Air Jordan 12 Cherry: Sneaker Release Date, Price, Where To Buy

How does one top one of the greatest sneakers of all time? That was the challenge facing the sneaker GOAT Tinker Hatfield when looking where to take the Air Jordan line after the transcendent Air Jordan 11. Let’s just say he rose to the challenge and delivered yet another classic. And one of the most iconic colorways of that classic returns tomorrow, as the Air Jordan 12 Cherry drops for a retail price of $210.

When the Air Jordan 12 first released during the 1996-97 season, MJ was in the midst of his second three-peat with the Bulls and firmly back atop the basketball mountaintop. MJ played all 82 games, leading the league in scoring for the second straight season with a 29.6 ppg average, made the All-NBA First Team plus the All-Defensive First Team and would go on to win the 1997 NBA Finals MVP. And he did quite a bit of this while wearing the Air Jordan 12 Cherry, although it was not known as the Cherry at the time.

According to the 2005 book, Driven From Within, Tinker took his inspiration from an interesting place — a women’s fashion shoe. The upper also clearly takes inspiration from the sun, with what Jordan Brand calls “sunrise-inspired stitch lines” The design of the Air Jordan 12 was perhaps a case of less is more compared to its immediate predecessor, but the 12 was the first Air Jordan model to incorporate Zoom Air and also carried over the carbon fiber plate from the Air Jordan 11. The shoe also is noteworthy for its heel area, with the tag “Quality Inspired By The Greatest Player Ever” featured prominently and MJ’s number 23 clear and present. The Air Jordan 12 also had a pair of memorable commercials associated with it.

For the Cherry release on Saturday, the upper is comprised of white leather with a pebbled red leather segment in the forefoot. The shoe also features the standard TWO 3 written going down the white leather tongue beneath the Jumpman logo. The aforementioned “Quality Inspired By The Greatest Player Ever” heel stripe is in black, as is the shoe’s lining, and the number 23 is white against red rubber which extends up from the red outsole. The box will also be retro-inspired, designed to evoke the box the shoes originally came in back in 1997.

The Air Jordan 12 Cherry has only retroed once since its initial 1997 release and that was back in 2009, so this is not a shoe that has flooded the market over the years. As such, demand should be high, although we did already see a shock drop which means supply should hopefully be plentiful, even if it may not match the level of demand. This 2023 retro is currently available on StockX with an average sale price of $271 on 188 sales for a 20% price premium. Best of luck to all those looking to pick up a pair!

To see more of this month’s releases, check out our release date calendar.