Posted on

Adidas Dame Lillard 5 Performance Review

After trying Dame 1, Dame series always use Bounce technology to make the insole from the second generation. Although the insole of Dame 2 has been made with BOOST, but Bounce insole is undoubtedly the symbol of Dame series. The Adidas Dame 5 also continue this design. From the mainstream products, we can see that Adidas pay high attention to Bounce insole.

I was expecting to get Dame 5. As there are too many knitted sneakers at present, Adidas put leather on almost the whole vamp.
The Dame 5 that we get is CNY colorway. Logo is on the heelpiece. The main colorway is black and red. The insole use the white for basics and matching with black doodle. The appearance of Dame 5 is vintage. The marks of Dame is few, except the logo on shoe tongue and signature of Dame 0 in the inner side of insole.

At present Dame 5 has two versions, one is with the leather vamp that we tested this time, and the other one is with knitted vamp. Both of the insole is Bounce cushion.
The performance of insole is in accordance with expectation. It’s punched on the upper of forefoot for ventilation and heat dissipation.
But it hasn’t make reinforcement on the forefoot, so the toes can’t be protected well. Dame 5 cancel the integrated design of shoe tongue and vamp, and it also cancel inner sleeve. I couldn’t understand this design.

For the weight, the unit weight of size EUR44.5 is only about 422g, it’s very light for leather vamp. The center of gravity is on the heelpiece. It should due to the the thick heelpiece. The air breathability of Dame 5 is not very good. You would feel hot if wearing it in Summer.
This model use knitted material on the cuff, it’s different with the traditional socks design. Dame 5 is for satisfying the request of comfort, and it also leave the space for the players who need to wear ankle guard. After tighting the shoelaces, the vamp can offer the requested compactness on daily wearing. The forefoot is wide. Generally, the wearing feeling is similar to Dame 4.

Dame 5 Testing Report:
1.Wrapping Performance: 6 scores.
The size is normal. I bought the same size as previous Nike shoes. It’s a pair of shoes for defender. But the shoes can’t cover well the foot. It’s too wide for the boot tree of forefoot and the part around the ankle. But due to the vamp is not thick enough, the bending part of the vamp is easy to be pleated. The support pf leather vamp is better than the knitted vamp.

2.Anti-torsion Performance: 8 scores.
Dame 5 is good for the anti-torsion performance. The outsole of Dame 5 has broaden the area of forefoot for improving the anti-torsion performance, especially the inside extending part. The soft rubber anti-torsion plate in the insole is extended to the bottom of vamp. It’s mid-high appearance, but the anti-torsion performance of Dame 5 is similar to low sneakers.
3.Traction Performance: 8.5 scores
The traditional herringbone is still stable as always. You won’t slip on clear or plastic field. But the crystal outsole is easy to absorb dust. The traction performance will decline after absorbing the dust. You need to clean the outsole. The herringbone outsole assure the good traction, and the rub fastness is enduring.

4.Cushion: 7 scores
It uses the same Bounce as previous generations. I still feel the bounce of Dame 5 is stiff, almost the same feeling as Dame 4. The heelpiece is thick. The cushion can satisfy the request of light players. For the heavier players who have high request for the cushion of sneaker, Dame 5 may not be able to satisfy your request. But for the light weight defenders, if you take the excellent feedback as the important indicator of choosing sneakers, you can consider Dame 5.
5.Stability: 9 scores
Dame 5 has wide forefoot. The outside is dilated design. You don’t worry about spraining the foot.

Generally, the disadvantage of Dame 5 is the wrapping performance and breathability. But its advantage is the light weight, good cushion and great traction & stability. And the retro appearance is also good looking. Its biggest advantage is the excellent feedback from Bounce.

Leave a Reply