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NIKE KOBE 4 PROTRO DECONSTRUCTED

KOBE 4 is landmark of Kobe signature shoes. It’s low type and its weight is light. In 2019, NIKE re-make it, that is Kobe 4 Protro. Let’s have a look at its inner structure.

Cutting the left shoe in half

From the lateral section, we can see the insole configuration of Kobe 4 Protro with carbon fiber supporting plate on arch and Zoom Air Cushion on heelpiece.

Separating the vamp and insole

The shoe tongue has big mesh. The air permeability is excellent.

The TPU supporting plate surrounding the heelpiece is on the middle of vamp and insole. It’s for supporting.


The thickness of TPU supporting plate is about 3.18mm

The shoe-pad is with honeycomb pattern and printed with the draft date of Kobe.

The surface material of insole cloth is EVA

The bottom material of insole cloth is non-woven fabrics, which is seamed with the shoe body

2019 KOBE 4 PROTRO, the insole is integrated type. The heelpiece is with U shaped Zoom Air Cushion.

The length of EUR42.5 Zoom Air Cushion is about 80.58mm

The width of EUR42.5 Zoom Air Cushion is about 49.22mm

The thickness of EUR42.5 Zoom Air Cushion is about 14.23mm

The carbon fiber supporting plate of arch is in the middle of insole and outsole.

The carbon fiber lines are clear, and it is made by the shape of arch

The length of EUR42.5 carbon fiber supporting plate is about 89.05mm

The width of EUR42.5 carbon fiber supporting plate is about 41.48mm

The thickness of EUR42.5 carbon fiber supporting plate is about 1.36mm

The groove of forefoot rubber outsole improves the flexibility

The thickness of EUR42.5 forefoot insole and outsole is about 15.05mm

On the condition of decompression, the thickness of EUR42.5 heelpiece insole and outsole is about 21.56mm

The top view of the 2019 Kobe 4 Protro’s parts

The Deconstructed Report
Vamp: Leather material, the shoe side has Flywire. The supporting technology of vamp is light and durable. It’s partical.
Insole: it has the integrated insole, Zoom Air Cushion on heelpiece and carbon fabric supporting plate of arch, it’s comfortable
Overall, the 2109 KOBE 4 PROTRO changes the forefoot Lunar texture & Zoom Air Cushion on heelpiece of Kobe 4 to Zoom Air Cushion on heelpiece. It cancels the forefoot Lunar texture. The foot feeling is similar to Kobe 4. I think most of Kobe’s fans won’t miss this sneaker.

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Nike Air Max 97 SH Kaleidoscope Performance Review

It seems that the Air Max Day of this year is quieter comparing to previous two years. But according to NIKE’s tradition, NIKE officially releases the six pairs of shoes which won on last year “ON AIR” global design competition on Air Max Day.

These 6 pairs of shoes represent 6 cities, Shanghai, New York, Paris, London, Tokyo and Seoul. The winner of each city can go to NIKE’s headquarters to participate in mass production of shoes and make their dreams come true. Standing out from thousands of works and participating in the production of the shoes, it’s a dream come true.

The winner of Shanghai competition area Ru QiuShi designs Air Max 97 SH Kaleidoscope, which can be said the most attracting shoes from the 6 pairs of shoes on both of the idea and appearance. A lot of shoe fans are waiting for it.
Why is it so charming?

One year ago, the topic of ON AIR Shanghai competition area is with the inspiration of Air and Speed to explore your fantasies about Shanghai. Ru QiuShi took this pair of shoes as the answer.

The concept of Kaleidoscope comes from Ru QiuShi’s deep impression of Shanghai—the water mist surrounding the high-rise buildings of Lujiazui, water condenses into clouds, clouds into rain, flows into sublimation and moving in circles.

Kaleidoscope is not only the best interpretation of “AIR” and “Speed” in Shanghai, but also the clever setting of integrating the ever-changing concept of Cloud into the shoes. Whereupon the shoes are made by lake blue which represents the blue sky and water mist, sometimes it’s clear and tranquil, sometimes ever-changing. On the side of shoes, Ru Qiushi uses his favorite red to refracts the Kaleidoscope with a more dazzling rays of light.

If the concept of cloud gives the shoes soul, then the design of the clipping vamp is the finishing touch that makes the shoes have a gorgeous body.

▲Ru Qiushi’s manuscripts of Air Max 97 SH Kaleidoscope
Cloud don’t have fixed shape. Ru Qiushi’s presenting method to cloud is stacking the vamp texture and reserving the excess length. So people can clip the vamp according to their ideas and create his own “cloud”.

Ru Qiushi has made a lot of effort to finish this design. As the material is special, he’s worried that Nike can’t make it exactly by his ideas.

Air Max 97 SH Kaleidoscope Sample. The left one is exaggerated.
Although we don’t know if the finishing of this shoes reaches the designer’s psychological expectation, but in our opinion, it’s already excellent.


Because of this global soliciting model, it can let the ordinary designers like Ru Qiushi who have infinite originality can have the chance to cut a figure.

Although Ru Qiushi is not professional shoes designer. His major is industry design. He has made products’ design and jewelry design before. The reason why he can create such excellent shoes, in addition to the excellent design skills, the love and insistence to the shoes is also an important source of inspiration.

Both in terms of material and technology, this pair of Air Max 97 SH Kaleidoscope is the difficult one comparing with other 5 pairs of shoes. So Ru Qiushi is worried that this shoes can’t be made exactly according to his ideas, especially the design of clipping.

Ru Qiushi took one year to show the complete shoes to the shoe fans. This is not only the best gift for Air Max Day and shoe fans, but also the best reward for his dedication and love to the sneakers and design over the year.

Every persistence and love for the shoes deserves to be respected. Design or wear it, to remember and enjoy the story and touch that brought to you, which is the biggest meaning of the shoes.

To mention the design of sneaker with Chinese element, a lot of people will think about the traditional cultural unconsciously, a lot of brands are making the products with traditional pattern and Chinese characters etc., but there are only a few outstanding ones.

The Chinese cultural is not only the traditional part, it’s possible that what’s around you is the best source of inspiration, maybe it’s the cloud above Lujiazui and the water of Huangpu River.

The design of Chinese elements should not be limited to traditional culture. This is the most amazing thing that this sneaker brings to me.

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PUMA Uproar Performance Review


After Clyde Court, PUMA releases the newest basketball shoes PUMA Uproar. It verify the confidence of PUMA to return the basketball field. The integral shape of PUMA Uproar is not the same retro design as PUMA Clyde Court. The outsole uses herringbone grains. There is a red curve extends to the bottom. The shape of this sneaker looks like 911 sports car.

The colorway is white, blue and red. It’s also the team color of NBA Detroit Pistons. The NRGY cushion technology on the heelpiece is in red color. And we can see the white cushion particles in it.


It uses mid-high design. It fills thick sponge in the heelpiece. The shoe head is made of a piece of leather. The shoe tongue is mesh vamp. The front part of shoe tongue is connected with vamp. And the rear part is separated to be suitable for more peoples’ instep.

As a pair of leather compound type vamp sneaker, PUMA Uproar is definitely not light. The unit weight of EUR43 is 490g. But the details of vamp looks good, such as PUMA logo on the shoe tongue, it uses different color on the inside and outside of the shoes, the top two shoelace holes are interspersed with red plastic part, and the TPU reinforced part is gray. Afterall, it’s a pair of rare leather basketball shoes.


As the heelpiece is filled with comfortable sponge and the thick of shoe tongue is enough, the wrapping performance of Uproar is excellent. After tensioning the shoelaces, it can lock well the foot. The leather of forefoot is soft. But it also has the disadvantage, this sneaker is not suitable for playing basketball for a long time in Summer, as there is no holes on the forefoot vamp, the air permeability is not good.


The outsole of Uproar uses herringbone design. So we don’t need to worry about the traction. The stripes of several horizontal structure with herringbone on forefoot is very helpful for accelerating.

The heelpiece of this sneaker uses NRGY cushion technology. It has big and small cushion particles. The surface is uneven.

The feeling of NRGY is different with BOOST. The cushioning feedback of heelpiece is not fast. It’s really soft, but the elasticity is not enough. So this kind of cushion should be more suitable for heavier players.


Leaving the insole alone, this sneaker is leather vamp, so the anti-torsion performance if better than many sneaker with knitted vamp.

The TPU reinforced plate of heelpiece is extended to the middle part of the sneaker. So the dynamic protection of this sneaker is improved. But the leather vamp also has the disadvantage. After testing, the back-end vamp of forefoot toes is plicated.

Generally, PUMA Uproar is a pair of leather shoes with contemporary design. The performance is not outstanding comparing with other basketball shoes, but the disadvantages are also not obvious. It will be perfect if adjusting the air permeability and durability of vamp. PUMA Uproar is more suitable to heavier players who want to be more flexible.
BTW, the size of PUMA is not standard. If you wear NIKE EUR44 with length JP280, it will be smaller if choosing the same size of PUMA. So we suggest you to have a try on the physical stores before buying.

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NIKE Zoom Kobe 4 Protro Performance Review



It can be said that Zoom Kobe 4 has changed the design idea of basketball shoes. After ten years, Zoom Kobe 4 Protro is released, it cancels the foam on forefoot and only has a U shaped ZOOM AIR on heelpiece to offer the insole cushion. I’m disappointed at it. As Zoom Kobe 1 Protro has been upgraded to full-length cushion. But the cushion of Zoom Kobe 4 Protro is decreased.

For the appearance, comparing with OG, the biggest variation is Flywire part. The thickness of Protro plastic plate is increased.
Although this sneaker cancels the foam on forefoot. But for cushion part, the cushion of Zoom Kobe 4 Protro has big advantage on the thickness and air pressure. After wearing the shoes, you can feel that the heelpiece part is soft.
The cushion effect is enough for defender. If the heelpiece fall down on the floor firstly, you can feel the cushion obviously.

As the lightest NIKE sneaker in those years, the weight of Zoom Kobe 4 EUR43 is 367g. It has big advantage for this light weight comparing with other sneakers. As it also uses leather shoe head, and TPU strengthening area on heelpiece is big. The weight is already very light for this configuration.

Although it’s low type, but the wrapping performance of Zoom Kobe 4 is excellent. The material of the sneaker is leather with composite plastic. The heelpiece has TPU stabilizing plate. The inner sleeve also improves the integrality of the sneaker. Comparing with present knitted vamp, the support of Zoom Kobe 4 is better. But regarding to the wrapping performance, it’s not better than the knitted vamp.

Traction Performance
This pair of sneaker is stable. The herringbone on the outsole has great force of friction. The heelpiece of this sneaker is separated to be two areas. It can guarantee the heelpiece consistency of force of friction, this design is also the excellent part of Zoom Kobe 4’s outsole. Although the official say that the external expansion area of Zoom Kobe 4 Protro’s forefoot is bigger. But comparing with Zoom Kobe 4, the external expansion area doesn’t have obvious difference. The external expansion is still excellent. It’s more stable than the new sneakers.

Anti-torsion Perforance
Zoom Kobe 4 Protro also use the carbon fiber anti-torsion plate. After dismantling, we find that both of the area and texture keep the same standard as Zoom Kobe 4. It guarantees the stability of insole. But comparing with the new sneakers in the market , when urgent stop in flank, the wrapping performance of this sneaker is not good enough.

Generally, as a pair of protro, Zoom Kobe 4 Protro reduce the configuration, we’re disappointed at it. But relying on previous hardware performance, and the actual performance of Zoom Kobe 4 Protro is excellent, it still can get high scores. After all these years, I feel that Zoom Kobe 4 really was ahead of the time, the low design, new vamp technology and stable wrapping performance of vamp, all of these are its advantages. If you are one of Kobe’s fans, there are too many reasons to buy it. If you want to have a try at the performance of the sneaker from 10 years ago, it’s worthy to buy Zoom Kobe 4 Protro.

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NIKE ZOOM FLY FK Performance Review

About ZOOM FLY FK
Speaking of NIKE sneakers, the PEGASUS series already has the 35th generation. NIKE updated ZOOM FLY last year. The new Fly FK version rises in response to the proper time and conditions. It has updated both the vamp and insole. The only invariable thing is the sole of Zoom Fly series.
So what is the sole of Zoom Fly series? Is the outsole with air cushion suitable for running?

Product Information:
NIKE ZOOM FLY FK
Art. No.：AR4561-068
Colorway：Black/Red/Yellow Orange/Gray
Orientation: Running, Cushion
Unit Weight：251g
Technology：Carbon Fiber Plate, React Insole, Flyknit Vamp, Ortholite Shoe-pad

Shoe Box
The outer packing of sneaker is also the familiar orange shoe box. The middle of shoe box is printed with NIKE logo. It doesn’t have any special design.



Appearance
The appearance of sneaker continues the last generation of NIKE Zoom Fly. The orange Nike logo is on both sides of the shoes. It has fearless upgrade on the vamp and colorway. The vamp is changed to Flyknit elastic knitted vamp. The colorway of original blue has been changed to black and orange. Of course, the classic colorway of black & white, white & gray and white & blue are also on sale.
The modelling of Nike Zoom Fly FK is still the same, high insole and upturned shoe head. KIP Jog weared the idiosyncratic NIKE shovel type sneaker refresh the marathon world record in 2018 Berlin Marathon.
Vamp/Shoe Tree
Most of people should be familiar with Nike Flyknit vamp. The Flyknit technology has been developed for many years by Nike. The density and elasticity of Flyknit textile on the vamp is different. The elasticity part is mainly distributed on the shoe tongue, forefoot and socks. And the midsole and heelpiece part don’t have much elasticity to keep the stability and support. The thickness of Flyknit vamp is temperate. The mesh of ventilated area is big enough. It ensures both of the air permeability and shoe’s lifetime, and it can also keep the stability.
The shoe tree of NIKE Zoom Fly FK is standard. It’s suitable to the standard and thin feet runner. If your feet is too wide, we suggest to choose half size bigger than the normal shoes.



Shoe tongue/Socks


The socks edges of Nike Zoom Fly FK is a little thin and stiff. If you wear short socks, the heelpiece skin may be abraded, it’s normal. It needs times for feet to get used to it. It’s gratifying that the elasticity of the socks is good. You don’t need to worry even if your arch is high.
Insole


The shovel type insole is undoubted the symbolic design of Nike Zoom Fly. It’s also the sole of this sneaker. Some people like this style, but somebody don’t like it. But it’s undeniable that this kind of insole is suitable for running. The insole of Nike Zoom Fly FK is changed to React foam from Lunarlon. Many people should know React performance well. React has great performance on the cushion and resilience.

Outsole
It adds the wear-resisting rubber on the outsole. It guarantees enough durability. But the cupped design on the outsole is easy to be deposited with the sandy soil.



Lining

Shoe-pad


The shoe-pad is the Ortholtic foam shoe-pad. The cushion performance is good. And it has great moisture absorption capacity. The difference with Nike Zoom Fly series’ shoe-pad, the thickness of Nike Zoom Fly FK is thinner. It’s for reducing the weight and get better feedback from the ground. And the shoe-pad of Nike Zoom Fly FK is suede type. It’s softer.
weight
The unit weight of single EUR43 is about 250g. It’s lightsome on foot.
EXPERIENCE
My first feeling of wearing Nike Zoom Fly FK is, the foam insole is very thick. You can obviously feel the existing of carbon fiber plate in the insole when walking. As the insole is made of React foam, you don’t need to worry about the comfort. But the it’s still easy to be wrinkled.


Running on the highway
When running on the highway, the best feedback that I get from Nike Zoom Fly FK is the super cushion performance and the propulsion by carbon fiber plate. The cushion resilient capacity of React is excellent. As the forefoot part is very thick, you can’t run very fast.
The insole performance is great on the 10KM running. The sole of Nike Zoom Fly FK is the full-length carbon fiber plate, as the hardness of the carbon fiber plate is high and the anti-torsion performance is also great, it will push you to get forward when running. It’s special. But the full-length carbon fiber plate also has disadvantage, it has high request for the running field. I feel that the insole is not stable enough when running on the grassland, sand or some complicated roads. Your feet may easy to be sprained if keeping high speed.

The air permeability is great. My feet don’t feel stuffy. And the vamp is also very comfortable. Please reducing the speed when running on the minus grade. As the heelpiece of NIKE Zoom Fly FK don’t have stiff TPU, the stability is not strong.


Running on plastic track
The cushion performance of Nike Zoom Fly FK is also great when running on plastic track. The resilience is fast. But when running on bend field, the ankle is easy to be abrased by the socks of heelpiece.
The traction performance is excellent. As the outsole of Nike Zoom Fly FK uses polygonous rubber, the skid resistance is great.

Overall
Appearance: 8.5 scores
Wrapping Performance: 9 scores
Cushion Performance: 9 scores
Comfort Air permeability: 8 scores
Comfort：8 scores
Cost Performance: 8.5 scores

Generally, Nike Zoom Fly FK is a pair of great running sneaker. It has the shovel type insole and full-length carbon fiber plate. The 4% carbon fiber plate make the running experience of Nike Zoom Fly FK to be better than other running sneakers. The performance of React is great. We believe that React will replace Lunarlon. For the vamp, although it uses Flywire technology, but the sock part on the heelpiece is not good. It’s a pity.
Finally, we want to remind you that Nike Zoom Fly FK have high request for the running road. It’s better to run on plastic track, pitch road or smooth-riding surface.

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NIKE KD 12 Performance Review

As the most concerned games of NBA, since Kevin Durant attended to Golden State Warriors, every Thunder and Warriors competition can attract a lot of fans’ attention.

Kevin Durant face Thunder and Russell Westbrook again on Mar. 17th. Except their confrontation, Kevin Durant wear KD 12 on this competition this time. This competition get high attention and topicality, that’s why Nike choose this competition for Kevin Durant to wear KD12.

From below 12 things about NIKE KD12, you will know more story about this sneaker.

  1. Who is the designer?

As the designer of Nike Basketball shoes and NIKE KD series, many people are familiar with Leo Chang. He not only designs the shoes for Kevin Durant from KD1, but also Hyperdunk series, HyperRev and other other classic shoes. Leo who has cooperated with Kevin Durant for more than ten years knows KD very well. His aim is to satisfy all KD’s request for the shoes to help him to get champion.

2．「90’s Kid」

As for the first colorway, Kevin wears NIKE KD 12 which is named as “90’s Kid” on March 17th. The name “90’s Kid” also symbolizes the story that KD was influenced by the basketball culture in 1990s when he was kid, and he took this goal to embark on his career path.

3. The basketball culture from 90s

Kevin Durant was influenced by 90’s basketball culture. Vince Carter and Charles Barkley and others had a profound influence on him. So he deeply hope to own a pair of shoes which is inspired by the 90s, such as the shoe tongue with tatting, and many parts of shoe body also shows this design.

For example, the shoe tongue of NIKE KD 12 is printed with KD uniform number and logo label. The heelpiece of shoe body also has the same label design, and it also has 12TH EDITION/2019-2020 and Kevin Durant’s name.（This details will also be showed on the shoe box）

4. Double layer of ZOOM construction 

Kevin Durant as the super star of NBA and one of the most popular NIKE basketball stars, the science and technology of signature shoes must be good. And it’s undoubted that NIKE KD series signature shoes are important to NIKE. KD12 has double layer of ZOOM construction. No matter from the innovation or science and technology, it can reflect that Nike pay high attention on this series.

The new NIKE KD12 has double layer Zoom Air construction design. The biggest lightspot of this sneaker is the full-length Zoom Air and hexagon Zoom Air Cushion construction on the heelpiece. The inner shoe-pad touches with full-length air cushion directly. The double layer air cushion construction design is similar with NIKE Air FOG 1 which was launched in last year. As Leo Chang also involve in the design of NIKE Air FOG 1.

  1. Cancelling “Insole fabric”

The insole fabric as a constituent part of the sneaker was an indispensable texture which was covered on the underface of shoe-pad on the past. It offers the vamp support. But this support also has the limitation, it impedes the players to touch with the air cushion directly. So Leo Chang change it for KD12.  He cancels the insole fabric construction on the underface of shoe-pad and makes shoe-pad to touch with full-length Zoom Air Cushion directly.

It simplify the insole fabric.

The specialists and designers of Nike also cooperate together for better solution to confirm the position of air cushion that should be bended flexible. It also improves the performance of this sneaker.

  1. Four-way moving Flywire

Flywire technology is one of NIKE’s proudest technologies. It has been used in many sneakers from 2018. KD12 cancels the the Flyknit technology on previous generation. Instead, it uses four-way dynamic Flywire technology.

This time the vamp is also marked with QUAD AXIAL Flywire.

There is a small round transparent zone inside the shoebody. We can see that the intensive and regular Flywire texture cover on the whole vamp from the visible transparent zone. The Flyknit texture has three colors, that is, yellow, blue and purple. The light and durable Flywire technology also offer great support and wrapping performance to the shoe body.

  1. The perforation type Phylon Insole

Many people should be familiar with Phylon texture insole for Nike shoes. KD12 has innovated this common insole configuration.

It makes perforation type Phylon insole and inset a hexagonal air cushion on the heelpiece (it is the double layer air cushion construction that we have mentioned).  The perforation type Phylon insole can drive the hexagonal air cushion on the heelpiece and improve the cushion performance and the comfort of sneaker.

You can see these punches through micro-lens.

  1. Outsole design

It’s not the first time that semitransparent crystal outsole design uses on the KD series sneakers. KD12 also uses crystal texture on the outsole.

The perforation type Phylon insole can be seen clearly in the semitransparent crystal outsole. The outsole is constituted by countless list structure and regular lines design. It’s similar with car tire pattern. This construction also brings better traction.

  1. KD12 will cooperate with Don C

As the designer of street popular brand Just Don, Don C’s design philosophy is different with other street fashion brands. Whether the creativity of shoe model or the high request of the shoe body, it shows his unique feature.

10. NIKE has his own plan to publish KD brand new series sneaker in this time. After this competition, will KD still wear KD12 to play other competitions? Most of times, KD prefer to wear his familiar sneakers. Let’s pay attention on it in the future.

11.Overall

From the brand new NIKE KD12, we can know that NIKE hasn’t used the newest material or technology to make Kevin Durant’s new sneaker. But it uses its proudest technology (like Zoom Air Cushion and Flywire) to innovate and make better performance. It brings the most comfortable experience to the players and buyers.

After wearing KD12, the most obvious feedback is that the wrapping performance of vamp is totally different with previous Flyknit. And it has high cost performance of cushion system. It’s easier to wear than socks type sneaker. For the colorway, let’s think about how many kinds of colorways that KD has last year. So for KD12, it must have a colorway that you prefer to.

12. The selling time 

The colorway of NIKE KD 12  ‘90’s Kid’ that Kevin Durant weared yesterday will be sold on our website soon. And another colorway ‘The Day One’ is also coming soon.

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Nike Air Force Max Performance Review

I received a pair of Nike Air Force Max with black and pink colorway. I feel surprised after opening the shoe box. As I prefer to retro type shoes. The spokesman of this sneaker is Anthony Davis. From the beginning of sports competition season, Anthony Davis has weared different colorways Air Force Max for the competitions. But AD changed another pair of Nike Kobe AD not more than 10 matches.

What’s the reason? Let’s see Air Force Max today.

Appraisal of actual combat:

Comfort: 5/10 scores

The shoe body of Nike Air Force Max uses artificial mesh as the main material. And the middle of shoe tongue uses NIKE inside lane sneakers’ traditional Velcro. The shoe fans who are familiar with NIKE inside lane sneakers should know that NIKE prefer to use Air Max with shoe tongue Velcro design for inside lane sneakers. The high shoe body and intensive shoe holes’s design can fix well the foot well, even if your foot is thinnish.

It uses full-length Air Max, so the weight is not light. The air permeability of artificial mesh should be good, but the air permeability if Air Force Max is not very good.

The feeling of forefoot（weight below 90kg：4/10 scores，above 90kg：9/10 scores）

My height is 177.7cm, and weight is 66.5kg. I  can’t get concrete feedback from the forefoot. But my teammates whose weight are above 90kg like this sneaker. So the feedback of forefoot depends on the weight.  If the weight is enough, the forefoot can rebound, and you don’t need to give big strength on the forefoot. But the light weight people may feel that the forefoot is stiff.

For the grains and material of the outsole, we can know that the abrasive resistance of this sneaker is not good.

The cushion performance of heelpiece（below 80kg: 2/10 scores，above 80kg：9.5／10 scores）

For the cushion, the heavier weight teammates feel better cushion than ZOOM. But I only feel stiff. So please you can consider this sneaker according to your weight. In additional, I prefer to React, not Zoom. I think that React has balanced cushion, not matter what is your weight and foot type.

Anti-torsion Performance: 7/10 scores

The anti-torsion performance of Air Force Max is not good, and also not bad. After wearing this sneaker, you should not prefer to do some big movements. Maybe it’s because this pair of shoes is too heavy, the feet have the burden. But the anti-torsion performance of this sneaker is enough for daily requirements.

Supporting Performance: 9.5/10 scores

The supporting performance is the biggest bright spot of Air Force Max. I has given high appraisement on previous performance review of Jordan Super Fly MVP. And the ankle supporting protection of Air Force Max is better. So I give high scores for the safety of this sneaker. If you have high request for the supporting protection to ankle, this pair of Air Force Max is recommendable.

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​Puma Uproar Perofmance Review

Today, we want to talk about Puma Uproar ASG Fade Allstar colorway. This year, Eyton, Buckley and Knox on NBA Rising Stars Challenge weared this sneaker. Although Cousins can’t be selected in this year’s Allstar, but Cusins has changed to PUMA UPROAR, and giving up Puma Clyde Court Disrupt.

Shoe Box

It’s the normal shoe box like Puma Clyde Court Disrupt.

Appearance

For the colorway, for saluting Charlotte All Star Game, it’s used two colorways. As Charlotte hornet was called Charlotte Bobcats, so left shoe is Bobcats’ blue and orange colorway, and the right one is blue and purple. The midsole also use gradient ramp. After getting the shoes, we find that the color of actual product is dark.

Modelling

It both has the sense of retro and science & technology, such as the mesh shoe head and shoe tongue, the leather on both side of shoe vamp, the straightforward stitch, the insole modelling and the outsole lines etc. It also has the sense of science and technology on the long TPU of heelpiece and the Hyird cushion material of heelpiece insole.

But it looks like basketball shoes and retro running shoes. What do you think?

The unit weight of single shoe reaches 460g. It’s 30g heavier than Kyrie 5.

 

Supporting Performance

Both side of shoe vamp use stiff leather. It doesn’t have extra supporting plate.

The area of shoe laces are extended to the mesh of heelpiece. It makes up the air permeability and increase the integral comfort. The padding on the heelpiece area is also thick. After fastening the shoe laces, you will feel that the vamp fit well with the feet.

The covering area of heelpiece TPU is big. The middle part of TPU’s supporting strength is good. But the supporting of two sides is weaker.

The insole cushion uses Hybrid, NRGY and Ignite material. It exposes a big piece of Hybrid material which looks like Boost. But the sense of foot is not the same. If the Hybird of this pair of PUMA can be adjusted well, it will be a bright spot of this sneaker.

The outsole part is normally. The outsole grains is horizontal and vertical. Comparing with most of the sneakers, the junction of outsole and insole of this sneaker is very smooth without grains. It’s easy to cause slipping when moving. Why Not Zer0.2 also has this problem. It’s possible to make this pair of sneaker to be casual shoes, but not basketball shoes.

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Performance Review of Jordan Why Not Zer0.2

Appearance：8 scores

Comparing with the big Why Not Zer0.1, the appearance of Why Not Zer0.2 has been improved. It has several different colors and texture.

Front View: the shoe tongue is with Jumpman and Westbrook’s logo

 

Side View: there are many details on the side. The upper band is combined with lacing system.

Rear View: the heelpiece handle is printed with Westbrook’s handwritten signature. And the midsole is also with Westebrook’s logo.

Comfort：8 scores

The common design of shoe tongue and knitted vamp make sure that Why Not Zer0.2 is suitable to most of the players.

The heelpiece and outer layer of Why Not Zer0.2 is separated. So the handle around the outer layer is useless. When wearing it, you need to disperse the shoe laces to avoid stepping down the inner sleeve.

The size of Why Not Zer0.2 is normal. The width of boot tree is suitable. The people with high instep also feel comfortable.

Support & Wrapping Performance: 7 scores

The outside of Why Not Zer0.2 forefoot use the dynamic wing design which is similar to PG2. It has two pieces big area of fabric bandage on two sides of vamp. The heelpiece part is covered with a layer of knitted texture. It’s aim to improve the wrapping and supporting performance.

After wearing, the forefoot has enough space for keeping the sporting flexibility.

For the support, the knitted texture is normal. The vamp shape is deformed a little when breaking through. And it doesn’t have anti-rollover design on the outboard of forefoot. So the stability of forefoot is not good when making more big movements.

You can see the vamp form is changed and the insole of forefoot is compressed seriously when breaking through.

Traction & Wear-resisting: 8.5 scores

The outsole of Why Not Zer0.2 is made of the XDR rubber, and matching with round notching grains design. The traction performance is great when actual combat on out-field. I haven’t slipped when starting or breaking through.

Cushion：8.5 scores

Comparing with the full-length air cushion of Why Not Zer0.1, many players are disappointed at the simplified insole of Why Not Zer0.2. But we have to say that the foot sense from the big Zoom Air cushion of Why Not Zer0.2 is good.

You will feel the forefoot is soft due to the Zoom Air cushion. When starting and breaking through, the feedback from the air cushion is fast.

The heelpiece of Why Not Zer0.2 is thick enough, and it also has external expansion design. Comparing with Kyrie and PG series, the heelpiece of Why Not Zer0.2 is softer and stable.

After one week, the XDR rubber outsole keeps well. It doesn’t has obvious rough selvedge. The abrasive resistance can be assured.

General Comment: 8 scores

The appearance of Why Not Zer0.2 is special. It is made of several colors and different textures. It’s following the popular destruction idea and also very suitable for Westbrook.

The cushion performance of Why Not Zer0.2 is great. The feedback is fast. But it has some nibs for the wrapping and supporting performance. It’s mainly due to the limited strength of knitted texture and the high center of gravity on forefoot. You don’t need to worry about the traction and abrasive resistance.

If you are one of Westbrook’s fans, you can’t miss this sneaker.

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Nike Air Max 720 Performance Review

Last year, AIR MAX 270 was launched with a new look that other sneakers never have. And it become the top selling sneaker in North American last year. Although this year’s AIR MAX DAY is not coming, but another pair of revolutionary AIR MAX sneaker, AIR MAX 720 is launched. And it get more attention than AIR MAX 270.
As Air Max Day is coming son, the topic of technological breakthrough reminds us one of NIKE’s classical technology–AIR MAX.

From the evolution of Nike Air Vapormax to Nike Air Max 270, we can see clearly the determination of Nike to put AIR MAX on daily fashion styles. In fact, Nike Air Vapormax and Nike Air Max 270 have well finished this historical mission.
It took 30 years for Nike to finish the comprehensive evolution from sport to fashion sport. Even more incredibly, Nike hasn’t slowed down the pace of evolution.

NIKE AIR MAX 720 shock our eyes and feet once again. The air max thickness of Nike Air Max 270 is 3.2cm, and Nike Air Max 720 increases about 19% of the AIR MAX thickness to 3.8cm.

The biggest highlight of this sneaker is also the named source of AIR MAX 720. The air cushion unit in the insole is 360° visible both horizontal and vertical views. So it’s named as 720.

If the Air Max 270 with 3.2cm thick air cushion has become the synonym of comfort, the Air Max 720 which is about 0.6cm thicker than Air Max 270 is an unprecedented air max sneaker.

In addition to the improvement of technology and the upgrade of cushion effect, the AIR MAX 720’s air cushion configuration around the whole insole also bring a sense of fashion. It’s worthy to mentioning that 75% of Air Max 720 parts are made of regrown material. It ensures the performance of sneaker, but it’s also environmental protection, which also shows the futuristic nature of Air Max 720. The first launched colorway mix the lava flow, aurora borealis, the Milky Way, sunset and other elements of natural scenery together. It’s very dazzling.

Nike Air Max 720 has the thickest Air Max cushion sneaker throughout history. It’s a pair of retro and futuristic sneaker.


The first launched color that I get is purple. Different with previous AIR MAX series, NIKE Air Max 720 uses a circular Air Max design. The Air Max surrounding the whole insole like a air ring encircle your feet and brings great air compressing resilient feedback.

The shoe body of Air Max 720 is made of layering fabric and composite, which make it has excellent support and soft experience. The fabric material has its advantages, such as the appearance design, the colorway of fabric vamp can be more diversified. And Flyknit can’t compare with fabric material for the stability and wrapping performance. Nike Air Max 720 don’t need extra modules to improve the support. And it also has great air permeability. I feel strong air compressing feedback from the big air cushion of Nike Air Max 720. The thick lining of Air Max 720 can offer enough wrapping performance.

The Nike Air Max 720 is definitely the best Air Max in recent years. But does it the limitation of NIKE? I can answer with absolute certainly, it must not. Even if Nike Air Max 720 is impressive enough, but NIKE will break our imagination with more powerful evolution in the future.