WearTesters is reader-supported. When you make purchases using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Why trust us?

My Top 5 Performance Aspects to Look Forward to in The Air Jordan XX9

My Top 5 Performance Aspects to Look Forward to in The Air Jordan XX9 6

1. Performance Woven Upper

I’ll admit, the Kobe 9 Elite disappointed me quite a bit with its Flyknit construction. I was expecting a shoe made entirely of Flyknit but I wasn’t expecting plastic to line the interior. This performance woven upper on the other hand… holy cow, it looks and feels incredible. Its thick but not restrictive, yet still supportive. There are four layers of woven thread and they are woven together so tightly that there is very little stretch, except where they want the shoe to stretch. Basically, we have the next generation of Engineered Mesh and Flyknit but done in a way that is so finely finished that you would never know that is was a fabric had you not seen the shoe in person. I was fortunate enough to share a car with the creator of this new weaving process – Mathieu De Backer – and all I can say is that the technology is truly remarkable and will change the way footwear is made in the future.

Air-Jordan-XX9-Unveiling-Event-Recap-24

Jordan Brand has been focusing on their performance products for many years despite being overshadowed by their Retro line. The Air Jordan XX8 changed all of that and the XX9 looks to continue the trend. Innovation at its finest, the groundbreaking manufacturing process looks to surpass anything else every created within the performance footwear field. They were so ahead of themselves that even the manufacturing plant in Italy thought that Jordan Brand was attempting to do the impossible.

September can’t come soon enough…

59 comments
  1. I will admit I too was sad when I hooped in my Kobe’s and felt all that fuse underneath it. Just listening to Kobe talk about the flyknit got me hype….now these maybe truly woven. NW how are the four layers of the upper held together? Are they independent then connected by the midsole or they compressed/stitched together?

    1. The 4 layers are woven together all at once. Its such a strange and intricate manufacturing process. Mathieu De Backer said that they must think and program the machines in 3D but then work in 2D which was difficult for them to even contemplate the finished product. Basically, there were sections along the shoe that they wanted ventilation, stretch, very tight woven material for support etc. Then you have the Flight Web which they had to incorporate into the programing as well. Quite possibly the most complicated way to create and build a shoe but once its done then its ‘easy’ in a sense. It was all very very cool.

      1. why weren’t you so critical of the materials in the Kobe 9 elite when you did its review? i feel you did a complete 180 as to the kobe 9 elite materials, not the shoe, just that attribute.

        1. Personal preference and function are two separate things. Did you want me to be angry about a material that worked but I was disappointed with? Doesn’t work that way when conducting a proper review, otherwise I’d be biased based on the fact that I want or was expecting something else rather than what’s provided.

          Did the Elite materials work? Yes. Did I prefer the EM 9’s materials more? Yes, stated such in their review. End of story.

    2. This shoe is gonna be like the LeBron 11 and Kobe 9 Elite Hybrid.
      Though Im expecting the price to be way over 250 dollars at least.

  2. Hey Nightwing is the outer part of the midsole made of tpu or foam? Won’t a tpu wrapped midsole make it less flexible or have they found a way to make it flex easier? I wish someone could test it out.. Maybe it will flex better with each wear.

    1. If you take a look at the image featured on #5 then you’ll see that the TPU are just plated they place onto the midsole. I don’t think it’ll have a negative affect, it’ll add torsional support more than anything.

      1. If is only plated then i guess it will be flexible enough. I think its actually very interesting since its going to add of support throughout the entire shoe, and will probably help with durability. Man its gonna be a long 5 months lol.

      1. Oh come on NW, you know people like to be spoon fed. Who does research anymore, not like it hasn’t been stated a few times in the other xx9 post, but
        maybe I’m just old fashioned.

  3. I really like how the upper of the KOBE 9 EM feels like. I wish this brand-new woven upper would feel even better than that.

    Besides that, I’m really curious about how the TPU parts around the midsole would affect the performance.

    1. photon? That would be a cool name for a midsole lol. A photon midsole. It should be very responsive and mushy

  4. Off topic but if they want more people to focus on what they have now,they should slow down on retroing everything from 1-14. there are roughly six color ways of the six due this year already, three colorways of the two three fourteens and lord knows what else. Give us 1 retro per year, and focus on current models and new teammmodels of GREATER QUALITY. Back on topic.These remind me so muchof the 2011 in terms of a good looking shoe that shows the brand moving forward insteadof standing still. The 2012 just stood there not a bad shoe butnot animprovement of anykind really. XX8 was very techy and all but it was too much to be honest. This however has me very excited for september!!

  5. “September can’t come soon enough…” Amen sir…. Amen.
    I like to hang out and kill time on this site, but honestly unless
    some killer deals drop, my wallet is closed till this drop.

  6. That midfoot-Tendrill is primarily to avoid the outsole or midsole seperating from the rest of the shoe. I do honestly not believe Transition can be improved that way. It just creates a bigger surface for the glue to hold everything together.
    Thank you Nightwing for covering the whole event, providing so much Information! Weartesters.com is awesome!

  7. Jordan Brand showing that they’re better than Nike again. Just lol at Nike’s whole “Elite” line, more like “Elite prices” line.

    1. Jordan and nike both have the same designers… tinker designed the kobe line, kds, lebrons, the air Jordan line, and some of the team models from nike and Jordan… nike created the Jordan brand, and its not yet an independent company

  8. I would love to se a low with flight plate. Why JB never releases low versions of their flagship product?

  9. Just knowing this material can be done IMO makes nike look like fools . Especially when their version of a special woven upper costed more .

  10. hey nightwing i am just as curious as you the ride should be better because the zoom is placed front to back now but now they dont have the decoupled heel and forefoot and there is no heel zoom but that performance woven upper is beast it should be alot more support plus its a lighter hoe then the 28 i think why it lacks from the 28 it improves in other catagories that really matter unless your a big man you really should not need heel zoom im very curious and anxious to play in these

    1. As a guard I know its not a deal breaker if there is no heel zoom but I really do prefer having it. Luckily that’s not the case since there is zoom in the heel its just encased in midsole. So its only unlocked in the forefoot, which works fine since the foam will make the heel more durable and keep the heel zoom more protected especially if its top loaded.

    1. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo no you didn’t bob.
      Taylor Swift called…..she wanted to know “why you gotta be so mean.”

    1. Such attitude, hope you aren’t still hurt from the other day /hugs.

      It’s okay. PLAYOFFSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

  11. wouldnt it be great if they made these look like other kicks…they can basically make any design on them. make these into a jordan VI or VII for example…

    1. The tendril is the small piece of foam and outsole that connects the forefoot and heel. The Torsion System is more like the shank. 2 different things.

  12. These remind me a lot of the XX3’s, so much that I thought Mike was holding a pair of XX3’s. It’s ironic because Tinker actually was wearing a pair. These are my favorite shoe in a while. I’m gonna bite the bullet and ask the next big question, how will Jordan Brand top the XX9?

  13. with this new process, i was wondering if you can get compression zones in the shoe just like a compression sock.

  14. Hey Nightwing, how do you think these will hold up when used to hoop outdoors? I’m thinking of getting these and they outsole looks similar to how the 28’s are made but I’ve never had 28’s so I really have no idea how they’ll do when used outdoors

  15. I’m surprised jordan didn’t provide any of his players with jordan xx9’s…I know it probably won’t guarantee a series win but as an owner I would give my team any means in order to win…help em out Michael Jeffery!

Add a Comment

Related Posts