The glory moment of Air Jordan 14 came when Michael Jordan wore the black and red in the finals of 1998, in which he won himself the last NBA championship of his career. In fact, this is not only the honour of Michael Jordan, but also of Air Jordan 14. Largely owing to that reason, this AJ 14 has received the popularity that is much more than expected with its various new colorways and even retro versions made time and again. But it should be mentioned that it doesn’t mean AJ 14 is perfect or insuperable. As a matter of fact, there are both merits and disadvantages of it that deserve looking at.
According to the feedback of consumers, this AJ 14 is actually a mixed blessing. The respects of the shoes that are much criticized or controversial are the midsole cushion and the comfort.
To being with, it is about the outsole grip. On the courts that were painted, dusty and slippery, I had thought the shoes could not stand such challenging tests. It turned out, however, that its outsole weren’t that bad as I had imagined, and there weren’t signs of slipping, either. Therefore, if you require more of a sneaker’s grip performance than of any other aspecs, then this AJ 14 is a good chocie.
But there is another factor that has great bearing on flexibility—the vamp. Actually, the traditional old leather vamp is a bit hard and doesn’t wrap very well. It is, to tell the truth, no match for those vamps that are equipped with modern hardcore techs. Even if the shoelaces are tightened, I can still feel that my feet sometimes slip inside the shoes. In a word, it is not very comfortable to wear the shoes.
In terms of the cushion, despite the midsole cushion that is very much criticized, I was still stunned by the ZOOM of the forefoot. Although it is a little bit back and I feel somewhat unnatural to step on it, it is super soft and deforms easily. According to some deconstruction review, the forefoot air cushion is 7mm, and the rear one is 8mm. However, the rear cushion isn’t comparable with its forefoot counterpart, and performs much worse during landing movement.
Overall, the shoes’ performances are, for me, satisfactory but not excellent. After all, with times advancing and technologies developing, it may be a bit irrational to require the top-level shoes from 20 years ago to still be top-ranking.
When Michael Jordan scored the game-winning shot in Game 6 of the NBA Finals and won his sixth championship, the classic moment of “one last shot” is set to be monumental and remembered forever. Twenty years later, on June 14, 2018, AJ 14 again ushered in its glory moment. The Air Jordan 14 Last Shot worn by the MJ champion that night went on sale again for a near-perfect OG retro.
Supreme x Air Jordan 14:
For this Supreme x Air Jordan 14, it is said that the inspiration for the collaboration came from a leather clothing of Jordan. The vamp of the shoes is stitched with cowhide leather and suede, whose texture is super nice. Beisdes, the ornament of a large rivet on the side of the shoe imitates the design of Jordan’s leather coat, which is a bit like some version of Jordan 13. For that point alone, this Supreme x Air Jordan 14 is definitely qualified to be the top three of all AJ 14s.
This “Last Shot” has, so far, three retro versions, from which we can see the great popularity of AJ 14. Although AJ 14 is no longer the most excellent one, it has, nevertheless, experienced its heyday and will be some kind of nostalgia for quite a few people.