Sneakers

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.

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.

The Converse All Star, also known as the Chuck Taylor, is an absolutely classic design. In fact, you probably don’t need me to tell you. Odds are you’ve probably owned a pair. In a study done in 2012, more than 60% of all Americans either own or had owned at least one pair.

I’ve always felt like the Jordan 13 has gotten the short end of the stick. It doesn’t get the love that the early retros get in the eyes of hype beasts, and after carrying Jordan through almost the entire 97-98 season, Jordan swapped in the 14 for the famous “Last Shot.” In fact, the most memorable moment for the Jordan 13 in the 1990’s wasn’t even on the court. Instead, the 13 is probably best known for a cameo in the movie “He Got Game.”

It’s no secret that Jordan Brand can put out some shoes with really awful quality. Regularly putting out stuff that barely qualifies as leather, with panels stitched on crooked. That’s why it’s almost frustrating when they put out something like this Jordan 1 A Ma Maniere – a shoe the feels like a high-end product.

When the Chuck 70 came out, it was praised as a sign that Converse is finally paying attention to their canvas shoes again. There were a number of improvements – better padding underfoot, fully rubber outsoles, and thicker foxing tape. However, while the All Star may have been missing these, Converse has had a shoe with all these features for decades – the Jack Purcell. If you’re looking for a pair of higher end Converse sneakers, which is better for you? Let’s take a look at the Chuck 70 vs. the Jack Purcell.

Released at the very end of 2019, the Yeezy 700 V3 is the quintessential shoe in the current wave of Yeezys. More organic in design, more traditional in materials, and – maybe most surprising – more affordable in pricing. This is now what the Yeezy line is. These new models have also been a base for more daring colors. After years of pretty much all yeezys being some variation of beige, tan, taupe, and cream, in just a few models the Yeezy 700 V3 has seen bright blues, bold yellows, and, in December of 2021, this bold Copper Fade colorway.

I think it’s fair to say that a lot of younger sneakerheads might remember the Jordan 14 as the last pair Jordan wore in his NBA career. There is even this famous (and visually stunning) photo, which gave the bread colorway of the 14s their nick name. However, while that is a great story, it’s just not true. Jordan came back again, this time in a new city but sporting an older shoe. The Jordan 11 Cool Grey.

I think we all thought the same thing when we saw the Yeezy 450. We were getting further and further away from the golden era of Yeezy sneakers. There was no boost. There were the dumpling memes. My guess was that this was going to be another model that was a swing and a miss, and would fade into obscurity.

Price: $65 Why Should You Buy? The Jack Purcell is a nice change of pace from the original chucks, being…