This New Air Jordan 1 Mid Features Heat-Reactive Heel Paneling

Once strictly the domain of mall sneaker stores and “first Air Jordan” buyers, Jordan Brand‘s Air Jordan 1 Mid has gained an enormous amount of stature over the last year-plus. In a turn of events that would have been unthinkable even three years ago, its new colorways are now rumored, teased and leaked — and the latest makeup to receive this special treatment is one that appears to feature heat-reactive heel paneling, revealed by the sneaker leakers at s.sam.group.

The front end of this mid-cut Air Jordan 1 is all business, mixing black leather mudguards, eyestays and Swooshes with white leather toeboxes, quarters and collars. The heel and collar flaps are where most of the action is going on, thanks to a high-gloss leather that appears to shift colors with exposure to heat.

These divergent hues include blue, green and red — the last of which draws some parallels to the Trophy Room x Air Jordan 1 thanks to the white contrast stitching — and each pair repeats this amorphous detailing on the tongue tag. Black ball-and-wings logos on the collar flaps work with white midsoles and black outsoles to round off the look.

A release date for this color-shifting Air Jordan 1 Mid has yet to be revealed, but it’ll likely arrive sometime later this year.

Elsewhere in the world of footwear, take a first look at the CLOT x sacai x Nike Vaporwaffle.