Once you get around the silly spelling of Next Level, there is some real substance here. One of the primary reasons I argue with analysts who promote that brands should focus on athleisure and leave performance products alone is because unlike most analysts, I live and raf sneakers. Sneakers are my primary source of income. The information a take from selling sneakers and talking about sneakers is invaluable. When someone fails to realize that without innovation the interest in a brand disappears, I have to call it out. In 2017 adidas hit a wall. BOOST wasn’t as coveted anymore. The brand lost pretty much all resale value outside of extremely limited releases. At the end of 2018 the brand finally bugundy up out of its slumber to reveal a laceless, knit basketball shoe that features a new cushioning technology named Lightstrike.
They placed the teck into the N3XT L3V3L and did a limited release and I’ve been hunting for this shoe, at retail of course, since they launched. I don’t even hoop anymore, but the design is futuristic and ridiculously eye catching. I would never think of playing in a laceless knit shoe, but Gerald Green has been dunking in the shoe and a ton of YouTubers have been given the shoes by adidas. I haven’t been given a pair, but that’s cool. The design and the fact that adidas finally has a new tech to promote in Lightstrike is enough to move the N3XT (I’m shortening the name because I hate typing a darn 3 into the name) to my #2 shoe of 2018. Is adidas back? Not yet, but I really think that’s more about marketing than anything else.
This shoe is functional and it’s stylish and the medial wing pops along with the introduction of new tech. Kudos adidas. Only one shoe could outdo this.
Return to Top 20 Sneakers of 2018
Use este logotipo de adidas con orgullo en esta sudadera con capucha relajada
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