh all throughout. And then on the inside of the insole, you have that same mint green colorway or blue or whatever your turquoise teal, whatever you like to call it. That same color is going to be on the insole right here with the white Nike branding as well. Now comparing these to the previous retro, as you can see, definitely a difference in the boxes. This has a Jordan one box on the bottom half, the pictures all throughout. We've seen this on previous retros, you know, fives and sixes, different stuff like that, even Jordan threes. These ones have the paper with them. And then it's got your zigzag stitch and all the different stuff. It kind of talks about the tongue and the union branding. And then right here, just so you guys can see, they do look very similar. Yes, it's on that same, you know, that same track, the same patterns, the same vibe. But obviously you don't have the woven area all throughout the upper on this side. But there's actually some differences that I started to notice when I put these two shoes side by side. I think when they did the yellow on here, it's a lot more prominent on the newer retro, compared to the original black toe version that came out a while ago. And then another thing that I noticed as well, with these, yes, you still have the two tone laces. So you got the black right here and it goes to sale. And then on this one, you got sale that goes to gray. And then, like we talked about earlier, different laces. These ones, they had a hang tag with them as well that came with the shoe. Thought that was a dope touch, wish they would have done that on these. And then another thing that I noticed, I know it's small details, but I feel like they kind of refined this version and made it just a little bit better when it comes to the craftsmanship of the shoe and how they put it together and where the placements of the materials are. So if you look around here around the eye holes, you can see that the leather and the materials kind of go straight flush and then you can see the area of the sock liner right here wrapped all the way around. Really clean, really tight. Now, if you look at this version right here, you can see it has a little bit more of a rough edge to it and it's on the sides right here and it goes right directly up. And then on the front end, you can actually see it on this side. So you can tell that they actually put a little bit more effort into tucking the materials when it comes to the top part right here, compared to it being exposed and that kind of little thing like that. And you can't even, you see on this one, you can see the stitch lines right here at the top end, the double stitch. And then on here, you can't see it because it's tucked behind that on the sock liner. So those little details, for me, you know, I'm always looking at the little stuff, but those little details are something cool to pay attention to as well. As you see the slight tweaks in the retros as they start to change thing as well. And then even with this, like you have two different colored materials, white leather and black leather stitched together. And then on this one, it's just a white leather all throughout. So they didn't really need to worry about that. All they had to do was just add the zigzag stitch right there and stay that theme, you know, consistent throughout that part of the upper. So just little details like that, always stick out to me. Let me know if you guys noticed anything else as well when it comes to the craftsmanship of the two shoes. I feel like overall quality materials and everything like that, they did a really good job on both. Personally, I feel like these are a little bit softer than the newer retro version. But again, that's kind of how I feel about it when it comes to the touch of the shoe. I think that's why a lot of people say this is one of their favorite collaborations of all time as well, not only just union collaborations, but one of the top collaborations in the history of, you know, released collaborations and obviously samples and PEs and stuff is a whole different game. Now next up on the list for me is always like, which one do you guys like more? Is everybody still rocking with the OG? Or did they like the new retro version? Sometime you got new sneaker heads coming into the game. This is all they know. They didn't have access to this. So this is their new grill. I completely understand that as well. Or you can say, hey, I just think this pair looks better than this one. Or I just think this pair looks better than that one. So I can understand both sides. Either way, I posted a poll on my story to see what everybody thinks. If you haven't already, follow me on IG so you can participate in the poll and see all the results here on the channel. Ask the simple question, which one do you like more? This is what they said. 90% of the people chose the black toes and 10% of the people chose the new modern version with the woven on the upper. Now can I say that makes sense? Yeah, I think that makes sense. Honestly, it could have been 95 to five or maybe 85 to 15 somewhere around there, but I think 90 is a really good representation of it. Let me know what you guys think down below in the comment section when it comes to that. Now obviously we know people like this one more than that one, but now the question is, how much do they really like this shoe? Is this even worth a collaboration? Are collaborations dead? What's going on? So I ask the people the same question. Is this shoe fire or is this shoe trash? This is what they said. 51% of the people chose fire and 49% of the people chose trash. Bruh, that is way too close for comfort if you ask me. I think, yes, I get it. This is one of those shoes that you gotta see it in person. I think my initial impressions are, I was excited to see them doing something different. Now, would I want them to do this in particular? I'm not sure, but I was always like, I'm interested to see these in person. I gotta add these to the collection and make my decision once I get them in hand. So at this point, got them in hand, got them in my size, interested to rock these and see how they look on foot and everything. For me, I would say they're growing on me. So I think with the 51 to 49 right now, I think once the shoe comes out, more people get to shoe in hand. It's gonna happen to those people as well. And not everybody's gonna love it. And this is one of those shoes that I don't think everybody's gonna love. But at the same time, it might be 55 to 45 or something like that. It might skew just a little bit more and people liking it. And who knows? It might go the opposite direction. At the end of the day, buy what you like. That's the most important thing. But this shoe in particular starts to make me question, are collaborations worth it anymore? Are they done with it? Have they ran the well dry? What is going on with Jordan Brand and the brands that they're working with? We're seeing different collaborations with Amma and Union and da-da-da-da-da. You're seeing it happen even with the Travis Scott's, the Jordan One Lowe's. It's like, all right, bro. How many variations of a similar thing are you gonna give us? It's getting really, really close to the same thing. Do we want this anymore? Prices are starting to go down because of it, which is a representation of how much people like stuff. Unfortunately, that's what it is in the shoe game these days. But either way, I have a still a gray area. I think there's an opportunity for collaborations to still be popping off, but at the same time, it's hard when you see multiple collaborations from the same brand, da-da-da-da-da. And then it's like, bro, you came with the hot stuff at the beginning and now you're trickling off with the weak stuff. And I get that. You gotta come in strong to make people like it. But then at the same time, how do you stay strong the whole time? That's a hard time for the brand, for the consumer, all the different stuff. You gotta create different stuff for different audiences. I get both perspectives. Let me know what you guys think down below in the comments section. I hope you guys enjoyed this. Again, shout out to Soul Steals. If you guys haven't already, hit the link down below in the description if you wanna get signed up. I've been using them for a long time and this is how I get early releases sometimes. So for me, it was a great pickup. Hope you guys enjoyed this. We got plenty more reviews to come. I'm out. I would never let you down. Yo, before you go, I just launched my Slinger Head Academy where we got everything on the inside. I teach you all the stuff that I learned over the past 15 years. When it comes to sneakers, scaling, real estate, you name it, we talk about all of it in there. And there's an eight week program plus a bunch of monthly giveaways. I give away shoes literally way too much, honestly. But either way, I'll see you guys on the inside. Hit the link down below in my description or pinned in the comments section for DJ Slinger Head Academy and I'll see you guys over there. Hey, pop. Just want to know.