PEAK Delly 1s: Do Matthew Dellavedova’s signature shoes ‘witness gritness’?
By Tim Wray
Look and Feel
Make all the jokes you want, but there is absolutely no way that the Delly 1s look anywhere near as ‘Dadforce One’ as the ‘Chef’ Curry Two Lows. If anything, they’ve been compared to the Nike Kobe 8 Lows, so yeah, the Black Mamba is cool, take that.
To match my fundamental-heavy, ground-bound game, naturally I went with the ‘Team White’ (Bucks Home) colorway over the more flamboyant options. Personally, I think it’s a travesty that stores like Foot Locker essentially refuses to stock basic white basketball shoes these days. Not all of us can pull off the Ziggy Stardust-esque highlighter yellow or pinks, we’re just not that ‘hip’.
That being said, I will admit that they wouldn’t look too out of place on a bowling green or the back nine. Basically, think of them as an all-purpose, multi-terrain shoe perfect for those not-so-athletically gifted like myself.
Being truly honest, if I were able to change, I probably would have went for either the ‘Team Green’ (Bucks Away) or ‘College’ (Saint Mary’s Gaels) style. For one, I’d imagine that they would’ve been much easier to clean and maintain than I’m currently finding with my slightly dirt-tinged pair.
The ‘Down Under’ colorway was intriguing, however the look isn’t complete unless they’re accompanied with the Australian Boomers’ green and gold uniform, so I’ll leave that one to the man himself.
Furthermore, from what I’ve noticed since pre-orders were released, the Delly brand logo catches the eye and pops beautifully in front of a colored tongue. In fact, my single favorite part of the shoe is the Delly emblem. Styled in the shape of Australia, with the basketball representing Dellavedova’s hometown of Maryborough, Victoria, it’s simplistic, yet fantastic.
If you can excuse the pettiness (#PettyWarz), I have a few small gripes with the design, namely the plastic brace which wraps around the outside heel, the uninspiring font used for ‘Delly 1’ and the round ‘sausage’ laces (I warned you). Again, these aren’t major issues, but I’m not too crash hot on the plastic and leather texture combination at the back, which is possibly amplified by the bland ‘Delly 1’ tag on the side. Evidently, PEAK couldn’t have left this spot empty, but perhaps a decal of Delly’s signature would have worked better? I’m not completely sure, just spit-balling ideas here.
Concerning the laces, a wider and flatter look, similar to both sets of images in the tweets embedded earlier (which are evidently later prototypes), would certainly go a long way in making the Delly 1 look more like a basketball shoe and less like a generic pair of sneakers.
In terms of comfort, although it was a tight fit at first, the Delly 1s are a generally comfortable shoe. I’m not going to go into the specifics of PEAK’s cushion and shock-absorbing technology, because frankly I don’t have any of the necessary PhD’s to understand it, but I remain confident that there’s enough of the right materials under the hood to take care of my feet on the court.
Whilst I usually prefer mid or high-top basketball shoes, despite being low-cut, the sides actually sit a little higher on your ankles than standard runners and as such, the support is excellent. These ankles are no strangers to the tuck-and-roll, so this is always a bit of a concern for me, however at no point have they felt vulnerable or forced into an awkward position.