Travis Scott's Latest Air Jordan is a Women's Exclusive — Are We All Thinking the Same Thing?
Pretty sure we’re all on the same page with this one.
Travis Scott follows a litany of co-branded sneakers under the Nike/Air Jordan umbrella with a monochromatic take on his AJ1 Low to be available in a women’s size run. The striking colorway combines “Sail” and black across the design, making for a stunning drop that elevates the typical black/white color story. (Sorry, Pandas.)
As women’s exclusives have continued to rise, the avenues for women to actually procure the pairs have not grown in tandem. In all fairness, the SNKRS app has released passes for early purchases to accounts with female selected as the gender (an easily manipulated strategy), but a great deal of responsibility has fallen on individual retailers to get women’s exclusives in the hands of women — if they are so inclined. Common tactics include ladies’ first shopping windows and women’s only raffles, to varying degrees of success.
Whether women’s, unisex, or men’s sizing, the conversation needs to be one of equality and access. For an artist on Travis Scott’s level to support women in sneakers to any degree is a step in the right direction, but until there’s a real strategy to get the shoes to women all it does is add to the resale market — a particularly stressful arena for women. Women new to the landscape are prey to scammers and with the average American woman earning 80% of the average male salary, ultra-hype resale sneakers are even further out of reach for most.
Are we all thinking the same thing? Women’s exclusive? That’s great and all, but how am I going to get a pair? It would be nice if women could actually buy women’s exclusives.
There’s still a chance that the release will implement a gender-inclusive strategy to address the above. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, stay tuned for release updates and additional drop information as it becomes available.
