Brand: Nike

Model: Air Jordan 5 GORE-TEX

Release Date: December 2022

Price: $220

Buy: Online at Nike

Editor's Notes: How'd you best go about making a classic better? Well, it's certainly no easy feat, and more often than not, it takes a few failures to get it right. On occasion, all it takes is a bit of preparation, such as in the case of this upcoming iteration of the Nike Air Jordan 5.

A silhouette famed for its characteristically large tongue and overall bulky construction, the Air Jordan 5 is one of the most revered styles within the main line-up of numbered Jordans.

Typically, the AJ5 takes on some pretty colorful palettes, much like what DJ Khaled has done with his numerous collaborative versions; it does, however, perform excellently in darker colors, too.

Preparation, in this case, means preparing for the inclement weather conditions promised by the season. If you're expecting rain, you'll want to keep those toes dry, and no one does it quite like GORE-TEX.

Borrowing largely from the aesthetic of the "Black/Metallic" colorway of the sneaker, the GORE-TEX-wrapped iteration takes on a largely black finish. The weatherproofed black upper is almost entirely blacked-out, except for the tongue, outsole, and TPU mesh underlays.

These additional elements are reflective silver, as is standard for the tongue on the Air Jordan 5, and a semi-translucent off-white tone that is strikingly similar to what the "iced-out" parts of the shoe look like over time. Why worry about yellowing when the job has already been done for you, right?

The final finishing touch applied to the shoe is the red GORE-TEX branding towards the heel, which is color matched to the Jordan branding on the tongue and heels.

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