Initial Impressions

Price: $109.99 Why Buy? The New Balance 550 offers great materials and surprisingly good comfort for a retro sneaker. Why…

The sneaker we are looking at today is the Adidas Campus 80 “Towlie.” This was Adidas’ release on April 20th, 2021, though they just had a much larger release in October of 2022. As you probably already know, this sneaker is designed to take inspiration from the Towlie character on South Park.

Viberg as a brand has been covered here several times in the past. If you’d like to learn a little bit more about them, click here. However, while Viberg’s history is well known, their engineer boot history isn’t.  One of the first to produce this was a collab for Himel Bros., that is fairly well know. However, it might surprise you to hear that Viberg has had this pattern since 2014. That’s only three years after their famous service boot in the 2030 last was widely available.

Adidas’ take on what “Luxury” means in sneakers has always been a bit confusing to me. Adidas has their Y3 brand, which takes Adidas models and amps them up a bit, as their luxury option. However, every so often, Adidas will release a model under the Adidas brand with the “Luxe” moniker. These sneakers are supposed to feature upgraded materials and design, and are only supposed to be based on the shoe they are named after.

There are a few sneakers that have a colorway that seems to define them. This isn’t always the first colorway that came out, but it’s the one that probably pops into your mind first. When you think of a New Balance 990, you think of the Grey colorway. The Jordan 1? The Chicago comes first (don’t even try Bred fans – check the resale). The Yeezy 350 V2 – (probably) the Zebra.

The past five years has not been kind to Allen Edmond’s reputation. Especially around QC. In fact, when a recent sale was posted to Reddit, they were described as “great, as long as you’re OK returning 2 or 3 pairs until you get one that is made correctly.” However, something happened over the past year or so. With inflation going crazy and demand for high quality footwear soaring, Allen Edmonds did something you might not expect. As competitors raised their price, Allen Edmonds started to run more sales. The actual transaction price of their shoes dropped. Paying $400 for a pair of Allen Edmonds in 2019 when Carmina was $350 is foolish. But paying $180 for a pair of Allen Edmonds in 2022 when Carmina is $500? Well, let’s find out if it makes sense.

What really makes the 700 stand out is that it’s the only Yeezy silhouette where Adidas is willing to play with color. From the original’s greens and oranges, to the bright blues on this Hi-Res colorway, if you want colors like you’ll see in Jordans, the 700 is the one for you. However, there is one major elephant in the room. They cost Two Hundred and Sixty Freaking Dollars. For a sneaker. That’s the sort of price people expect to pay for made-in-America fully leather boots Can a sneaker possibly be worth it? Let’s find out.

Rancourt's Beefroll loafer is often one of the top recommended choices for people looking to get into the made-in-Maine loafer world. Often mentioned alongside the Alden Leisure Hand Sewn. If you’re looking to get a new beefroll, is this the right one for you? Let’s find out.

The appeal of the collaboration is clear. Most of us don’t own a shoe factory, or a design team to tell us what is feasible. The only way we’ll be able to get what we really want is through a collaboration. The company then gets a chance to market a shoe and beat their competitors. But what drove two companies who have their own shoe factories and design teams to instead collaborate with their competitors? In this case, the environment.

Helm as a brand has been around since 2009. While that certainly doesn’t make them the oldest bootmaker out there, that’s older than you might think. Their first boot, built in a service boot style, beat Viberg’s service boot to the market by a year. The same is true of Oak Street Bootmakers, the current iteration of Rancourt, Truman, and many of the other well-known brands of today. All of these came after Helm. While far from ancient, they are certainly among the oldest of the new crop of bootmakers.