adidas Dame 9 Performance Review By Real Foot Doctor

Introduction what's up Zach here and today I've got the allnew Adidas Dame 9 let's get into them now it has been a while since we've gotten an update to the Dame Flagship line of shoes we've had updates in more of his budget categories and the extended play I mean it's been a while since we have gotten like I said an update to the flagship these are definitely different than the day mate um and to me they also remind me of of another shoe in Adidas's lineup which we'll get to in a minute now starting Uppers of the adidas Dame 9 off in the uppers like I just said the uppers to me of the Dame 9 remind me a lot of the hard and eight but just a little bit more I don't know Compact and economical I think is is is the best words to describe it now on the outer surface you have paneling going across the entire shoe wrapping around the heel counter going all the way around the toe cap guard but what the more interesting thing is is what is underneath of that now the Dame 9 has something that um is actually really unique in terms of the tongue this is a quasi slipper tongue or booty liner tongue now what that means is is the ankle collar right it is attached all the way around the ankle collar until it gets to more of like the mid lace line and then it opens up and then it is attached again at the distal lace line so there actually is a gap between the tongue as well as the uppers of the shoe as it gets more distal but then it you know reattaches that also means that these outer layers of the uppers can also move independent but more importantly lock down independent of the uppers the same thing we see in the more recent Harden shoes where you're getting all the degrees of freedom and freedom of movement of a more booty liner or slipper tongue type shoe but you get the lock down of a traditional three-piece and I actually think the Dame n kind of takes that one step further because hardens are pretty bulky shoes you know for better for worse they kind of rely on a lot of bulk to achieve that containment whereas in the Dame n like I said it's actually the same concept and I think it accomplishes that goal pretty much on par with the hardens but like I said a little bit more of an economical package and so it's really no surprise that the heel slippage on these things is just about done even right off the Jump really very very mild heel slippage and then like I said once you're able to kind of break in that lace line once you're kind of able to to get that bulkier outer layer the uppers that come over really heel slippage is none which is nice to see now as you go into the inside of the heel counter which I thought was interesting you do get a decently strong heel counter and and a lot of padding in the more of the superior heel counter and Ankle collar but there is this giant pouch on the bottom with like no padding in it which I'm wondering if there was supposed to be some padding in there or not but I thought that was kind of interesting to see now as you move further on the inside of the shoe you'll see these four Stripes here which is interesting because a d this is three stripes but you'll see these four Stripes here which are extensions of these Outrigger lace eyelets the one thing I don't like about these Outrigger lace eyelets is it really looks like the stitching is kind of straining they hold them in as it is so that would be to me like the first thing that would go on these things would be the attachment of these Outrigger lace isets to kind of their more Superior attachments on the shoe they're still stitched in you know below that so they should be fine but it to me I could just see these popping here and there I'm not sure we'll see in the months and years to come if that does come to fruition that's the one we spot I can see in these uppers now moving further into there as you can see the tongue is actually pretty thin had no lace irritation whatsoever that's because of the way the laces lay in the shoe that's the one nice thing about this lace configuration is they lay a little bit more flat now the tongue is super breathable there are a ton of pores like I said there is an opening there in that slipper tongue so it does allow some heat to egress as you go into the 4 foot though as you can see you've just got layer after layer layer of backing right and although that is very strong for containment look at this thing on the breathability test they did heat up 11.9 de which I actually thought was kind of a miracle with these with how much material this shoe is encased in me it is just enveloped in layers on layers of pretty strong material but if you look at the breathability mapping I think that tells the the bigger taale as you can see fog is blown out of the tongue blown out of both sides of the tongue pretty good but nothing in the four foot of the shoe nothing around the shoe when I had uh when I had the heat gun on this when I was doing the the breathability test really in some parts the outside of the shoe it wasn't heating up much more than a few degrees versus my my pre- temperature so I mean this shoe is going to hold on to a lot of heat and moisture in certain areas yeah the tongue is going to breathe really well and with where you know the heat gun goes right it's right in here there might have been some home cooking because the tongue is so thin but I I would say if you're playing with these in very hot humid conditions look for these two hold on to some heat and moisture and speaking of that really rugged upper if you look at the upper durability test 10-sec High git sandpaper interestingly enough the bur does start to work through that very outer coating it obviously does not get through the uppers of these they're so thick there's just so much protection and you do get exposed foam however that exposed foam is overlapping all of this material so yeah the uppers might look pretty weird to dragging or sliding on pretty gritty outdoor quarts but there's still you know a decent amount of protection between your foot and the Midsole teardown of the adidas Dame 9 ground but getting into the midsole tear down this is an entire bed of Light Strike foam like I said Adidas is has been doing some different things with our Light Strike in these ones it is just so soft and pillowy I mean one of the more comfortable feeling midsole Foams I've had on recently and you know to me some Light Strike products I have not liked at all I felt that they're yeah they're bottom light but they're also a little bit stiff at times or they don't have a lot of pop and they're not very plush either like I wasn't really sure where they were going with it this formulation of L shrike that is in the Dame NES this is just absolutely fantastic it is very very very comfortable but also does feel like it has some spring underneath of it it does have a bottom loaded shank which does send two little leaflets into the 4 foot right you can actually see them on the tear down they're small but they are there and so with this shank it was actually pretty easy to get through with my knife but because it is so long and bottom loaded like I said it's more helping with stability of the shoe and because like I said it has such a large surface area that's what's really giving it all of its stability not necessarily uh the stiffness of the shank itself look at these things on the bounce height test test got 34 cm in the rear foot 32.5 in the 4 foot that's kind of on the upper level of of what we've seen Light Strike do recently like I said when you have it in hand on foot I should say like I said it does feel pretty bouncy and springy so to me you're getting the best parts of number one pretty darn long shank cuz it is bottom loaded you are feeling all of that nice you know really forgiving foam but the foam feels buttery enough and that shank like I said although very long a little bit more flexible allows this shoe to feel extremely Nimble while also giving a little bit of Pop but Outsole tread of the adidas Dame 9 getting into what's undoubtedly my least favorite part of the Dame n is the outsole tread now I do like that it is a fulllength tread pattern that is fantastic like you do get a break point the metat tarel heads that's nice as well the the pattern itself is just a really gentle kind of lightning bolt pattern more of like a a geometric lightning bolt pattern if that even makes sense um but it is just a very very like gentle Arc going all the way throughout the shoe now on the grip test ramp it does slip at 38° which isn't bad but it it's also not super Elite and then if you look at it on the viewing box I thought that was a little bit more of the interesting tale not a ton of rubber movement not a ton of interaction usually when we see tread that's this thin this narrow and it has all these gaps in it usually you're seeing a little bit more movement in there I I did notice with me on court number one it picked up a ton of dust it did need constant wiping number two it screeches like crazy I mean it makes noise like you wouldn't believe but um that noise does not translate whatsoever into grip um like I said if you were wiping them down you were keeping on top of them the grip was really it was actually very Nimble right very easy grip kind of going along with the theme of the shoe we'll talk about this in the fit section too why these shoes are just so Nimble but you did have to keep wiping them down if you keep them in ideal conditions the grip is good it's not super Elite but it it it's confident like I said as long as you keep them clean and looking at the speed ratio of these things they come in at a 2. 07 shank score of 0.2 brings it up to a 2.27 I I kind of think that's where they belong they are you know a little bit heavier shoes right and you know that shank like I said it is a little bit more flexible and yeah it feels very buttery and everything but it also feels pretty buttery doesn't feel like a diving board does there's really not a lot of launch effect on these so I I will say like I said they're very quick Nimble shoes I know I've said that a million times I'm well aware I'm looking at myself in the camera but like I said they are very quick Speedy little Nimble shoes but in terms of like getting from coast to coast they're not the rocket ships that some other shoes are and once again just looking at the makeup of that outsole tread if you look at it on the outso durability test uh 10sec highest grit sandpaper I mean yeah about a millimeter of damage on these things and like I said because they are so thin and narrow you take these on an outdoor Court there is nothing to protect these the durometer on these is only 14 and some change so I think if you keep these on indoor quarts I think you're just fine but like I said on an outdoor Court they are going to get torn up in the out soole pretty quick but getting into the fit of the Dame 9 I think the geometry Fit of the adidas Dame 9 of these pretty much tells the tale of the shoe both in fit as well as performance now I think the biggest thing about these is is they come in at 11° inflare but where the shoe actually begins to inflare I think is the most influential part of the shoe that inflare does not start until very very distill in the shoe basically the break point here in the metat Taral heads and because of that the shoe stays incredibly stable in the mid and the rear foot cuz it's pretty straight lasted and in the for foot that's where you get that inflare so like I said the shoe stays very stable in the rear foot but then also has that really Nimble feeling in the forefoot right that step to step those bouncing steps right dancing up on your toes feels super easy to transition step that is honestly and like I said the INF flare isn't all that much it really do you can really feel it on court like I said feel it's just all you know where the inflare starts on the shoe now they do come in just a hair long at 29° the metat Taral width is 9.6 cm toe box width a 10.6 cm and then a 29° toe box INF flare so I'd say a narrow medium foot you can go true to size a narrow foot if you're not long towed I think you probably go down a half size I get a little more weight reduction which I think really helps these out for sure a medium and a two I think just go true to size a 4E I would be going up a half size on these things um and if you're somebody with a pretty big Tailor's bunion you might want to go up one size or a bunion one size just because like I said that flight FL on the shoes that INF flare is right there and then where the flange on these things sits there's a lot of material right in that Taylor's bunion now in terms of the snake bit and foot um I think they're good for most things right it's kind of dealer's choice on these because like I said the light strike in this is is like I said very forgiving but it also has some structure to it um they they do not want to buckle under themselves they like to bend really at the right areas and to me you can fit an orthotic in them too which is great so I mean like I said to me these are Dealers Choice in terms of an ankle spainer you know the flange on these things is pretty wide and is built up pretty well even though these are a slipper tongue shoe i' say you know hybrid slipper tongue shoe I still think they're okay for an ankle spainer one thing I will say is is with Light Strike like I said that foam does start to break down over time now like I said this does feel pretty substantial Under Foot This Light Strike but um until proven otherwise I would just say if you want to make Light Strike lasts longer put an orthotic over top of it and that's really where to me that foam kind of comes alive um I I do think with this formulation of it though I think it will last I do think the Dame NES will last longer than something let's say like the Uber Sonic fours or something like that so I keep that in mind but once again very forgiving shoes no it's not bounce pro which I think is really one of the more Elite Foams for the snake bitten foot in terms of both giving you pop and shock absorption and kind of insulation but it still does feel pretty darn good and with that being said getting into the performance Performance of the adidas Dame 9 of these I know I've said it throughout the entire video but they are just very nimble shoes they're very buttery feeling shoes to me they don't have the snap of the Dame eights right and their containment to weight ratio and if that's a thing um isn't as high as the day mates to me like I said they feel just a little bit heavier on foot I said feel they feel heavier on foot CU there's just more shoe they do allow a lot more freedom than the day mate did while maintaining containment though so there's some pluses and minuses there right from the eights to the 9es I I do think that Adidas shredded the needle perfectly when it came to Super buttery feel degrees of freedom and just freedom of motion right um especially in the rear foot but also keeping it super containing without making the shoe you know too bulky I would just say on my floor in here I noticed their quality is a lot better than when I was at you know more of the ful length floor of of of the community center gym because here you know I have obstacles right if if I run long or if I fall over right or I trip I'm tripping into the hoop I'm tripping into the tennis wall the you know the wall of shoes whatever I'm knocking paintings off the wall so to me in a confined space I think these things really did their best work getting up and down the court and like I said they felt fine you know going the whole Arc of the three-point line they felt fine and getting up for quick jump shots things like that they feel great like I said to me these shoes really come alive when you are backed into a corner like your crab dribbling through a crowd or things like that trying to create that little bit of Separation right when when there's maybe a couple people blitzing you or things like that and so all these things are decent enough in Wide Open Spaces if you want to see the the real tools of this shoe put these in a situation where you basically need to use your most interesting footwork to get out of a jam and like I said that's the nimbleness of this shoe and the stability of the shoe like I said really comes to life so i' love to hear your thoughts in the comments down below especially since it's been so long since the day mate so people are just you know so loyal to the Dame eight I'd love to know if you are going with the Dame 9 or going to look for discounted models of the eight let me know in the comments down below and if you do want to see what's inside another one of Adidas's more recent signature shoes to drop the Adidas ae1 low make sure you click into this video up above and subscribe down below respect rber in fo I'll see you somewhere in the serse