Underrated Kicks – The Gym Rat Review

October 15, 2013December 28, 2013 jtsittler TGRR Blog

TGRR Blog: Underrated Kicks, Vol. I: Nike Flight Lite II Update

Prose: Jake Sittler (@jtsittler)

10/15/13 Update: Thanks to savvy reader Anastasios Thomaidis, we’ve got a few pics of a used but still gorgeous blue/silver colorway of the Flight Lite II via an auction on German eBay. It’s always awesome to get input from readers, so enjoy the new pics.

We’re testing out a new blog mini-theme here at The Gym Rat Review, called Underrated Kicks. Throughout any sneaker era there have been shoes that, for whatever reason, haven’t gotten the love they deserve. Finch and I will pepper these in whenever we have time to give these unique kicks some props. First up, the Nike Flight Lite II.

The best picture I could find was from krossovki.net, a wonderful website with pictures and descriptions of tons of shoes…except that it’s in a completely different language that I do not speak. (In fact besides the ads, the only thing in English on the site read “f*** nike.” Not very nice.) Leave a comment if you know how I could translate the picture below.

A Google search of “Nike Flight Lite II” yielded about three pictures of the shoe before I got sick of scrolling. Part of this is because the Flight Lite II had the misfortune of sharing a name with a handful of other “Flight Lite” models. The 1991 Flight Lite shoe was, at the time, the lightest shoe in the Nike Basketball lineup despite its bulky appearance. There’s a couple different versions of that shoe, including a Flight Lite Hi, Flight Lite II and Flight Lite Mid. There’s also a boring Flight Lite that came after the Flight Lite II that I was originally talking about.

Regardless, it’s a gorgeous, confidently designed shoe that has long been a hopeless grail in my eyes. It boasts an asymmetrical lacing system (swoon), a full-length, encapsulated Air unit, a Phylite midsole and an awesome exposed monkey paw anti-ankle inversion structure. And of course, the legendary Alpha Project dots are prominently featured on the forefoot midsole and heel. I also love the dimpling of the midsole with various dots. Even the simple sculpting of the midsole near the heel augments the rest of the design and gives it a low-profile, sleek look. The colorblocking, particularly the red toebox piece and red Swoosh against the white midsole, is clean as well.

It’s a shoe that probably doesn’t have a prayer to be retroed but nonetheless deserves respect for the ingenuity and creativity in design while incorporating and exposing elements like the asymmetrical lacing and monkey paw structure.

Black/Silver images are from here

March 12, 2013March 12, 2013 jerredfinch TGRR Blog

Underrated Kicks, Vol.4: Nike Air Carnivore

Prose: Finch (@Sir_Stymie)

In the latest installment of Underrated Kicks we take a trip back to the 1990s, which in my opinion was the greatest era in sneaker history. With athletes like “Neon” Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson making a name for themselves not only on the gridiron but on the diamond as well, the 90s were a heyday for some of the most iconic and transcendent performance trainers of all time. To this day, these shoes are being retroed and used not only as a fashion statement but also for modern performance. For example the Diamond Turf (Deion Sanders) Reebok ES22 (Emmit Smith) and even Brett Favre and Dan Marino had pseudo-signatures with the Nike Zoom Turf and Speed Turf respectively.

One of the most iconic and original designs also made its debut 1990s: the Nike Air Huarache, which is Spanish for shoes or sandals. The Huarache line revolutionized sneakers with its use of lightweight materials, inner sockliner and structural minimalism – the use of exaggerated mesh or cutout holes to reduce weight and enhance breathability. This line has been retroed, re-imagined, updated and retroed over and over again. Whether it’s classics like the Nike Flight Huarache, which has been worn by numerous NBA players, or the lesser known Huarache Trainer 94, they’re some of the most visible shoes on the market. The Nike Huarache even recently took several of their most popular silhouettes such as the Flight Huarache and the Huarache Low and tried to modernize the design using Nike Free bottoms to attract today’s modern runners. Even though these designs were met with some scrutiny, it is a constant reminder that the Huarache line is alive and well.

Off of the success of the Huarache line and shoes like it came many other renowned (and albeit lesser known) silhouettes. These kicks share some striking similarities to its celebrated predecessor, but were either ahead of their time in terms of look or not properly indorsed enough to make a splash in this celebrated but crowded market of sneakers. An example of this misfortune happens to be one of my favorite kicks of all time.

The Nike Air Carnivore was released in 1993 in two colorways: the classic Green/Purple/Black and a lesser-known all black model with purple accents. In the 2010 the Carnivore was retroed in the same classic green, purple and black but with this release Nike added new white, red and gold – almost 49ers-esque – colorway.

The Carnivore was said to be the a trainer on steroids and featured a very aggressive and futuristic design. The Carnivore come with zero laces and the lockdown mechanism is provided via a series of straps very similar to the David Robinson-worn Nike Air Unlimited. The Carnivore has a strap over the forefoot, a strap on the ankle sleeve (which is where we see the most similarity to the Air Unlimited) and a small strap tightener on the outer which pulls that foot in to the midsole for a firm lockdown. The only other time that I have personally seen another strap of this kind was in Amare Stoudemire’s STAT signature shoe, except that strap was hidden. These straps by themselves wouldn’t provide the an adequate fit for a trainer, but when they all work cooperatively they provide a fit that in my opinion is comparable to some of the top basketball shoes today.

The aesthetics of the Carnivore set it apart from any shoe before or after, for that matter. With an extremely tall neoprene inner sleeve and a reptilian-patterned insole along with colors that are hard to match with a fitted or t-shirt, you can see how these sneakers could be an acquired taste to some sneaker enthusiasts. To this day this shoe is a gem for a few sneaker collectors; I personally am on my second pair of Air Carnivores and they were one of my first shoes in my collection. If I was to judge by the amount of looks and questions that I receive when I wear them out, it definitely is not a well-known shoe and is a head-turner for sure. You can usually find Carnivores at Nike Factory Stores, even thrift shops, and I was luck enough to get mine on the cheap on eBay (even though I’d over pay for these babies.)

It’s hard to tell why shoes don’t sell or are slept on. I think its a byproduct of people being afraid to step out of the box and pigeonholing themselves into one type of shoe or one brand of shoe. I myself have fell victim to this and have tried hard to step out of my comfort zone. Don’t be afraid to branch out and be an individual – you would be surprised at what you have been missing out on.

March 11, 2013March 11, 2013 jtsittler TGRR Blog

Underrated Kicks, Vol. 3: Under Armour Micro G Juke

Prose: Jake Sittler (@jtsittler)

Some kicks are underrated because the community isn’t ready for the design and popular opinion doesn’t go in their favor. Some are underrated because they weren’t marketed or distributed all that heavily. Some are underrated because the company is stretching its boundaries and the shoe is sort of a trial model for a new technology or brand. The Under Armour Micro G Juke happens to meet all three of those criteria and is our third installment in Underrated Kicks.

Personally, I loved the Juke since the first time I set eyes on them. The silhouette is just sexy – sleek and low-profile with a plummeting collar line. The CompFit ankle sleeve was the most polarizing feature of the shoe, but I loved how it was used both aesthetically and functionally (more on that later). The shoe looks like it almost leans back and flows into your ankle, like an extension of your foot. I’m always a fan of properly-used perforations, and the laser-cut design along the midfoot worked well for me. I also thought the logo placement on the forefoot was perfect. The simple colorblocking was effective as well – white/black and black/black – added to the overall smoothness of the design.

The Micro G cushioning is absolutely joyful on foot, and the shoe feels bouncy and lightweight. The fit through the midfoot and CompFit sleeve is excellent. This is something that should not be understated either, because Under Armour really broke new ground with the CompFit system. We had not seen a shoe build in something like an ankle sleeve or brace (it’s not really a brace) before, and Under Armour almost perfectly nailed it in their first attempt. Getting the anatomy correct in terms of placement and attaching the sleeve to the inner lining was certainly something that took a lot of trial and error. For me, it works wonderfully well with the rest of the lacing system and tongue.

The shoe wasn’t flawless – the synthetic material used for the toebox led to quick creasing and the odd structure off the toebox itself is a head scratcher – but for a debut of new technology for a relatively new brand, the Juke got almost everything right.

As far as why the Juke was slept-on, let me go back to that opening paragraph. First and foremost, Under Armour was still breaking into the performance basketball market when the Juke released back in 2011. The wary sneaker community wasn’t ready to accept the newcomers who hadn’t yet had the opportunity to prove themselves among the industry big boys. Brandon Jennings created quite a bit of buzz for the brand when he dropped 55 wearing an Under Armour prototype, but that shoe didn’t even release until two years later. The Juke was the boldest design in the Under Armour repertoire at the time, and people were hesitant to make the leap.

The Juke also wasn’t readily available at most retailers. It was tough to find them in physical retailers, though Eastbay and the Under Armour website had some quantities. The shoe was marketed fairly well at first – Kemba Walker graced the cover of SLAM Kicks with the Juke around his neck that year! – but with the shoe hard to find in stores and Kemba not rocking them consistently on court, the shoe didn’t live up to its cover boy status.

Finally, the design was just…different. It was a new brand with a limit-testing design that didn’t look like anything else on the market. The technology – Micro G and the CompFit sleeve – hadn’t been proven on the market. Despite solid performance review scores from SoleCollector and NiceKicks, the Juke never caught on based on those factors. If you didn’t snag them when you could, it’s your loss. I continually searched on eBay for over a year before I found this white/black pair in my size last month; it was an immediate cop when I did.