Good quality, great value, comfort depends on what you need.
I’ve been rocking these for a few weeks now. First impressions were very good. The build quality is excellent, all the seams are even and neat. It’s a bit jarring to see the top down view when you’re used to conventional sneakers, but that’s just a matter of getting used to them. I swapped the plain laces for fat checkered laces to give them a bold look.
In terms of comfort, I’m having mixed feelings. The toe box really is great, and you can spread your toes out like you never have before. Having the high top model gives you some ankle support as well. The shoes are very flexible and provide a lot of ground feel.
What I’m not super fond of is the lack of padding and structure in the uppers. The parts where the upper panels overlap over the metatarsals form prominent ridges on the inside. If you have puffy or sensitive feet, you can’t really lace them tight or it’ll hurt. I felt the need to really strap myself in to not feel like I’m ’dragging them around’, but the inside of the shoe was just too painful against my feet when worn tightly.
I would love to see a chunky skate shoe with a bit more substance and refinement to the uppers. That would solve the comfort issue and would also balance out the width of the toe box visually.
For now, I would call these more of a lifestyle shoe than a skate model, despite the way they’re positioned in the lineup. I want to emphasize that this is purely because of my own sensitivities and expectations, and that there is nothing…