
Rumors and speculation have swirled for months regarding what is easily the most numerically significant Jordan sneaker release ever. All rumors can now be laid to rest, as the Jordan XX3 has been officially unveiled.

The XX3 is the first Nike basketball sneaker to utilize the Considered design concept. For those not familiar, Considered products strive to minimize waste and incorporate environmentally friendly materials in the construction of the sneaker. So, for all six of you that have laid off of Jordan products because of your love for nature, you can hop back on the bandwagon! We'll ignore the gas guzzling inspiration from fighter planes and sports cars, and that whole owning a motorcycle racing team thing I suppose. Look, stitching! Woven materials!

In fairness, it is rather impressive to create a high end performance sneaker with those guidelines. It remains to be seen how well they'll actually perform though. One would think if they performed so well that he would actually wear them when playing. Ah well, I mean it does have full length Zoom Air, so it can't be all that bad, right? Right. Who am I to be concerned with performance anyway? The last time I played ball even semi-competitively, Charlotte uniforms were a lot more teal and purple.

Which brings me to my next point, cynicism about the performance and the marketing angle for these sneakers aside, it's really about the looks of the shoe for most all of us. I've heard it all before...after the XIII there's nothing worth buying, everything beyond XVII is a joke, blah blah. Let's clear some things up right here and now - new Jordan releases aren't meant to be worn with jeans at the mall. That's what the army of retros is for. We all love that first set of five, so stop expecting a Swoosh, an air bubble, and cement print (okay, these will probably get cement print at some point...) and realize these are designed with basketball in mind first and foremost.
With all of that in consideration (see what I did there?), the design of this shoe, in my opinion, is a massive leap forward. Taking design cues from the success of past releases while incorporating necessary technical aspects to make them game ready, coupled with solid, if not predictable color schemes, these sneakers are the best double X we've seen yet. I'm not crazy about the stitching on the white model, but I get the feeling it will be less jarring once it's on my feet.
The blue and grey model above will be released in limited quantity on January 25th with a price tag of $230. The traditional black/red/white and black/red colorways will see the light of day in mid February with a more modest pricepoint of $185.
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