SIZING

The NB Numeric Tiago 808 fits true to size.

DURABILITY

Overall, the Tiago 808 has very good durability. Let’s break it down. When it comes to the upper’s durability, there is a thick white leather piece that stretches from the toe to the midfoot area and also forms as the lace panel. This works as the first  layer of protection and adds lots of stability as it is the underlying piece that holds all other elements to it. In the critical forefoot area, there is a suede piece on top which acts as the second layer of protection and the main reason for the shoe’s great flick. In our 10 hour wear test the seams did not rip and the area showed minor signs of wear. The reason for the upper  material staying in such a good shape is a result of the sole. The sides of the sole, which is typically a critical spot for griptape wear and tear, proved to be very durable. The thread pattern of the sole showed also no signs of wear, which held all other pieces of the shoe together extremely well. The collar on the top lace showed the most signs of wear, which resulted in more of a visual issue rather than a performance issue.

CUSHIONING

For the Tiago 808, NB Numeric took the sole construction from Tiago’s first shoe, the 1010 model, and simplified it. The 808 outsole can be described as a “cup” that holds the main cushioning element, the orange foam piece, in place. The foam piece is visible on the sole though a small window. NB# calls this the ABZORB midsole which absorbs impact through a combination of cushioning and compression resistance. The key word in that sentence is compression resistance. Compression resistance within the shoe is quite noticeable since the foam piece is actually very hard. The advantage of this is that the foam can cushion tough landings without compressing completely and whittling down. In our wear test, it was definitely noticeable to have a very secure and good cushioning feeling which felt bit harder than usual.

SHAPE

By just looking at the outward appearance, the Tiago 808 reminds you of the classic skate shoes from the 90s. The shape of the shoe itself runs parallel from the midfoot section and tapers from the toe to a pointy end. The heel area is rather wide and a solid padded tongue makes the shoe look a bulky from the side but looking down from the top, it is rather slim. So it doesn’t feel bulky when worn and skated. As aforementioned, the upper layer construction reinforced the upper of the shoe, which helped maintain the rigidity of the shoe’s shape, and prevented the upper from sinking inwards.

BOARDFEELI&IGRIP

The boardfeel of the Tiago 808 took some time getting used to, especially breaking in the stable sole and upper construction. After a few sessions, the sole and midsole of the shoe broke more in and the boardfeel enhanced. Even though the material layers in the forefoot were reduced in thickness, the sole is still thick and rather stiff which is the  reason why the boardfeel is average.

In terms of the sole, it features a wide and deep thread pattern which typically results in good grip. However, the stable midsole reduced the ability of the sole to sink into the griptape which made the grip also perform average.

COMFORTI&ISTABILITY

An absolute highlight of the shoe is the shoe’s comfort and stability. The shoe itself is rather on the heavy side but it excels with a snug fit, with a few different factors working together. The foam element in the heel area and the tongue stabilize the ankle and heel into a deep pocket. This contributes to the great fit of the shoe. The tongue is held in place by two flexible straps that work to stabilize the superior surface of the feet. The upper’s sidewalls, tongue and heel area feature a well thought out combination of materials; suede was used in the forefoot for flick, while leather, mesh and a heel stiffening element were used in other parts of the upper construction to form a very stable and durable shoe.

Often times, good stability of a shoe is overlooked and not really focused on, but when it came to the Tiago 808, it was an excellent surprise. It is incredible how the stability of a shoe can affect the skate shoe’s longevity. The 808 is definitely a model which after our 10 hour wear test had very minimal changes in terms of stability and durability, with plenty of sessions left to spare.

SUMMARY

The NB# Tiago 808 is new model that was designed for cushioning protection and durability in mind, which were characteristics that were able to shine due to the shoe’s superior stability. With that said, the boardfeel and grip do pay the price, but Tiago’s second signature shoe on NB# is definitely a hit for us.

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SIZING

The New Balance Numeric 1010 runs a half size bigger; we recommend going a half size smaller than what you usually wear.

DURABILITY

The durability of a skate shoe can be broken down to several areas, the forefoot and midfoot section, the sole and the heel.

The forefoot of the Tiago 1010 features a suede piece in a typical New Balance shape. This is the main element of durability in the forefoot since it is usually the area that is open to wear and New Balance also added an underlying fused protection layer to enhance the durability. The suede piece is triple stitched to a mesh piece that covers the top of the forefoot area. These elements when combined, result in an overall good forefoot durability. The stitching did partially rip, however due to the thick suede and the additional protective layer, the shoe still held up well. The midfoot section features multiple layers that overlap and are pieced together through more additional stitching. This posed as a could be a weak spot, but the Tiago 1010 showed basically no wear resulting in a very good midfoot durability. The side of the sole in the toe area, which is also usually a critical spot for griptape, proved to be durable and signs of wear only appeared after the 10 hour test.  The bottom of the sole showed no sign of wear. The collar was the area which showed most signs of wear resulting in more of a visual issue rather than a performance issue. Overall the  durability of the Tiago 1010 is good.

CUSHIONING

The cupsole of the 1010 has three prominent New Balance cushioning technologies, which include the NDURANCE outsole, FUELCELL foam inlays and an ORTHOLITE insole.  The outsole can be described as the cup which holds all these cushioning elements together to create an excellent cushioning effect. There are two FUELCELL EVA foam pieces. One is stretching over the whole midsole and is visible in the lateral and heel area which creates a nice soft feeling for the feet. The second element is thicker and placed in the heel area, meant for improving cushioning and protecting the heel. This element is also visible through a hole in the bottom of the sole. The sockliner actually has the least contribution to the cushion, however, it is significant in providing an additional layer for comfort. In summary, the New Balance design team and Tiago emphasized a lot on the sole construction resulting in a very good cushioning effect in the heel and midfoot section. The toe area only features a thin layer of the EVA foam in order to maintain boardfeel and flexibility.

SHAPE

Just looking at the classic New Balance running shoe inspired silhouette of the shoe will lead you to wonder how the shoe fits and skates. The shape of the shoe itself runs parallel from the heel over the midfoot section and tapers from the toe to a square end. Moreover, the shoe itself looks a bit bulky from the side but from the top view it is rather slim, so doesn’t feel bulky when worn and skated. As aforementioned, the upper’s layer construction reinforced the upper of the shoe, which prevented the upper from sinking inwards and helped maintain the shape of the toe. All in all, the shape of the shoe was different, took time getting used to, but turned out to be effective.

BOARDFEEL AND GRIP

Regarding the boardfeel, the Tiago 1010 can be divided into two areas, a thick and stable heel area and a thin and flexible toe area. The boardfeel of the New Balance 1010 took some time getting used to and to really break through the transition between the two areas. However, after a few sessions, the sole and midsole of the shoe broke in and the boardfeel greatly enhanced. The outsole has an interesting shape. In the lateral toe area, basically where the big toe sits, the sole has lots of groves for flexibility so the sole is really in contact with the board. The outsole of the toe area, where your pinky toe sits, is almost flat and helps increase the stability. A similar flat rubber pattern is located around the medial area and is stretched to the heel. It contributed greatly to a safe and secure feeling. All in all, New Balance made sure that the areas where grip is needed is present, and areas which don’t directly affect the grip is more stable.

COMFORT AND STABILITY

Another highlight of the shoe was the shoe’s stability. The shoe itself is a snug fit, with a few different factors working together to ensure a tight and compacted fit for the feet. New Balance calls it FANTOMFIT which are two foam packages inside in the heel area. These foam elements stabilize the ankle and heel into a deep pocket, and contributes to the excellent fit of the shoe. The tongue is held in place by two flexible straps that work to stabilize the superior surface of the feet. The sidewalls, tongue and toe have exposed mesh pieces which help to make the shoe more breathable. Usually mesh makes a shoe unstable but the upper and especially the heel contraction made the feet completely stabilized within the shoe, which eliminated slippage and helped with the consistency of flick tricks. During the whole weartest, breathability was good which made the shoes quite comfortable to wear. Often times, good stability of a shoe is overlooked and not really focused on, but when it came to the Tiago 1010, it was an excellent surprise.

SUMMARY

The New Balance Tiago 1010 is a high performance skate shoes that excels in cushioning, comfort and stability, but the shape will take getting used to and more attention to technical elements to enhance the durability of the shoe could help.

The post NB# Tiago 1010 appeared first on Weartested - detailed skate shoe reviews.

If you made it this far, check the review below, and more importantly, stay tuned for our Weartested contest to drop. Starting 2/2, be sure to upload your best ledge trick video on instagram and remember to @Weartested, @DCshoes #LemosLedgeContest to enter! Contest ends 2/12. 10 Days, 5 winners, and Tiago’s judging. Send those clips in!!

Sizing

The DC Tiago Lemos fits true to size.

Durability

The sleek silhouette of the DC Tiago Lemos model is outfitted with two main DC patented technologies when it comes to the shoe’s durability. The research and development team crafted both Super Suede and Super Stitch technology to cover all details of the shoe’s durability. The shoe’s upper is made of the Super Suede technology, which DC boasts to add 50% more durability to the shoe’s toe area. Although we were unsure of how DC measured this internally, we put the shoe to the test and noticed from our 10 hour weartest that the suede did not become extremely floppy. In other shoe’s cases, the suede toecaps would often absorb the foot’s moisture and cause a bit of rippling on the surface of the shoe; this paves way for more direct attack points from the grip tape and results in the shoe tearing open even faster. However, the toecap of the Tiago S held it’s structure throughout the whole weartest and the suede did not rip within the 10 hours of skating. Aside from the tried and true Super Suede technology, DC considered fine details of the shoe’s durability and added in their Super Stitch technology. While most shoes will use a standard cotton strand stitching to hold the shoe panels together, DC created a high tensile thread stitching that makes it much harder for the griptape to wear down. This ultimately prevents the shoe panels from blowouts and increases the lifespan of the shoe. All in all, these two main technologies covered all standard requirements needed for great durability.

Shape

In a day and age where skate shoes are slimming down and becoming more visually basic, the Tiago S is a refreshing take on an old school silhouette. Initially, the shoe looks bulky, and reminds us a bit of the 90’s with the airbag insert in the heel. But the Tiago S is actually everything needed in modern skate technology packed into a simple classic look. The shoe is quite padded from the midfoot to the heel, but tapers into a point significantly in the toecap region. From a bird’s eye view the shoe looks quite wide, but when the feet slip in, they are packed in quite tight from the padding around the heel collar and also sidewalls.

Cushioning

The immediate eye catching cushioning element of the Tiago S is the airbag insert in the shoe’s heel. This is part of DC’s Impact technology series; previously the Nyjah pro model had Impact G technology, the Evan Smith pro model had Impact I, and now Tiago’s specific airbag-cushioning technology is termed as Impact A technology. The airbag itself is made of thermoplastic urethane, which is rigid enough to provide structural support, and flexible enough to absorb impacts. Another highlight of this Impact A airbag is that it reduces the weight of the shoe; the Tiago S is quite light considering the amount of technology and padding added to the shoe. Aside from this airbag, the shoe also features the iconic OrthoLite insole, which is extremely thin and serves more to provide comfort than protection. With that said, the cushioning elements for shock absorption rely mainly on the Impact A technology. Another element of cushioning that helped with the overall performance of the shoe was the padding around the heel collar and sidewalls. When it came to the weartest, the security of the padding and the Impact A heel cushioning kept the feet out of harm’s way when jumping down stair sets and gaps.

Boardfeel and Grip

The boardfeel of the Tiago S was surprisingly better than expected. At first glance, the sole of the shoe, the cushioning elements and the sheer stature led us to believe the shoe was quite bulky with limited boardfeel. But keep in mind, Tiago helped design this shoe, and he’s known for destroying J-Kwon plaza’s ledges with his technical wizardry. As a result, he wouldn’t have designed a shoe that couldn’t handle technical ledge skating. Initially skating the shoe, the boardfeel took us about 1 hour to break in, after that one hour the boardfeel adapted more to the concave of the board and sole of our feet. As for grip, the rubber outsole of the Tiago S features the standard DC pill tread pattern, along with a finer tread pattern in the forefoot and heel. The grip was fine; no blowout spots appeared in our 10-hour weartest.

Comfort and Stability

Impressively, the Tiago S had different technical elements that worked together to create an extremely stable foothold. As aforementioned, the heel collar and sidewalls were heavily padded to ensure a snug fit for the feet. If you look closely at our cross section cut, you’ll notice that the midsole arches upwards, which helps stabilize the midfoot to heel. In addition, the tongue of the shoe is a crucial element in providing both stability and comfort; the tongue features elastic straps to lock the feet in, and is also made of a jacquard style mesh material, which allows heat to escape efficiently. Overall, the shoe was extremely comfortable to wear and the stability was a highlight of the shoe.

Summary

The DC Tiago S is a sleek and technical tank of a shoe; it excels when it comes to durability, stability and cushioning, but could use a bit more for grip and comfort.

The post DC Tiago S appeared first on Weartested - detailed skate shoe reviews.