I said that the Harden was the only performance shoe on the list. I forgot about the Curry 4. This entry is based on what I think is the most successful rebound and entry into the basketball market in recent years. I do think they have done a very bad job of rolling out the shoe and the marketing lacks a true emphasis on education and content creation as well as cross promotion with other NBA athletes who could be delivering stories for the brand, but the Curry 4 and the Drive 4 are two of the most successful shoes, based on design, that Under Armour has created. They have multiple opportunities that I don’t know if they will implement but it’s evident a lot of the design was derived from the Jordan 11 and that’s not a bad thing. It has offered some colorway opportunities already that haven’t been maximized. The all grey version had at it’s disposal an opportunity for a suede base and ballistic upper with a translucent outsole that could have been delivered via a video that featured a deconstruction and rebuilding of the shoe with the premium materials and a return to the Curry 2 Rainmaker or Storm name. My reason here is to create a modern Cool Grey Retro 11 (especially since Nike is about to screw up the Cool Grey 11 by releasing a low top as opposed to a the classic model) I also think that they’ve missed chances to crossover UAS with the Curry 4 in multiple marketing campaigns for every drop so far. Either way the Curry 4 took every suggestion and complaint from the haters and found a way to create one of the most fluid designs from the brand. I mean consider the black model and reimagine it with an all black midsole… and name it Midnight of course with the icy translucent outsole:
Took me a second to turn that midsole black, but think about that model with a suede and ballistic upper and you got a triple black in a limited edition to die for. While the brand almost got it right, the placed a solid white outsole with hits of jade. It didn’t need that. Right now though, I think the shoe has rightfully earned it’s way into the top 10 shoes of 2017.
