At the time of starting this blog, it is 12:08 PM on Sunday, December 8th, and the Stash x Nike "Blue Pack" is still available in every size on Stash's website. This means that one of the most storied sneaker collabs of all time that has lived in sneaker culture lore since its initial release in 2006 has all but bricked ahead of its official release on Nike's SNKRS app on December 13th, and thats on Nike for not delivering a story worth buying into.
I'll also add that I bought a pair of the Air Max 95s from this pack because this shoe is one of my favorite Nike colorways ever. The original release is impossible to find in my size at a feasible price, which is why I've been following along for updates since they initially announced they were bringing the shoe back on Air Max Day on March 26th.
Above: 2024 Retro of the Stash x Nike "Blue Pack" photo by Arab Lincoln
The History:
In 2006, for Nike's "Artists Series," they worked with renowned graffiti artist "Stash" on the "Blue Pack," which featured an Air Force 1 and Air Max 95, the shoes themselves have multiple hues of greys and blues to create two of the most visually stunning shoes ever. But this wasn't Stash's first use of this colorway for a Nike collaboration. In 2003, Stash worked with Nike on a charitable collaboration of the Nike Air Max BW (Big Window) that featured the same colorway, which was inspired by the grey subway cars with a blue stripe that Stash rode as a kid growing up in Brooklyn.
Fast forward three years to 2006, Stash worked on the official release of the "Blue Pack" so that he could have more shoes with this colorway he used on the BW. In those days, collaborative Nike's were released in very small quantities, and working with niche artists and cultural icons like Stash propelled these shoes into sneaker culture infamy that would demand a price tag of over $1,000 in the resale market for the last 18 years. 
Above: 2003 Stash x Nike Air Classic BW
2024 Retro Thoughts:
Fast forward to this year, and Stash and Nike tease the upcoming "Blue Pack" retro with updated materials and some slight detail upgrades to make the shoes more suitable for a modern consumer. For someone like me who has fawned over the idea of opening up that bright orange and brown box and seeing that speckled midsole and blue hues with my own two eyes and slipping it onto my foot, this was like Christmas Day. But I am a very specific consumer segment to Nike and a small one in today's day and age. I am someone who has engulfed myself in sneaker culture since the time I made my own money; I was thinking about buying clothes and shoes.
At 28 years old, I am likely on the very young side of consumers that know this product exists and the historical significance of a shoe that came out when I was 9 years old. And thats where Nike's biggest mishap lies in releasing these retro's. A shoe like the Jordan 11 tells its own story, and consumers understand it without having to have a deep knowledge of sneaker culture. However, for something like the "Blue Pack," Nike is doing its younger consumers a disservice in its marketing by not diving deeper into the storytelling of this product for more young people to understand. I had to watch a video from six years ago by a sneaker resell platform (Nike's sworn enemy is doing a better job telling their stories than they are) to learn that Stash was inspired by the Subway cars when designing these shoes. This detail absolutely has to be something Nike is telling in their story. It's not even in their product description on the website, for crying out loud!
There is absolutely zero energy around this release, and that's on Nike for not pushing this story and instead relying on the hype from 18 years ago to sell shoes to a consumer who doesn't even know what they are looking at. To further this, I just texted a group chat of my friends who are also heavily engrained in sneaker culture, and they didn't even realize they released early on Stash's website yesterday, but they were happy they could go on and get their shoes with ease and not have to worry about that "you didn't get em" push notification.
Some would read this and say why are you complaining? You didn't have to fight bots to get your pair, and if you wanted to double up, you could go repurchase them right now. I'm not mad that the shoes don't have "hype." I was buying them either way, but instead, I'm mad that the company that used to inspire me to want to tell stories with products now just stays stagnant when re-releasing their most storied shoes ever. Aside from the IG post rollout that Stash has done on his IG and activation at Art Basel this week in Miami, there has been nothing really going on for these. I would have traveled to NYC for an art show showcasing all of his shoe collaborations and other art with an opportunity to buy them right then and there… but no they did an activation at Art Basel, which the average person isn't going to unless you have a reason to be there for work or have obligations to be there.
Additionally, The nostalgia angle that Nike has tried to play the last year by releasing its most storied and limited collaborations ever for general release, with more things coming for the foreseeable future, has been a bit dry, and they have just started. Want to deliver Stash to a newer consumer? Have him work on a collaboration that he has yet to do before with Nike. Have him create a different shoe using that iconic colorway to furthur the story you have already put together with the 2003 and 2006 releases. Instead of relying on 18 years of history to fall short on the storytelling, it may be more inspiring for everyone involved to move forward, not backward.
I want the story just as much as I want the shoe, and sure, I can go to YouTube and do all the research like I usually do, but there's just something about that old magic dust Nike used to sprinkle on a campaign, and now it's just the dust from the crumbling midsoles of the 2006 release of these shoes.
