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The goal with these shoes seems to be to bait fans of the source material somehow. We're not going to take the bait and try to see the positivity in these designs. The Jordan Flight 9 has nothing to do with the IX either. It's a reference to the big man's Olympic jersey number. The Jordan III is one of the most perfect pieces of contemporary design we can recall, taking full advantage of the revolutionary Air sole. The IV is one of the great, great sequels — familiar yet utterly fresh, so you'll have to forgive our ultra-critical nature when we see something so similar yet so different. We're big Flight 45 fans when they're executed in the right way. This mashup of Jordans (we can see cues from I through to VI in there) is just too angular, too referential and too quick to tinker with the ultimate sole unit. And what's the Air Flight connection? Maybe we're looking for logic in all the wrong places.

Olympic colours aren't aesthetically pleasing either. They rarely are. Better than our London Olympic logo, but only just. Don't get us wrong, we're glad it's not a patent leather VI, and we understand the market for these, but they're not our cup of PG Tips by any means. 6 Rings, Flight 45, Spiz'ike — okay. These? No. We'd be breaking things if Cement Grey IIIs, snakeskin XI lows and Cool Grey XIs weren't set for reissue. But they are, so we're not too mad at things like this existing. But seriously, if anyone can account for why we were denied the fine Infrared VI pack we're still waiting for a valid explanation. If you're this way inclined, the Jordan Flight 9 Olympic makeups are set for a September release.

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