The sole is the Griffin XLK sole from a few years ago. The shoe was originally going to come out on the new Manchester XLK sole, but Carroll preferred the fit and look of the Griffin XLK sole more after testing the samples and had it switched last minute. It’s his shoe, so at the end of the day he made that call. There’s also the Proto/Atlantic XLK sole, so Lakai currently has three different outsoles to work with for cupsole. All three skate really well, and the new Paramount Vulc outsole is also nice on the feet.
Shoe catalogs are made 6 months in advance with product photos of samples. It doesn’t matter what the company is, so if any changes are made before the booking window and production there will obviously be differences. If you have a decent shoe rep they let the shop owners know when the changes were made. Y’all are looking at a catalog from like October 2019.
Also, I’m going to go against the grain here...but Crailtap has their shit together. I know it’s fun to act like they are some sinking ship, but the new wood is good and they actually sold almost all their decks during Covid-19 and needed a restock. Lakai is also distributed through HUF’s warehouse now, not Crailtap.
Edited to add some more info*