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The whole Gourmet worldview seems to be gaining further acceptance with each seasonal collection, and since we saw the current brace of silhouettes in January, in the cold confines of an otherwise mediocre tradeshow environment, the light brown 'The 26' model was earmarked as our kind of shoe. "Mmmmm. Butterscotch." The black variations are great, but the butterscotch just has that air of premium, flossy footwear that grabs our attention with that old Dana Dane, Slick Rick, Ghost circa. 'Ironman' vibe. The texture of the French calf tanned and pebbled leather, the off-white on that deck sole unit and the jagged detailing just makes it a serious proposition.

The new numerical line with a 20, 24, 25, 26 and 28 brings in some supreme mathematics like early Vans, just in case our Italian wasn't already very, very rusty. Gourmet seem intent on making reeling off their individual model names as taxing as possible, and it's something we respect. The crew seem to respect the British Walker, Playboy and Clarks era, but these have heavy Bally overtones. If you can pull these off properly—which shouldn't be too difficult—you're probably our kind of person. These are some Rick Ross 'Yacht Club' business without the boat shoe bandwagonesque nonsense, and quite possibly our favourite Gourmet design to date.