Last night DeFY. New York (as well as many other members of the media) were invited to preview the Air Jordan XX8 as well as some other shoes which I’ll get to in another write up. As soon as the forums got a hold of photo’s the love/hate relationship was in full effect and the 250.00 price tag just added fuel to the fire. Without getting to technical heres our take on the shoe:
1. The shoe is very lightweight, and much lighter than Under Armours BB Charge.
2. The Zip up “shroud” is very non intrusive, when its up it feels light weight, secure and breathable. If you have any shoes in your collection like the Flightposite 2 you’ll notice that when the shoe is zippered up you could have an uncomfortably tight fit. Not the case with this shoe. It should be noted that with thick socks one of our crew had a lot of problems pulling the zipper up all the way (to much difficulty). When they finally did zipper up however they weren’t uncomfortably tight which was surprising.
3. One individual in the DeFY. crew was a very talented ball player. He loves the this shoe however prefers the shoe unzipped.
4. Cushioning and comfort. In terms of comfort they were very comfy but the cushioning could take some getting used to if your planning on wearing them for casual use only. The majority of the cushion is in the forefoot almost begging you to run.
5. Looks. Here its just a personal preference. My take on it is this. Some may say uninspired I say sleek. Some may hate the fact of them being zippered up but I like it (especially if your going to wear them with jeans). But, if your going to wear them with shorts you can just sport them un zippered and you’ll have a low top shoe that immediately grabs your attention with hits of neon green (or whatever color they will choose for other colorways).
6. Fit. I found them to run slightly snug similar to that of a running shoe such as the air max 2012.
In conclusion, I recommend you not pass judgement until you get them on your feet. At the very least, if your gonna ball in them you’ll have one if not thee best basketball shoe performance wise. If your just going for looks check out what they look like on feet HERE, or head on over to your local Jordan retailer February 16 2013. Check out fliks from the Dare To Fly event below!
