Has shoe quality gotten better or worse with the rise of flywire/hyperfuse?

[bigtimejerky]

a lot of people find it as a gimmick... but nike performance shoes now are at a whole new level and far above the rest IMO

 

[winzz]

better , lighter, cooler

before when i was 10th grade play high school basketball i always ended up with very hot feet becoz shoes at that time didn't have enough ventilation or air circulation so imagine you practice basketball for over 2 hours and your feet stuck up inside shoes with no or limit air circulation. but with hyperfuse the problem solved easily

that kind of shoes should come out 20 years ago hahahaa and these days basketball shoes also become more lighter than predecessor without sacrifice safety of the shoes

 

[fc1114]

Why would you use 'quality' instead of performance level? 

 

[bence23]

shoes are much easier to maintain now that they are all synthetic. don't have to worry about creases as much.

 

[JRaW’d]

flywire/ fusetech/ polyurethane uppers = plastic

you tell me...

 

[PRIME]

Design wise, worse.
Performance wise, better.

 

[cscottjmp]

Performance is better, but quality has suffered while price has gone up.

 

[urn0tlike]

Originally Posted by CscottJMP

Performance is better, but quality has suffered while price has gone up.

Pretty much.

 

[memphistn3000]

Yeah the technology is better in shoes now are better seem more Tailored to styles. More comfortable to me.

 

[wallyhopp]

Have you felt some of these synthetic materials? It was the stuff we saw at Payless growing up, or at Kmart AND LAUGHED AT. Now you walk the aisles of these retailers and a slim percentage of them are using genuine full grain leather... It's just so sad.

The 'lighter' argument has been brought up before. And it's laughable.. A full grain leather shoe with real suede will weigh in just 1 or 2 ounces more than a synthetic shoe.

And technology has not increased that much. We all die for the dual zoom Kobes in 2012. But that was the norm back just 10 years ago. Now you get durants with FOAM as a base cushion.. But the upper is 2 ounces lighter. So all of sudden LIGHTER no matter what else is lost, is better? No thanks.

 

[JRaW’d]

^ exactly. this synthetic crap is all gimmicks

nike has successfully maximized they're profit margins by cheapening materials and raising prices. its all a hustle for them. as time goes on shoes will become cheaper and cheaper. fascinating to think about what the end result will be. i'll be long gone by then tho. hell, i already got 1 foot out the door. the direction nike basketball is goin is sickening...

 

[vood99]

JRodski and Wallyhop, thank you for posting. It's also refreshing to find some older 'heads who remember what sneakers were once made of. I have to agree with you guys that it's a damn shame to see full grain leather replaced in all of Nike's basketball line up with HyperFuse & Flywire. Even the marquee JB product is getting Flywire while retro product is getting stiff pleather and ashy suede in place of full grain leather.

 

[acbboyz84]

Quality is fine to me. The question is what are you dudes going to do with the shoes. Dudes on here are fat out of shape collector talking about Jordan quality. We're talking about Nike basketball here. If you going to play in them or not. I play ball in my shoes and i think quality is better for NIke basketball. The zoom air, air max unit is more responsive than the older units. The Hyperfuse, flywire material is alot more durable than regular leather. The shoes of the 90s can't compete with shoes of today. The only shoes that can stand up against today performance shoes is the 2k4 and that shoes is not that outdated

 

[calibeebee]

They hold up and perform a lot better than shoes in the past. Not to mention how much lighter they are which will give extra years to your knees bleedat. Ever played in a pair of 89 flights? Bricks that fell apart pretty fast compared to todays standards. I don't give a flying rats %@% if they used full grain leather or not. My grandpa wears cowboy boots made out of full grain leather, what does that have to do with anything?

 

[wallyhopp]

All I'm saying is, are some of you actually playing in your shoes long enough to feel a difference? I had some ultraflights from 2002 that lasted almost 8 years of weekly play.. Thanks in large part due to the full length zoom air.

Now we have shoes so cheap, thanks in large part to nike outlets and over saturation (just this last week I saw Kobe VIs for $89.99 at an outlet) that we don't even really care about longevity.....

Why care about anything when in 3 months, I can replace what I had, and feel like I actually come out on top. The true reality is dfferent.

I'm sorry but spending $89.99 twice, does not out do what Nike used to do at a retail of $119.99. And those shoes lasting 4 times as long.

We're all caught up in this over saturation maze of confusion... Start keeping track of how long your shoes last and what you are spending, and then compare to the past.... The deal you thought you had is all but lost.

 

[mister friendly]

Yes and no.

Nike has gotten way better with one to one fits, lockdown and outriggers Maybe that's because Hyperfuse and Flywire are more malleable? Or maybe they use more TPU heel cups, lacing systems and other devices?

But they have definitely took a step back in long term quality, durabiltiy ,cushioning and overall around foot comfort. Dont believe me? Go buy a pair of beginning of the 2000's Jordan and feel the comfort between that 95 pct of what Nike puts out now. Half of the appeal of Jordan wasnt just because he was a great player, it was because that was Nike's flaghsip in terms of quality. Jordans meant Nikes highest quality.

The only shoe Nike has produced lately that approaches this quality is the Lebron line and thats not on all models (high quality was the Lebron I-IV, the NFW VIIs and the 8 V1s)
They want you to pay more for lesser materials now

 

[texasboylaw]

Originally Posted by bence23

shoes are much easier to maintain now that they are all synthetic. don't have to worry about creases as much.

I was going to say the same thing... Jordans crease so easily . I have to walk pigeon toed so they won't crease lol while my lebrons I can just walk normally and not worry

 

[dmxfury]

I still maintain the performance peak for Bball shoes was 99-05 or so. Running shoes I don't necessarily feel the same way

 

[swooshallday]

Originally Posted by UrN0tLike

Originally Posted by CscottJMP

Performance is better, but quality has suffered while price has gone up.

Pretty much.

so true

 

[johnmckoolaid]

Originally Posted by texasboylaw

Originally Posted by bence23

shoes are much easier to maintain now that they are all synthetic. don't have to worry about creases as much.

I was going to say the same thing... Jordans crease so easily . I have to walk pigeon toed so they won't crease lol while my lebrons I can just walk normally and not worry

obviously never owned any pre-2004 jordans, my boy is still to this day wearing raptor 7s daily with no creases, none of my 2004 xiis have creases. The only retros i can think of that creased were the XIIIs and thats because of the toe box design and buttery leather. Jordans have always had minor defects (like bleeding on some XIII's) but no where near the amount of sketchy looking paint and glue of today. BTW creasing has nothing to do with quality, your lebron dont crease beacuse they are PLASTIC, dont leave them in the sun too long

 

[dr damon]

Quality is worse with hyperfuse. It's cheap plastic. Not a fan the only plastic shoes I really like are foamposites I prefer leather uppers which pretty much don't exist or nubuck I am not an old fat collecter that doesn't play ball. As for the flight 89 comment. Alot of nba and college players played in them and it's the same set up as the Jordan 4. I played in flight 89s my first two years of college and had no problems. lighter with Foam instead of air units for cushioning is going a step back. If I wanted to buy shoes with foam cushioning that wears out i would buy adidas It's pitiful that nike has successfully marketed shoes like the kd line that are pushing 100 bucks that have only forefoot zoom. It used to be you could count on heel and forefoot air from Nike basketball at the 85 dollar but those days are long gone. The 200 dollar zoom rookie without the zoom is an insult to us as consumers but people still bought them I don't think that with the current generation of so called sneaker heads longevity matters. People just buy what's hot and move on to the next thing what's in the shoe doesn't matter. The majority of people on these boards don't even play in their kicks .probably just play their ps3 while wearing their kicks Ok I'm done back to work

 

[crazy ebw]

Originally Posted by UrN0tLike

Originally Posted by CscottJMP

Performance is better, but quality has suffered while price has gone up.

Pretty much.

THIS

 

[andfattoo]

OFT Mister Friendly and Dr Damon

 

[bigtimejerky]

for me its hyperfuse>leather>flywire

i think hyperfuse is amazing... i think once nike learns how to fuse other composites instead of plastic, it can really get groundbreaking

 

[raptors29]

Originally Posted by WallyHopp

Have you felt some of these synthetic materials? It was the stuff we saw at Payless growing up, or at Kmart AND LAUGHED AT. Now you walk the aisles of these retailers and a slim percentage of them are using genuine full grain leather... It's just so sad.

The 'lighter' argument has been brought up before. And it's laughable.. A full grain leather shoe with real suede will weigh in just 1 or 2 ounces more than a synthetic shoe.

And technology has not increased that much. We all die for the dual zoom Kobes in 2012. But that was the norm back just 10 years ago. Now you get durants with FOAM as a base cushion.. But the upper is 2 ounces lighter. So all of sudden LIGHTER no matter what else is lost, is better? No thanks.

I totally agree. The only shoes I can hoop in are Kobes and LeBrons. All the Nike Team Shoes are trash.