SOLE COLLECTOR: Sneakers

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Key Tech: Quilted inner lining creates a Nike Sphere-like stand-off effect; multi-density Phylon midsole with Independent Podular Suspension (IPS) at the forefoot and interchangable Zoom Air + Phylon/encapsulated Air + polyurethane cuhshioning pods at heel

Use: Hoops, Indoor

Position: Active players at all positions

Colorway Tested: White/Varsity Red/Metallic Silver

Price: $100 for Retro + (the O.G. retailed for $65)

Pros: Provides locked down heel fit and exceptional ankle support; interchangable pod under heel allows for a degree of cushioning customizability; awesome traction and attention to detail

Cons: Starts out feeling stiff and somewhat bulky, lack of breathibility

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THE POWER OF 1

Has it really been 21 years? I know I’m dating myself here, but it seems like only yesterday that I first heard rumblings about a rookie named Jordan doing special things out in Chicago. Mind you, this was years before the World Wide Web’s invention (yes, as unbelievable as it may seem, humanity did manage for a time without the Web and email), a time when the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network was a little-watched novelty known more for its coverage of tractor pulls than its now colossally influential SportsCenter program. In short, the media hype machine was a mere shadow of the beast it’s grown into today and you could go for months without even hearing about a promising young talent who played outside of your home market.

And in any case, like most every New Yorker, I could care less about anything going down west of the Hudson. As far as I was concerned, if it didn’t involve the Mets, Jets, St. John’s or Knicks, it didn’t happen (I’ve since moved west-and I don’t mean the Upper West Side-which has greatly expanded my world view). But then I saw this Michael Jordan kid play and the script was irrevocably flipped.

It was a Sunday afternoon game on The NBA on CBS between the Bulls and Celtics at the old Boston Garden. Why I was even watching the game I don’t know, because I hated the Bird-led Celtics (they were always getting the better of my beloved Knicks) and could care less about Chicago. Maybe it was raining out … whatever the reason, I started watching and was immediately transfixed by number 23 in the red and black. The bits and pieces I had gathered about MJ up to that point painted a picture of a dynamic but one-dimensional dunker; what I saw instead that pivotal afternoon was an astonishingly complete player performing at a level beyond anything I had imagined possible. He was a fearsome defender and a seemingly unstoppable offensive force who, contrary to all reports, was devastatingly capable from the perimeter. This included a 3 at the end of regulation that replays showed should have given Chicago a one-point win, but was waved off as having come after the buzzer.

That was it-from that point on I was hooked like a bigmouth at Bassmasters. Jordan might not have been a Knickerbocker, but he was born in Brooklyn and that was good enough for me. Even through those awful years when MJ was Gotham’s nemesis-in-chief, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of his game and the ferocity of his competitive spirit. And I know I wasn’t the only conflicted soul in the city-even at the height of the rivalry plenty of folks both inside the Garden and out could be seen mixing up Knicks paraphernalia with Air Jordan shoes.

And so I arrive at the shoes, which, for so many who experienced MJ’s playing days, provided the only material link to the Jordan mystique. Back in those days, buying the latest J meant owning a piece of the magic; it made recreating his latest act of gravity-defying, loss-denying wizardry feel that much more real. But perhaps even more compelling than this vicarious appeal for wannabe hoopstars was the shoes’ role as a running account of Jordan’s life and times-the line was a biography of sorts, only this story was written in the language of leather, rubber and foam. You didn’t have to be a baller to look at the Air Jordan III and see His Airness’ breathtaking foul-line jam in the ‘88 Dunk Contest come to life in your mind’s eye; or hold the IV and feel your heart skip a beat like it did after seeing MJ hit “The Shot” over a hapless Craig Ehlo in the first round of the ‘89 Eastern Conference Playoffs; or see the XII and sense the goose bumps forming like they did during Jordan’s epic ‘98 Finals performance against Utah in “The Flu Game” … the list goes on.

But what happens when your leading man-the personality around which your entire identity is based-departs the stage? And what do you do when a new generation of young people enters the arena with little to no recollection of his exploits? With last year’s wonderful Air Jordan XX the response from Jordan Brand seemed clear: re-introduce a new audience to those halcyon days by literally re-creating them in the form of tattoo-like icons etched into the shoe. But reliving old glories is an indulgence that can all too quickly lead down the path to mediocrity, as well-meaning respect becomes overweening reverence and overweening reverence, if left unchecked, cultivates the putrefying rot of indifference.

To their credit, the folks at Jordan seem to have recognized the dangers of coasting on the fumes of history, which shows a surprising level of foresight given that the brand is coming off a banner year sparked by strong sales of the largely retrospective XX (Nike, Inc. does not break out sales on a per-shoe basis, but the company has reported that Jordan Brand’s share of the U.S. athletic footwear market jumped by nearly two percentage points in 2005 to 6%, which would position the Jordan unit alone to within a hair’s-breadth of fourth place overall if it operated as an independent entity). Proof of this comes in the form of the Air Jordan XXI, which banishes any overt references to Js gone by and, in so doing, represents a turn away from the rosy glow of past successes and toward the uncertain dawn of a new era for both the line and the brand.

Yet one fundamental tenet of the Jordan legacy lives on: a dogged commitment to performance. As noted by a longtime NBA staffer with extensive footwear expertise who would speak only on condition of anonymity to avoid the appearance that a league official was personally endorsing a specific product, “Michael’s shoes were always the shit.” The reason, this source explained, is that “Jordan basically revolutionized shoes-Michael Jordan solely. By him having plantar fasciitis, by him having knee problems, by him having injuries … Nike and Jordan Brand responded to his needs.” And this direct line between MJ’s own stratospheric on-court requirements and the architecture of his signature shoes has not been broken simply because he no longer plays under the bright lights of the NBA’s grand arenas.

According to D’Wayne Edwards, Footwear Design Director for Jordan and the design lead on the XXI, “Even though he’s not on TV playing in it, he’s playing in Chicago in his rec league … he’s still playing ball, he’s still playing in his shoes and he’s still testing them.” So, from the perspective of Jordan being the ultimate arbiter of his namesake rides’ suitability for on-court abuse, “nothing’s changed, minus you don’t see him on TV anymore.”

Far be it from me to second-guess His Airness’ personal stamp of approval, but the fact that a given shoe meets the needs of a certain 6-6 superhero who still handily whups elite players half his age by no means guarantees that it’ll meet yours. After all, it’s a good bet neither your body nor your game bears much resemblance to His. And besides, I need some way to justify the paycheck I draw as Sole Collector’s reviewer in residence, so here’s my take on the Air Jordan XXI (and, no, I’m not a chiseled six-foot, six-inch 220-pound picture of basketball dominance either, but my ‘do is a pretty close match for MJ’s).

ALL IS NOT AS IT SEEMS
What struck me most about the shoe on first viewing was its cut-it’s actually a hair shorter than the XX before it, but with a more conventional design to its ankle collar (as opposed to the funky but functional ankle leash that defined the XX), the XXI looks downright skyscraper-like. Looks can be deceiving, however, and in the case of the XXI, little is as it seems. For one thing, though the XXI is tall enough along both sides of the ankle to be considered a high, you’d swear it was a lower-cut mid from just playing in it. Chalk this up to the flex grooves formed into the front of the ankle collar and the ultra-deep Achilles notch at its rear. The net result is a shoe that feels as supportive and secure as an old-school high-top, but allows for the mobility and range-of-motion of a new-school mid. The eyelet configuration along the XXI’s ankle also adds a measure of tunability to the shoe’s fit and feel: lace through all three rows for maximum protection or mix-and-match between any two to lock in your preferred blend of support, flexibility and comfort (my preferred configuration was to use only the two innermost rows of laces).

And fit isn’t the only aspect of the Air Jordan XXI that can be tuned to suit your needs: For the first time in a Jordan and, to the best of my knowledge, the first time in a hoops shoe from any marque, the XXI allows for user-customizable cushioning (adidas pioneered the concept of tunable cushioning way back in 1980 with a shoe called the LA Trainer, but never applied it to their basketball line). An interchangeable pod sits directly beneath your heel-to remove it, simply peel away the sockliner to reveal the pod then push up on the outsole from below to dislodge the puck-like unit from its form-fitting socket. Swapping in a different pod is just as easy and the whole exchange, for both your left and right shoe, can be completed in well under a minute. Two sets of heel pods are included with each pair of Air Jordan XXIs: a Phylon-based set (the red pods), in which each pod incorporates a low-profile Zoom Air unit, and a firmer polyurethane set (the black pods), in which encapsulated-style air bags augment the PU pucks.

All this begs the obvious question: Why would you want to customize your cushioning? The answer proffered by Jordan on the handsome sticker gracing the interior of the XXI’s box is that the Zoom-based pods are a better match for guards seeking “lateral, low-profile responsiveness,” while the encapsulated Air-based pods provide “maximum cushioning” for forwards and centers. I’m not quite sure how one set of pods can provide superior low-profile responsiveness when both sets share the same total thickness, but, marketing-ese aside, there is a perceptible difference in feel between the two-and you may be surprised by the set you prefer. In my case, as a light guard who craves the sort of court hugging agility promised by the Phylon + Zoom configuration, I assumed that they would be my pods of choice. But after rigorously testing both setups I found my feet preferring the purportedly big-man oriented PU + encapsulated Air pairing by a wide margin. The Zoom pods did provide a bit more cushioning response, but the encap. units allowed me to play with greater confidence thanks to their more supportive, more stable feel.

The ability to tune the XXI’s under-heel cushioning is a nice feature, but, ultimately, I think its inclusion has more to do with promotion than performance. It doesn’t impair playability in any way, but the time, effort and development dollars invested into the realization of the concept could undoubtedly have been applied towards other, more meaningful innovations or avoided entirely, with the savings softening the XXI’s wallet-crushing price (more on that later).

Moving beyond the heel, overall cushioning performance is excellent, with the XXI’s second-generation implementation of Independent Podular Suspension (IPS) delivering the same unique mix of impact protection, responsiveness and court feel that made last year’s Air Jordan XX such a joy to play in. Where the implementations of IPS in the XX and XXI diverge is under the midfoot-unlike the XX, which featured cushioning pods along the full length of its midsole, the XXI features pods under only the key impact zones of the forefoot and heel. Replacing the pods under the midfoot is a very large, beautifully molded carbon fiber shank. In addition to eliminating a fair amount of foam from the midsole and thereby reducing the shoe’s overall weight, the shank boosts support underfoot and, perhaps most importantly, prevents the XXI from flexing under the midfoot. Why is this important? According to Dr. James Losito, former president of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine and currently team podiatrist for the Miami Heat, “Whenever the shoe bends where the foot doesn’t, you’re going to have a problem,” usually in the form of an injury to the plantar fascia.

The plantar fascia is a tendon-like band that runs along the bottom of the foot, linking the heel bone (i.e. the calcaneus) to the bones at the base of the toes (i.e. the metatarsals). This link is absolutely crucial to proper function of the foot, both as an effective shock-attenuating structure on impact and as a fantastically powerful lever on toe-off, but the stress the plantar fascia is subjected to with every step makes it highly susceptible to injury-particularly among those who regularly engage in activities that involve lots of running and jumping. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that injury to the plantar fascia in the form of a condition called plantar fasciitis is very common among basketball players (by my informal count, plantar fasciitis is second only to ankle sprains as the cause for games missed due to injury among NBA players).

A variety of factors can lead to the onset of plantar fasciitis, from inherent biomechanical abnormalities to over-training, but poorly designed shoes can also play a role. In terms of hoops, if a shoe is overly flexible under the midfoot, each and every landing and toe-off has the potential to overstretch the plantar fascia. This is why nearly all modern basketball shoes include some sort of rigid shank under the midfoot. The role of the device is to both keep the midsole from collapsing under the arch on impact and to prevent the shoe from flexing under the midfoot on toe-off. Or, put more succinctly (and paraphrasing Dr. Losito), to keep the shoe from bending where the foot doesn’t.

Usually, molded plastic is used to form the shank, but, as noted above, the XXI employs a much stronger and much more expensive composite material called carbon fiber. While the use of carbon fiber doesn’t guarantee that a shoe will provide adequate protection underfoot, the material is particularly well suited to the task because, as Dr. Losito explained, it “is light, it provides stability and it can be manufactured in varying durometers [i.e. degrees of hardness] and thicknesses.” In the case of the XXI, the shank is expertly formed and, in my experience, does a great job preventing the bends.

There is, however, one negative associated with the XXI’s carbon fiber shank: Because it has a very hard, sharp edge, a semi-rigid strip of material had to be added along its medial perimeter to keep the structure from literally cutting into your foot. That’s a good thing, but this “safety strip” creates a bit of a hump within the shoe that may chafe against your arch-particularly if you have flat feet. As an arch-challenged individual myself, I can report that after my first two test wearings of the Air Jordan XXI the skin along the medial side of both of my dogs was rubbed pretty raw; there was no blistering, but the experience wasn’t pleasant. From my third wearing on, however, the chafing subsided, most likely because the material of the safety strip (along with the whole of the upper and midsole) softened up with wear.

UPS AND DOWNS
It wasn’t only comfort along the arch that improved with wear; I was pleasantly surprised to find that the XXI’s all-around fit and feel improved over the course of my testing as well. What started out as a stiff and, for lack of a better word, flabby feeling SUV of a shoe progressively evolved into a ride capable of delivering the sort of control and agility you’d expect from a shoe inspired by the wickedly capable Bentley Continental GT (a favorite of MJ’s, the Continental GT heavily influenced the design of the Air Jordan XXI-see Retrokid’s Sneakerphile starting on page 22 for more on the design and development of the XXI). By the end of my first week of testing the shoe felt like an extension of my foot and this sensation, I’m glad to report, did not subside through the remainder of my month-long test. The shoe’s fully double-lasted construction allowed for a modicum of side-to-side movement at the toebox and a hint of bulkiness at the heel, but, on the whole, the XXI provided the sort of fit and feel that allowed me focus on my game instead of my shoe.

The only lasting chink in the Air Jordan XXI’s armor is its heat and moisture management, or near complete lack thereof. Though the XXI’s sumptuously quilted inner lining provides something of a Nike Sphere-like stand-off effect and its full-grain leather upper affords a measure of inherent breathability, the shoe’s complex, multi-layered construction traps heat and moisture like a sauna. For the first hour or so of each of my test wearings this wasn’t a big issue, but once I got into my second hour of on-court action the moisture build up in my socks really became noticeable (this even though I always wear synthetic, moisture-wicking socks). At the two-hour mark my feet were downright adamant about being let out for a breath of fresh air and, by that point, my socks were consistently drenched with sweat.

Of course, it’s not at all unusual for your feet to sweat. In fact, your dogs are host to more sweat glands per square inch than any other part of your body, with the average pair exuding about a cup of perspiration per day. It’s no wonder, then, that many experts consider effective heat and moisture management to be a critically important facet of athletic shoe design. For starters, if the bulk of the sweat from your feet remains trapped in your shoes, you’re much more likely to develop a bacterial or fungal infection (think athlete’s foot-and I don’t mean the footwear chain), not to mention a raunchy odor that’s guaranteed to keep people out of your personal space. But on top of the potential damage to your social standing, a poorly vented shoe can lead to more concrete problems; once again quoting Dr. Losito, “With increased moisture, you have an increased potential for injury.” That’s because a sweat-logged shoe allows for more movement of the foot within the inner, which can lead to blisters (this may have contributed to the chafing I experienced along my arches), callus formation and runner’s toe, a painful condition that’s also known by the much more descriptive label of black toe.

So, if you hoop for hours at a time on the regular, the Air Jordan XXI is not going to be a good match for your needs. If, however, you’re a hoops-a-holic who absolutely has to have the XXI, a tactic that can help mitigate the shoe’s lack of breathability is changing to a fresh pair of quality, moisture wicking socks every hour or so (definitely steer clear of cotton socks, which retain moisture and get rougher as they get wet).

One last area I want to touch on before summing up is traction, of which the XXI provides copious amounts. The shoe’s double helix inspired outsole pattern holds the court with the tenacity of a Pit Bull on a diet and, thanks to its bi-level design, should continue to provide excellent grip even as it wears away. Just don’t take the shoe along for any extended outdoor excursions-one round of abuse on the blacktop is all it’ll take to nuke the XXI’s soft rubber base. Like most Jordans, the XXI is optimized for indoor action.

Alrighty then, I think that about covers it. In short, the Air Jordan XXI is a terrific on-court performer once broken in, but its lack of breathability is an Achilles heel that may be a deal breaker for some. If you’re willing to take the heat (and the potential for chafing through your first few of wearings), the XXI will reward you with confidence-inspiring fit and support around the ankle and heel, terrific impact protection with Zoom-like cushioning response and a naturalistic feel for the court unique to IPS and simply ridiculous traction that’ll have you breaking more ankles than an old-school mob enforcer. The shoe also just radiates quality and attention to detail; from its ultra-precise stitching, to the rolled edges of its upper (there’s not a raw, unfinished edge to be found on the XXI) down to the beautiful 3-dimensional molding of its outsole and carbon fiber shank, the XXI sets a new standard for the already illustrious Air Jordan line. But these heights of performance and craftsmanship come with an equally lofty price: $175 for the “standard” leather colorways and $180 for the Italian suede releases. Quite honestly, that’s more than I’d ever be willing to pay for an athletic shoe, but purchasers of the XXI won’t just be buying a piece of footwear: As with every Air Jordan, they’ll be buying into a story-a legacy of achievement that continues to inspire even among a new generation that wasn’t around to experience MJ’s greatness firsthand. And though it may not be perfect, the XXI does live up to that legacy. Whether that makes the shoe worth the coin is, ultimately, for you to decide.

—From Issue 11, article by Professor K