Today, Jordan Brand, unveiled the Air Jordan 2012, the 27th shoe in the Air Jordan franchise. The all-new Air Jordan 2012 is designed to encourage today’s athletes to rethink performance. This year’s model builds upon the Air Jordan 2011’s two midsole modular system by featuring two interchangeable inner sleeves and three interchangeable midsoles for performance customization. The Air Jordan 2012 Deluxe will be available in two colorways nationwide on Wednesday, February 8 for a suggested retail price of $223, with the Air Jordan Flight System launching on Saturday, February 25 for a suggested retail price of $180.

The sneaker’s modular system gives athletes the ability to customize for their unique playing styles and for fit preference by offering 6 different configurations.

Take a detailed look of the new sneaker after the jump.

All the happenings around the recent Air Jordan 11 Retro Concord release, just showed once again how important the sneaker is to sneaker fans and Jordan fans around the globe. Originally designed by Nike designer Tinker Hatfield, first designs by him turned up in 1994, at a time when Michael Jordan was retired and the Air Jordan X was not even out. Hatfield kept on working on the design, refining it and stayed true to his vision. Even though it was not sure if Michael Jordan was going to return to basketball, Nike kept on working on the sneaker and created an icon.

Take a detailed look at Tinker Hatfield’s sketches after the jump.

The Air Jordan 11 Retro Concord release madness seems to be over. People got hurt, gun shots were fired, knives were pulled, pepper spray was used between people standing in line and by the police. Entire malls had to shut down – all this because of a sneaker. It seems unbelievable but it actually happened. A topic that is usually left to sneaker focussed blogs made the rounds on international high profile news sites. One thing is for sure, this is marketing that you could not possibly pay for even if you wanted to.

We had now a few days to reflect on the happenings, talked to some people around us, and opinions are all over the pace. Who is to blame for this mess? Nike for releasing a great shoe? The stores for not creating a proper environment and organization to release such a hyped product? Blogs such as ours for creating buzz around such a release? Some opinions by our readers were already expressed in an earlier post here.

Here is what we think. Nike cannot really be blamed, because releasing a great product should be their main concern. Producing great product and marketing it the right way to sell that product is the ultimate goal of Nike and they are certainly pretty good at that, as we were shown again in this case.

We cannot blame the stores either. Sure, they knew people would go crazy about the sneaker, but who could have expected this. Should a store now hire security personnel for a Jordan release? Carry weapons and pepper spray to keep people in order? That cannot be the solution to this issue.

Read the rest of the post after the jump.

Who would have thought that we would see any of this again in the sneaker world. Earlier this week people started lining up and camping out in front of sneaker stores to get their hands onto the re-issue of the Air Jordan 11 Retro Concord, which was scheduled to release today, December 23rd, 2011.

Now reports have come up that police had to shut down several malls in Austin and Seattle and had to use pepper spray to keep the crowd in order. There is even a report of a young man dying after being stabbed over the shoes in Washington, D.C. In Richmond, California the shoe sales were canceled at Hilltop Mall after shots were fired into the air.

Guys, what is going on here? We are talking about sneakers, a passion for many. This is not supposed to happen. Unbelievable!

Two TV news reports on the stories follow after the jump.

It’s more than likely that these do not need an introduction, but just in case, here is a really detailed look at next February’s Air Jordan IV white cement release. The fan favorite is seen here in its pristine white color with cement accents and we must say it is looking proper. The release is still a few months away, but so have a look at them here and salivate away.

Take a detailed look after the jump.

Jordan Brand has already had quite a few anticipated retro releases this year. The next one that is just around the corner is the Air Jordan 3 Stealth/Varsity Red. The sneaker features some of the most notable Jordan design elements. A release date has been set for September 3rd, 2011.

As announced by us earlier this month, Playboy has launched today their new Sole Mates feature, ranking the Top 23 Air Jordan Ever. As you can imagine, the magazine made use of the sneakers and their playmates for the shoot. Playboy worked with Matt Halfhill of Nicekicks.com on the feature story. Included in the shoot are Francesca Frigo, Jaime Edmondson, Jessica Burciaga, Patrice Hollis, Hiromi Oshima, Tiffany Taylor, Candice Cassidy, Kimberly Phillips and Heather Rae Young.

Check out the behind the scenes video of the shoot here below.

The spread was shot by Jared Ryder and illustrated by Nigel Evan Dennis.

Check out some preview images of the feature after the jump, with the full gallery available here.

Jordan Brand keeps us busy these days. Today we can give you a detailed look at the upcoming Air Jordan 3 Stealth, another iconic release from the brand, featuring some of the most notable Jordan design elements all in one sneaker. The sneaker will be released September 2011, but is already up for pre-order at Osneaker.

Originally released in 1992-93, the iconic Air Jordan 7 ‘Cardinal’ makes a return as a Retro release for Summer 2011. The sneaker with the clean white leather upper and cardinal red and bronze accents is set for a release on June 18th, 2011, at Wish and other premium boutiques.

Yet another strong Air Jordan 5 Retro will release this season. The White Obsidian colorway is clean and perfect for the summer months of the year, featuring hits of red and blue on an otherwise all white upper. Osneaker has them for pre-order now and an official release is scheduled for July 5th.