Key Details
- The Trophy Room x Air Jordan 6 pack features two colorways with light-responsive uppers that change from white to baby blue or pink.
- The Air Jordan 6 samples reveal hand-scribbled notes and Michael Jordan's signature on the heels when exposed to direct sunlight.
- The Trophy Room x Air Jordan 4 sample combines a taupe suede upper with black and metallic gold accents throughout the design.
Last week, Marcus Jordan surprised us with an announcement regarding his retail store, Trophy Room. The business has shuttered, and is being reworked into a new brand under Jordan’s direction. On his way out, Marcus shared a look at some unreleased Air Jordan models.
Marcus Jordan is the second son of the legendary Michael Jordan, and that familial relationship brought Marcus to follow in his father’s footsteps, first as a collegiate basketball player, and later as a footwear industry man. The younger MJ founded his retail store, Trophy Room in 2016, opening their doors on May 23rd, a date chosen to commemorate Marcus’ and his father’s respective jersey numbers. Located in Orlando’s Disney Springs shopping district, Trophy Room was much more than your standard sneaker store, designed to recreate the actual Jordan family trophy room from Marcus’ childhood, filled with family photos, home videos, and most importantly, game-worn and authentic gear from His Airness himself.
Trophy Room’s ties to Jordan Brand meant exactly what you’d expect; plenty of limited edition collaborations. Marcus collaborated with his father’s eponymous brand many times in the past ten years, releasing his take on some of the Jumpman’s most iconic models, including 23s, 17s, 7s, 5s, and the holy grail, the Air Jordan 1. Their releases typically celebrated historic moments in Michael Jordan’s career, or reinterpreting a model’s signature colorway with a new spin. The TR x Air Jordan 1 High from 2021 remixed the classic “Chicago” color scheme with a glittery twist, though that shoe’s release was marred by some of the darker aspects of Marcus & Trophy Room’s history.
Marcus Jordan is a bit of a meme in the online sneaker world, mostly due to some botched releases, namely the AJ1 High. The special-edition colorway was one of the most anticipated releases of that year, but ahead of the release it already seemed hopeless. Bulk sneaker resellers were telling stories about visiting a hotel room in Miami to buy the Trophy Room pairs for inflated prices ahead of release, meeting with Marcus himself or other representatives of the retail store. Jordan has refuted the claims of backdooring over the years, but it hasn’t stopped us from poking fun whenever the issue comes up.
This week, Marcus took to Instagram to announce the end of Trophy Room, just a few short weeks after the store’s ten-year anniversary. Marcus’ full quote reads:
“After careful deliberation & 10 amazing years, I’ve decided to pause & step away from my role at TROPHY ROOM™ to focus on new opportunities that better align with where I am today – both professionally and personally.
“I’m forever grateful for an incredible 10-year run and I’m deeply thankful to all of our customers and partners who made it so special.
“Effective Today, June 1st, I am stepping back & retaining the TROPHY ROOM™ Trademark & IP as the store goes through a transition from our brick & mortar experience to exclusively online as a different brand.
“I’m excited for a new chapter & new challenges. My time at TROPHY ROOM™ will stay with me forever. I truly appreciate the continued love and support.”
In other words, MJ is reworking the former retail store into a new brand, though little information was shared about what exactly is to come in the future. Instead, Jordan shared a ton of photos of the cancelled Trophy Room x Air Jordan 6 pack, which was originally slated to release in 2025, but never made it to shelves. The pack featured two colorways of the AJ6, both sporting light-responsive color-changing uppers. They both appear in white at first glance, with black and Infrared accents, but change into either baby blue or light pink tones when exposed to direct sunlight, also revealing some hand-scribbled notes and Mike’s signature on the heels. This week, after Jordan’s announcement, another Trophy Room sample sneaker has surfaced, a pair of the Air Jordan 4. The colorway appears to be the same as an in-store display pair from when they opened in 2016, mixing taupe suede upper with black and metallic gold accents. Unfortunately, now that TR has come to an end, we will likely never see either pair made available to the public.
Check out the images of both Air Jordan samples below, and stay tuned to JustFreshKicks on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more of the latest sneaker news, release dates, and restock alerts.
