Initial Impressions

The Adidas x Noah line might be one of my favorite collaborations of all time. As regular readers know, this website often bounces back and forth between preppy staples and sneaker classics as I try to blend the styles in my own personal wardrobe. With this line, Adidas did the work for me. Maybe even taking it too far.

Edward Green is one of the most respected names in men’s footwear for a reason. Their no-compromise approach has always meant that they design a shoe first, and then put a price on it. If that price makes mere mortals cry, then so be it. Or, at least, that is what their marketing says.

Cheaney aims to fill the same role held by Allen Edmonds at the peak of #menswear. Can Cheaney offer that perfect blend of value, quality, and design that AE had back then? Let’s find out by looking at the Cheaney Harry.

Walk into any Alden store, and assuming you have the money to spend, it’s easy to walk out with almost anything in Color 8 or Black shell. You can find the leisure hand sewn in stock all the time. That being said, not everyone wants a pair of eggplant or black loafers. If that sounds like you, and you want to stick with the Alden brand, you need to get into the wild world of rare shells. Among the rarest is this, the Color 4 Leisure Hand Sewn.

The Air Jordan 12 has a lot of great stories behind it. We all know the story about the flu game 12s – or, more accurately the food poisoning 12s – but there is a lot more to them than that. The 12 is actually the first Jordan to be released as part of its own brand. Many also consider the 12 to be the first “modern” basketball shoe. In fact, there are plenty of people who still feel they can play in it today, more than 25 years since it first released.

When does a footwear company go from start up to established brand? Oak Street Bootmakers has only been around since 2010. I bet there are people reading this page who have socks older than this brand. However, when taking a look at the market, there are now countless brands trying to do to Oak Street Bootmakers what they did to Alden and Allen Edmonds. Truman, Grant Stone, Parkhurst, and more all followed the path set forward by Oak Street Bootmakers. I thought it might be worth going back to the genesis of Oak Street Bootmakers, one of their first models – the Trench Boot.

I’ll be the first to admit, as someone old enough to remember the hype around the Air Yeezy One dropping, I’m probably not G-Dragon’s target audience. In fact, I can’t say I know much about K-Pop in general. However, while I’m no expert in K-Pop, I do know a little bit about sneakers, and a little bit about wingtips. When Nike announced they were going to be making a combination of the two, I knew I had to pick up a pair. Today we are looking at the Nike Kwondo1.

I know what you’re saying – a Clarks Desert Boot review? What is this, 2015? However, I think that joke might ring a little bit too close to home over at the folks at Clark’s. After becoming the defacto choice for a guy looking to dress well during the rapid increase in #menswear (it’s still the symbol for r/malefashionadvice), the popularity of the silhouette has dropped significantly.

The Adidas Stan Smith has a long and storied history. I won’t belabor it since we already went into it in our Stan Smith Recon review from a little while back, but in short, this sneaker has been everything from the top of the line in athletic wear, a streetwear icon, a J. Crew staple, and even presidential footwear. However, what are you going to do when everyone already has a pair? Look into a collaboration like this one with Senakers N Stuff. By the way, if you didn’t know, Adidas calls their collabs the Consortium line, meaning this sneaker is the Stan Smith Consortium X SNS.

For such a young company, Grant Stone has made quite a name for themselves. In fact, if you’re into nicer footwear, you almost certainly own a pair of shoes that are older than the company. Founded in 2016, Grant Stone went from making a small number of models – mostly focused on loafers and bluchers – to offering 12 different make ups in countless leathers. Their most famous might just be this, the Grant Stone Edward.