 Three years later and I finally got the shoe. Today we're gonna be unboxing a pair of shoes that I'm excited to finally be able to add to my sneaker collection. And I'm gonna be telling you guys the story about how I got the shoe and why this sneaker has so much value to it. And if you didn't know by now, my name is DJ and this is The DNA Show. On this channel, I love talking about sneakers and especially showing you guys my new pickups. So if you haven't already, consider subscribing and joining the fam. We're on the road to a million subscribers and you could be the next one to get us there. So as you can see right here, this sneaker is from the Dornbaker Freestyle Collection and this is a pair of Jordans. I like to collect each model from each year when they do the special drops. And for those that don't know, Dornbaker is a children's hospital that has been working with kids in Nike to create designs over the years. Been about 10 years now, actually a little bit longer than that. And we've seen a bunch of different releases over the years. In each and every year, they select a group of kids to give the opportunity to design their own pair of shoes and then they end up releasing a limited amount of pairs that are released to the public and then we have the opportunity to purchase those shoes and the money is then put back into the Dornbaker Children's Hospital. So for me, I'm a huge fan of it, especially with it being a hometown thing. It's something that I always love to collect and it just makes so much sense. So now for this pair in particular, these came out in 2019 and I actually wasn't able to purchase them for retail when they came out. Now I'm not a huge fan of paying resell on the Dornbaker Collection in particular just because I'm sure you guys know all the reasons why. But I happened to end up being a meeting with some friends over at Jordan Brand. Next thing you know, I ended up getting a pair for free and I was so happy. The only problem was they weren't in my size. So I actually ended up getting a pair back in late 2020, early 2021, sometime around that time. But I had those and I was sitting on them and I didn't really want to post it yet because I didn't have them in my size and I wanted to be able to, you know, just complete the set in my size so I have the opportunity to wear the shoe someday because I like to wear some of my Dornbaker shoes every now and then, depending on events. So I was like, okay, you know, I'm not gonna post about it, I'm not gonna say nothing. So I looked around for some months and especially with being a size 13, it's a little bit harder to find pairs like this, especially with it being more of a rare sneaker like this, just makes it a little bit harder as well. So time goes by. Next thing you know, I ended up seeing the local consignment shop here, Index Portland, they had a size 13 available. I hit them up and I was like, yo, would you guys be willing to trade? I have a different size, but you know I need a 13 for my collection. They said, sure, no problem. We made the trade, everything was good and I was a happy camper and now I got the shoes. So I'm sure some of you know, but a lot of you are probably wondering what shoe is it? I forgot I haven't opened the box yet. Let's go ahead and show you guys what we got inside. Right here, we have the Dornbaker Air Jordan 14. I love this sneaker and I'm excited to break down all the details, styles, cuts, materials, but we gotta talk about the history first and the meaning behind this shoe and who actually designed it. Ethan Ellis is a young kid that lives right across the water in Vancouver, Washington. Also known as the Speed Demon. And growing up, he had a congenital heart defect. And to go in a little bit deeper than that, he had hypoplastic left heart syndrome. And for those that don't know what that means, cause trust me, I didn't know either. I had to look it up. It essentially means the left side of his heart was underdeveloped. As he was growing up, they thought things might be a little bit better, but over time he continued to have more surgeries and eventually he had to have a heart transplant. So it's safe to say this young man is definitely a fighter and I'm excited to help tell his story through his designs on his sneaker as I give you guys today's review. So let's go ahead and take it to the studio over Creek. I'm gonna show you guys some B-roll shots and explain all the details and aspects of this sneaker. So you guys have a better understanding of why each and everything on this shoe is where it's at and what it means. Starting with the bottom of the foot, you have your classic Air Jordan 14 outsole, but this definitely has a lot of different twists to it. Now the majority of the outsole is gonna be covered in a translucent purple rubber. And then just below that, you're gonna have that pulse beat as you can see a couple of times right here going throughout the middle of the foot. And then on the right foot, you have a purple 14 classic iconic branding when it comes to the Jordan 14s. And then a white 14 on the left foot, which I'll show you how it matches with the upper in a second. Now looking at the center of the foot, you got a purple jump man and then this goldish iridescent type outsole material right there. And as you wrap up to the side of the foot right here, you can see the same materials and coloring, giving you those purples and blues and golds and greens and different things like that. Now going up to the midsole, this is a touch that I really, really love, especially being from the Northwest, it just makes so much sense. You got the raindrops on the midsole right here with the matte black, the two teeth on the front end and then the side right here going around all with those little raindrop speckles, definitely a dope touch and a nice hit to represent this area. Now, one cool thing that I did see on the sample pair that was sold at the auction, those were extremely clean. They had covered in raindrops all throughout the upper and it was kind of reversed from the black to the white version. And that colorway was fire. Let me know what you guys think in the comments section. Like, if they came out with those again, I would not be mad and I would definitely be going after those. Now for the rest of the upper on this shoe in particular, you're gonna have that black newbuck type suede material on the toe and the back end of the foot. And then when it comes to the back end, you got two dope details right here. On the right foot, you have the Jumpman logo with the six. The six represents the amount of times that he had surgery. So that's definitely a very significant and clean touch to the shoe. And on the back of the left foot right here, you have the Seattle Space Needle in white. This is the hospital that he ended up having his heart transplant surgery at. So I'm sure he spent a lot of time there. He has a lot of memories and I think that definitely makes a lot of sense as well. And you'll see that white and the purple kind of align with the upper as we go to the front end when we talk about the laces. So like I was talking about earlier, as you look at the bottom of the outsole, you got the purple on one side, the white on one side when it comes to the white dot. And if you look at the laces, these actually come laced that way to match with the bottom. And then the back of the shoe is that same thing as well. So purple on the back end, purple laces, purple on the bottom, white, white, white on the other side. So on here when it comes to the laces, you're gonna see some text that goes all throughout here. Those are gonna be actually the facilities that he went to to get care during the time when he was having his surgeries and different things like that. So I think that small representation as well with the different laces and the different touches and switching it up and matching with the uppers is also a cool touch. And one thing that I actually just noticed now, the jump man just below that in the purple stitch on the right foot and the white stitch on the left foot. So another cool detail, how they kind of matched that all throughout the uppers on both sides, but they still look same when it comes to the majority of the sneaker on the other coloring. Now looking at the tongue of these two shoes right here, you're gonna have the purple tabs, but on the right foot, it's gonna be in a black text and on the left foot, it's gonna be in a white text. And then behind that, you have the Roman numerals 16 and then it says years old right there for how old he was during this process. And then on the left foot in the white text, it's gonna say little Ray. So essentially little Ray was one of his friends that was at the hospital as well, that had the same heart condition. And I know for him to be able to tell his story through his sneaker is super dope, but for him to actually represent his friend that he had in the hospital as well, I think definitely represents a lot as somebody that this is all focused around you, yet you still wanna show love to the people that's helped you out through your process and the people that went through the same thing as you. So something so small like this on a sneaker may not seem like much, but I bet this had a huge impact on little Ray and his family as well. Now, one part we haven't talked about is this purple reptile like material. Everybody's kind of wondering what that is. It's got that iridescent vibe as well with the kind of green tones in it. These are supposed to represent the TCU horn frogs and everybody knows what the TCU, with their helmets and all the stuff like that over the years we've seen with their dope uniforms and given that purple vibe right here as it's kind of translated throughout the rest of the design of the shoe. Definitely a nice touch and I think they did a really good job when it comes to materials and overall presentation of this coloring and something that we don't typically get to see on our Jordan 14. Now going to the end so right here, this is definitely another dope touch. It says Go Sonics, Go Raiders, Go Frogs. So Seattle Super Sonics NBA, Go Raiders, Raiders, I'm assuming NFL and then Go Frogs, College Football. So seeing that he loves sports and loves these teams and different things like that is also a nice touch and a nice representation of him. Cause you know me, I love my sport. So it's always dope to see something like this on the insoles. Yo, if you enjoyed this video and wanna grow your collection or make extra money on the side, I built the VIP mastermind that will teach you everything that I've learned about growing my sneaker collection over the past 15 years. This will also give you access to the DNA fam in my VIP community where we talk about investing outside of sneakers and don't worry. If you don't plan on joining the VIP community, it's okay. I also set up a private DNA fam community that gives you access to all the behind the scenes looks from the studio and multiple chances to win free sneakers and gear from weekly and monthly challenges. So all you need to do is click on the link down below in the description or the first link pinned in the comment section. That will get you set up and into the community. I'm excited to see you guys on the inside. So now a few years have gone by and I finally have the shoe of my collection and I'm definitely a happy camper and I'm excited to always show you guys my new additions to my collections and especially tell dope stories like this behind sneakers like this. So if you guys wanna see anything else and you haven't already, consider subscribing and joining the fam. I love talking about sneakers per usual because this is a shoe channel, right? So I appreciate you guys as always. I'll see you in another one. All right, y'all, I'm out.