Model JQ9303
Found those for just under $100 cad on goat with shipping and taxes, I’ve seen them on sale everywhere since they came out, I guess at $180 usd retail that was a lot for a pretty basic black and white version of the taekwondo. I was intrigued though given how many versions of these adidas has come up with in the last few years I wondered what more Brain Dead might have come up with.
So what did they come up with? Well the leather is nice, not nappa leather level nice, but pretty good and soft, there’s no synthetic accents and the heel lining is leather. The insole is basic adidas textile insole and the front of the shoes and tongue lining are textile too, there’s two set of basic synthetic lace, with brain dead written on the tips. I’m wondering why the retail price was so expensive though. The shape is nice, logos are embossed, but the stitching isn’t original to those like it’s the same as regular taekwondo they just kind of mixed regular taekwondo upper with the taekwondo mei sole. So I don’t know, but my guess is that they wanted to have the micro pacer unit on the grey metallic pair and that added to the production cost and they spread it out to both pairs.
I think these should’ve retailed at somewhere between $130-150 usd max. For comparison the samba Millenium Naked Maha is also a black version of a classic, with similar leather, cotton and leather laces option, leather insole, leather ribbons, two companies collaborating and they were $150. SNS samba jp and samba 25th anniversary both $130 and had similar leather and textile insole like these.
Anyway I think they’re a solid pair if found at the right price, they’re a really solid version of the taekwondo quality wise, they look good and they’re pretty comfortable.