All right, I finally got the Nike.com bubble slides. This is the latest and greatest innovation from Nike in the slide space. And if you guys have been around the channel for a little bit here, I have done a ton of different posts on bubble slides. In fact, I have a bunch more that are going to be coming your way as well. Since I did my tier list post the other week, I have probably six or seven more slides that I'm going to be reviewing on my page.
The Calm Bubble Slide Size
This is the latest and greatest from Nike, though. This is the calm bubble slide, as they called it. I went with a size 10. I'm typically a 9.5, and I would say that this fit is the accurate depiction of what I should have got. Size 9 would have been too small for my feet. Size 10 is the preferred one for myself. But are these massage bubble slides any good or not? Is it worth your money? Is it worth your time? I have my thoughts on that, and unfortunately, they're not very good.
Slides Price
So, let's go ahead and I'm just gonna throw that out there from the beginning. This bubble slide doesn't deliver at a $50 price point. There are a lot of weird oddities about this slide, even though it looks like it's going to be good. It looks soft and it looks comfortable. There's just a lot of weirdness going on with this one specifically. And I'm only speaking from the perspective of somebody that's tried like 50 or 60 different pairs of slides, so I think there's a little bit of credibility there. But I think that anybody that tries on these slides is going to be like, "Wait a minute, what? What is this? This is not what I expected." And that was my overall experience.
Some Pros And Cons About Bubble Slides
Let's go ahead and jump right into it, give you guys a definition of what Nike says about the bubble slides and give you some pros and cons about them, and then four or five different alternatives that are much better than this in my opinion. These are $50, like I said. They had a handful of colorways. They are currently sold out on Nike's website; however, I will link them in the description because it is coming soon, so I'm sure they're going to be restocking. But it says, "When it comes down to these slides, it's all about the name. Slip into a minimalist look with maximalist cushioning. Contoured foam is seamlessly created from one piece and cradles your feet to help keep them in place. To top it off, the water-friendly design dries quickly, making it ideal for relaxing poolside. You get all the style and none of the effort. It's time for some calm."
Now, I got the black colorway, and again, they sold out in all of the colors and sizes, men's and women's. And at first glance, the side profile, I'm like, "Yeah, it looks fire. Is this going to be a Yeezy slide competitor?" And then you get them in hand and you get them on feet, and you're like,
This is not it. Like, it is such a weird feel on feet, and no knock to the designers from Nike, but it's like they took a drawing of something and then just made it into the shoe but didn't have anybody try the shoe on and see if it actually fits a human foot. Because when you try these things on, it has the most bizarre shape on your feet, and it doesn't feel natural. And I think that's my primary gripe. Before I get into all the cons, let's go over some of the things I like.
First and foremost, I don't know what the foam is in here, but it is decently soft on feet. There's some nice squishy feel to these bubble ball slides, and it is pretty thick, so you definitely feel the squish in the heel of the shoe more than the forefoot because it is a little bit bigger in the heel. So, it's nice, it's soft on feet, you definitely feel some squish. I like that it's all rubber one piece, and it is easy to dry. Obviously, a great option for beach locations or poolside. You do get some full-length traction on the bottom of these shoes, and it is thick. It's not a small amount of tread; it's a thick boy tread on here. So these should have some longevity because of it. And that's literally all the pros I have, unfortunately, for these. I guess I like the little Nike swoosh, and I like the design; that looks cool.
But let's get into the cons. The first thing, as I said, you try these on, and it's like, who designed these? They don't fit like a normal slide is supposed to fit. The overall shape is just super weird. It's hard to explain, but it's such an unnatural feel on feet, and the toe-down look is just really odd because of the overall shape of the slide.
Now, that leads to the next thing: because of the weird shape of the slide, it's really, really unstable. I found this extremely unstable because of the way that this midsole comes together, and I was like, "Wait, why is it so wobbly? It didn't feel right." And I've tried, again, a lot of pairs of slides, and this one was probably the most unstable out of pretty much all of them.
And getting back to the shape, the narrowness of the shoe is just bizarre. It's almost oval-shaped. Comparing it to the Yeezy bubble slides, the Yeezy slides are a little bit bigger in the forefoot but also very big in the heel. These, side by side, like, these things are so incredibly narrow. I just don't really know what they were thinking. I know I have a wider foot, more wide than average, but if you don't have a wide foot, leave a comment in the comment section if you've tried these. Does it feel weird on your feet or not? Because for me as a bit of a wide footer, I'm like, "Dude, they're just so bizarre." Super weird shape, very narrow in the heel, very narrow through the mid-channel of the shoe as well, very unsupportive as well.
And the last con is they're obviously a bit heavier than most as well. Even though it's a positive that they have so much tread, it's almost like they have too much tread.
