If you aren’t a fan of the Aquas, no apologies, something must be wrong with you. The Aqua Jordan 8 has been sitting on many Air Jordan grail lists for a number of years. With a decreasing supply of OGs and midsoles as fragile as glass, obtaining and then wearing a pair has been quite hard to come by.
Since these are heralded as a “grail” we thought that it would only be right to compare the retro Aquas to the OGs. Thankfully we had one deadstock (though cracked) pair laying around willing to participate. While there are a few differences, there definitely are not enough to justify passing on these shoes. Plenty of pics and detailed analysis after the jump.
For the patient few, the shoes will release 9/22. Stay up on the Jordan Release Dates.
Retro Aqua Jordan 8 in the front and OG Aqua Jordan 8 in the back. Jordan Brand kept the back part of the shoe a few shades lighter than black, but not quite as light of a grey as the originals.
Retro Aqua Jordan 8 on the left, OG on the right. Notice the glossy paint on the midsole of the retros as opposed to a flat/matte finish on the OG Aqua Jordan 8s. The OGs also had a glitter added to the paint which the retro Aquas do not have. Lastly, the side accents are slightly different. We will go into more detail next.
Side accent of the retro Jordan 8 Aquas. Where the purple and the aqua meet there are fewer speckles. Also again notice the glossy paint midsole.
Side accent of the OG Jordan 8 Aquas. Notice the more speckled of color where aqua and purple meets. Also, here is a better look a the matte finish midsole as well as the glittery effect in the paint. Yes, even back then there were times that Jordans had extra glue.
OG Aqua Jordan 8 left, retro Aquas right. This was something we first noticed when we saw sample photos. Wherever there was orange on the originals, the retros have a lighter shade closer to yellow. The fuzzy tonges were almost identical except the OGs had more tiny loops of fuzz.
Again, OG Aqua Jordan 8s on the left and retro Aqua Jordan 8s on the right. Here you can see the difference in the stamp of the “23″ on the strap. It was more defined on the OGs and was straight across the shoe. On the retros, the stamp wasnt as defined, and the “23″ was at an angle parallel to the straps.
Top – retro Jordan 8 Aquas, bottom – OG Jordan 8 Aquas. Again, take note of the differences of the sole. The orange was replaced with yellow, and the retros also have more red on the sole and less purple than the OGs.
Retro Jordan 8 Aquas in the front and OGs in the back. This shot was taken to show the differences in the number of holes in the leather that has perforations. Two closeups follow.
Retro Jordan 8 Aquas. The holes are spaced out further and are smaller.
OG Jordan 8 Aquas. The perforated leather in the circle has a higher concentration of holes than on the body of the shoe.
Retro Aqua Jordan 8s – no stitching above side accent piece and body of the shoe.
OG Aqua Jordan 8s – stitching above side accent piece and body of the shoe.
Retro Aqua Jordan 8 left, OG on the right. The loop is stitched higher on the right of the retros. At best we could get one finger in the loop. On the OGs we could fit two, almost three.
Retro Jordan 8 Aquas – velcro strap was fatter than the loop and was a bit difficult to get through
OG Jordan 8 Aquas – velcro strap fit through just fine.
Retro Jordan 8 Aquas – insole is all black with a red Jumpman
OG Jordan 8 Aquas – insole has colorful pattern with no logos of any kind.
