2008 - BEST OF THE BEST SNEAKERS

Celebrating our five year anniversary by collaborating with the Stealth division of Lacoste was the ideal opportunity for me to put everything I love about a sneaker into the make-up. The brief was pretty straightforward… wearable, durable and comfortable. Too many collabs these days take things to such a level that looking good on the shelf is all they achieve, and some even fail to do that! Sneakers are there to be worn and by keeping it simple, its appeal reaches a wider audience, not just those who fiend for resell value.

The simplified, strapless version of the Lacoste Missouri 85 (a shoe that Sneaker Freaker put on the map so well) makes an awesome base for the choice of tough mesh, hard-wearing nubuck and the solid black 3M reflective guard running the whole way round the shoe. The no-nonsense colour palette of black, white and grey complements the choice of materials really well, as does the subtle speckled midsole and stealthy white croc. It’s a shoe that people would like to wear, not an exhibit for auction to the highest bidder.
In a year when we’ve seen some top draw releases and reissues including the Campus and Superstar ‘80s, Air Structures, Wildedges and some mouth-watering Half-Cabs and Eras, if the Double Negative wasn’t around, my choice would’ve been way more difficult. But what can I say… I love it to bits and it’s turned out exactly the way I hoped it would. The ryou-kids love it too, although they’ll have to wait a good few years yet before they’ll get the chance to rock their pairs!