2008 - BEST OF THE BEST SNEAKERS

Wow, best sneaker of 2008...now there’s a question! After a bit of hair pulling I've got three in mind. For me they're all worthy champions but I know I have to rule two of these sneaks out. So, here we go.

First of all I'm kickin’ out the Mita X Asics Gel Lyte III Metallic (Black polka dot & Purple). My reasoning for this is simply they didn't make enough of these babies and being based in the U.K. we didn't stand a cat in hells chance of getting any either...and for that lame reason, it's a goner. The second to go is another of Japan’s finest - Onitsuka Tiger Ultimate 81 in the Blue/Yellow colourway. It's a beautiful shoe and a classic silhouette, sits well with denim and the colourway is snappy but not cyber crazy...it's got the hallmarks of a great, but not this year I’m afraid.

My champion of 2008 has strong elements of both of the above. It was released in two snappy colourways. It has a classic silhouette and, I know I grumbled about the limited numbers of Mita, but sometimes it's a good thing...my winner is the Puma x Rob-L Archipelago Clyde.  Not only is this a great looking sneaker but it’s got a quality story behind its conception.  U.K. designer Rob-L has had an obsession with Pumas for over 20 years; he was just customizing Clyde’s for fun. One fine day Puma came along, loved what he was doing and the Archipelago project was born. Rob-L got the chance to work with, and design a sneaker for the brand I’d loved since childhood. I think we can all understand how Rob-L must have felt when that opportunity came his way, it was the realization of a dream and I’m sure every sneaker head reading this has been totally passionate about sneakers since they were nippers. These colourways may not be to everyone’s taste, but I think we're going to see more collabs between Puma & Rob-L and, as this was the first, I feel it will be become a true collector’s classic.