Sneakers

The original Jordan 1 Midnight Navy CO.JP is one of the rarest Jordan 1s to ever drop. A Japanese exclusive from 2001, the brand only released 3,000 pairs. Thankfully, in honor of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that never happened, Jordan Brand and Nike are rereleasing several of the Japan-exclusive colorways of their sneakers.

Five years ago, if you went on most of the men’s fashion forums and asked which classic white sneaker you should buy you would have received one answer – the Adidas Stan Smith. Using google to search reddit, you come up with 63,000 posts mentioning them. While the hype has died down a bit, it’s hard to argue the impact this one sneaker has had.

Originally shown with the Chicago color blocking, the connection to the Travis Scott 1s was obvious. Once it was announced that the brown on the shoe would be nubuck instead of regular leather like the first mock up, it didn't take long to earn the nickname the “poor man’s Travis Scott 1.”

The Air Jordan One is one of those classic sneakers that almost every can recognize. The shoe has been adopted by a variety of groups. Starting off as the latest in basketball shoe technology, throughout the years they have been worn by skaters, hip hop artists, hypebeasts, celebrities, and seemingly everyone in between.

Like it or not, when the average person thinks of a Yeezy sneaker, they are thinking of the 350 V2. According to StockX, there have been well over 50 colorways of the sneaker released so far and even with the supposed replacement in the 380 nearly a year old, it doesn’t appear like Adidas is planning on slowing down any time soon.

Adidas’ Boost technology was completely revolutionary. It was comfortable, unique looking, and sold out in almost every shoe it was attached once Kanye wore those classic white Ultraboosts. Unfortunately, this left Adidas in a tough position: what do you do next? How do you build upon something that changed the industry? The answer was the introduction of what Adidas calls “4D”.

The Air Jordan 1 High and the Nike Dunk High are closer to twins separated at birth than two completely different shoes. They share the same dad (Peter Moore), the same birth year (1985), and, unless you grew up with them in your life, you probably have a hard time telling them apart.

The Vans Old Skool, originally known as the #36, is one of those classic shoes that everyone has probably owned at some point. One of the later designs from Van’s classic line, the shoe took what worked from previous skate shoes they have made – the padded collar, the thin sole, etc. – and added the leather strips on the side for additional wear protection.

Brands like Allen Edmonds or Sperry spend absolutely boatloads trying to convince you that they are as old as the American revolution, but would it surprise you that a common sneaker name that your dad has probably worn has them and most other brands beat?

Nike Dunks, at least the low version, are having a moment in 2020. Prices for classic colorways are going through the roof, even surpassing many of the Jordan 1 colorways. This would have been pretty surprising to someone who was around when the Dunk was first introduced.