Ronnie is having a great year. Gonna be honest, I was blown away by how nice these were in hand. Tbh, this was the perfect design & release for the comeback of the 998

Materials: imo, from a material standpoint, this is one of the nicest NB's to be released this year. Starting off on the toe, you have this orangish-red premium suede that is very soft to touch. Moving to the side panel is a beige, long hair suede w/a white N logo & on the lateral side is a soft pink N logo. Moving to the tongue, it is a chutney suede with 998 & MiUS embroidered in gold. Moving down the tongue is a squiggle mesh, then below the tongue is a soft salmon suede where 3m usually is. Headed towards the back, you have an olive green suede that wraps around the heel, followed by a dark green mesh & embroidered NB logo in orange. Overall, there's a lot of different colors, but they work beautifully & are all premium materials.

Comfort/Sizing: imo, the 998 is a pretty firm & stable shoe that becomes more comfortable the more you break it in. I personally feel like it's similar to the feel of a 997, 991, & 990v2. If ranking these from my personal preference of comfort, I'd say 991, 998, 990v2, & 997 (your feet may differ). In terms of sizing, I usually grab a 7.5 in 998's and I did so in these as well & they fit me perfectly. If you have a wide foot, I'd go tts because they are more narrow.

Overall Opinion: this has honestly been one of my favorite releases of 2023. From materials, to colorblocking, to the packaging, & overall availability for the bring back of the 998, this will probably end up in my top 10 for SOTY. The colorway is beautiful & gives me AZ vibes (random thought), which is neat given where the Frank Lloyd Foundation resides. With the comeback of the 998, I couldn't have thought of a better way to release it. Beautifully done. I truly would not sleep on this pack, when I take photos, I try to bring out the true in hand feel and my pictures don't really do them justice.

If you made it this far, thank you for taking time out of your night to read my thoughts. Thank you for your support