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This Jordan right here is the most hyped Jordan rerelease since the last big re-release. That's not us being flippant about the current wave of AJ popularity, but honestly, every time we see a buzz around a Jordan retro, we assume it can't get any more feverish, but then we get proven wrong. This is the one that the majority seem to have been waiting for and having had some time to get acquainted with the latest iteration of the Air Jordan IV, we're more impressed with this retro than we expected to be. Let's give this shoe some context — this may well be the best of the IV colourways, bringing the cement speckle to the upper at a time before speckles became a cliche collaboration fallback. It's the shoe Chuck D wore during the 'Fear of a Black Planet' era and it's the one that Buggin' Out bugged out over when that Celtics fan scuffed his. Ten years after its 1989 release, plenty slept on the reissue and kissed goodbye to getting Nike Air on the heel of their pair. After the inferior quality of the 2006 Jordan IV retros, we weren't expecting miracles with this one — those Mars Blackmon branded IVs folded like paper after a five-minute wander and weren't particularly comfortable. Having worn a pair of these for the last 72 hours and sauntered a few miles in them, the creasing has been acceptable. We're not claiming the quality of materials on the upper matches the originals (we'd be heading for a lawsuit with that kind of talk) but these wear in a lot better than the 2006 IVs.

The grey is a different shade too and speckle comparisons have been rife — they're not as wildly wrong as the splatter on the factory-jacked sample shots that hit the internet late last year, but there's speckle discrepancies between all three issues of this shoe (though even the outsole tread's a little different on these). After a spot of little toe rub, they're pretty comfy too — unlike the rub of the last editions, indicating that the shape's been tweaked a little. You won't have to do the Frankenstein's Monster step to keep them from ruin, but expect a few little folds along the way. While this retro isn't too roomy, going half a size down probably wouldn't hurt too much and could further preserve the toebox, but these opinions are based on several days wearing a pair in a true size. And as with the III and "Banned" I drops, Jordan Brand have gone the extra mile with the packaging too — there's the return of the black wrapping in the box — a relic of past Jordans and the custom box lifts from the OG Nike one, with the speckle amplified on the sides. The plastic hangtag's another nice extra. The fact that the IV is destined to develop the same level of ubiquity as last year's slew of IIIs will have some folk spewing with the Giancarlo Esposito "Motherf*ck gentrification" venom, but you had 13 years of exclusivity and there's enough points of difference to retain the bragging rights of your 1999 editions.

The retros of the Militarys, White/Reds and Black/Cements this year are going to cement the shoe's new rep as a staple sneaker rather than an envied rarity too, but if the paint has crumbled on your old pairs, there's no other way to turn. We were perplexed as to why the latter trio are returning so soon, but we never really batted an eyelid when the Jordan V returned in black six years after its 2000 retro (which hardly set the tills ringing like it does nowadays) -— same difference, yo. We're just stoked to see such an interest in sports footwear again, and whether you're a Jordan fan or not, the knock on effect could prove to be positive. We don't think anyone can pull this shoe off like Hank Shocklee did back in the day in the Glen E. Friedman shot below, confident of the OG's less crease-prone tendencies and making cuffed denim that looks like a Max B impersonator working a Krakow nightclub look very cool indeed, but they do look very nice on the feet. We could nit pick all day, but it's good to see this shoe back and it isn't a botched reissue in terms of shape. Once upon a time we would have assured folk that there's plenty of time to grab a pair, but honestly, we're expecting an E-crowd surge, and we'll be on hand in the event of any server slowdown when these drop at midnight on Saturday for £110.