crooked tongues magazine News Features

Made-in-the-UK suede New Balance 576s are tough to beat. Easily one of the most recognisable and copied New Balance silhouettes, the 576's story stretches back to 1988 when the model made its debut appearance without the extensive running press ads or bombast of previous breakthroughs from the brand. Built to perform, and supposedly built off the back of the underwhelming sales of 1987's V-Channeled 675 (a state-of-the-art supportive running design), using leftover materials for an "athletic-walking" design with ...

The companion piece for the Alomar, the Vans OTW Larkin is our personal favourite from the debut OTW collection. Having seen the next season's output, we've found more favourites, but let's stick with the present. That cap toe application, offered in dual textures on 3 of the 4 style here feels like another retort to costlier rivals, but it doesn't wander too far from the Vans formula to the point where heritage is abandoned - in fact ...

Do we win some kind of award for the most paragraphs about Nike All Courts on any website? We should really just stop at this: the Nike All Court is a good shoe. But there's space to be filled here. The problem is, there's so little to this model that it's tough to flesh much out. It's comfortable, simple...and would anyone have cared too much about a reissue unless A.P.C. and Hiroshi co-signed ...

Hot on the heels of the California line's Switchback model, the Vans OTW Alomar offers a smoothed-out alternative. We're sure this was originally sold in under the Westin name (there seems to be a few OTW releases that never made production - the Mountain Edition styled Bigelow was a good shoe too - maybe it'll resurface at some point later down the line), but we're feeling it. After the high-end folks ate off Vans design cues, and the ...

This isn't a puritan's version of the adidas Superstar by any means, but it's pretty good. For a minute we thought this might be part of a pack, but it seems to stand alone in its slightly strange alterations. The palette in place here is classic adidas, with that bright red on white leather, and the shape is fine, if not some ultra-accurate rendition of the silhouette in its ultimate form. The black outsole throws things a ...

This has been a good year for New Balance 1300 fans. If you wanted an American-made thing of beauty, and your buying finger was quick enough, you would've scored a pair of the New Balance JP reproductions, but there's always a steady stream of Flimby-made pieces that trounce the competition. The shoe that redefined sneaker price points, the poised weapon in any monied serious runner's artillery back in 1985 has retired from performance with a certain dignity ...

The adidas Stan Smith 80s is the blueprint for most of our favourite shoes. Not only was Stan a gent on the court - fellow tennis nice-guy Arthur Ashe testified to his sportsmanship in his fine autobiography, but his adidas signature model is the greatest tennis shoe ever made. We say that as die-hard Rod Laver (particularly the wider Super) variation fanboys too. You can't mess with that refined look. This is a silhouette that refuses to succumb to age ...

The Nike Challenger is one of the best vintage runner retros from Nike, and it seems to sidestep the dreaded faux-yellowing. This is one of Nike's best releases season after season, but we think it gets a little slept-on every time it drops. After all, this is a shoe steeped in classic performance design - lightweight, simple, but hugely effective in establishing the power of the swoosh from trackside. They're definitely a contender. After the 2009 re-release of the ...

Yeah, we're showcasing more Nike All Courts. It's All Court weather - these are good with shorts, or the fancypants rolled-up chino brigade. The fact they're extremely comfortable is another reason to respect the Nike shoe with the air of Jack Purcell about it. You'd have thought we would have run out of words about this model by now - and you'd be right. But we'd soon talk rubbish for a few paragraphs and repeat ourselves ...

Pieces like the Generic Surplus Wino prove that the brand is one of the best indies out there. It isn't the kind of shoe that'll satisfy the tech-fiends, but in fairness, we're being spoilt for choice on that side of things at the moment. Where Generic Surplus, courtesy of the Generic Man crew seems to hit the spot is in offering a quality product at a good price. Where some folk are content to throw down 250 ...

The Nike Air 180 seems to be getting another lease of life this decade. Maybe it's in honour of the model's...ummmm...19th anniversary. This shoe was supported by the blueprint for cutting-edge marketing campaigns as we know it with the Steadman and W+K coordinated Cronenberg and Steadman call ins - that's a lineup that would still leave us bugging out. For a generation, the Nike Air 180 might be the first experience of knowing a sneaker ...

There's a fair chance the PRO-Keds 69er was your favourite rapper's first 'proper' sneaker. Then again, that Rapidshare MC on your iPod is probably about 17 years old, so maybe not. But we know KRS and the Biz understand the relevance of this model to a nascent sneaker connoisseur culture. We've got to shout out the homie Dante Ross for consulting PRO-Keds successfully lately. The silhouettes were in the archives, and the brand's got more history ...

The New Balance 576 Pub Pack takes a British institution as a conceptual jumpoff and works it well. In an ideal world, the UK-made 576 would enjoy the same pub-shoe status as the Classics and Max models of the world, yet it remains a connoisseur's pick - not dull like a CAMRA real ale choice, but a tasteful selection for locals in the know. Coincidentally, we had grand plans to do something similar, until this trio proved a little close ...

The adidas Greeley Mid is a fair mix between casual style and a degree of adidas heritage that gets it pretty right. The original colours didn't move us like this duo, but we saw potential there. That mid-cut, the zig-zag stitch and the use of the crepe Montreal sole, minus the extra rubber on the heel (though that's homaged on the heel detailing) is a good adidas Coastal combination. The RRP is good too. We've seen much ...

The adidas 1609er isn't a new shoe, even if the name says otherwise. The adidas 1609er is actually a retro of the adidas Miler. Unlike the Nike MS78 showcased here the other day, it isn't some hybrid of adidas running classicism, and seeing as the adidas TRX (were they McVicar's "Alright, who's got me trainers?" model?) has been doing swift business in the Crooked Tongues store lately, it figured that the archives would get raided a ...

The Gourmet Quadici is a polarising shoe design round our way - it splits opinion. One thing's for sure - that duck boot effect has trickled down in a major way. While the ACG Soaker and Visvim Decoy played with the spirit of LL Bean and Sorel, and forthcoming Nike and Ransom by adidas pieces play with the same theme, the Quadici remains the maddest to date. Duck boots aren't a Euro staple - bizarre, given our inclement weather, so they ...

The Nike Air MS78 is a pretty low-key but successful mix of classic Nike DNA. You know about our relentless fandom to the brace of Lunar designs -contemporary performance that feels like a definitive summary of where sneakers should be in 2010. Because Nike are kicking arse on that side of things admirably, oddball hybrids of vintage looks have been pretty acceptable, cropping up as they do in the showroom from time to time, and fooling us from long distance ...

This blue suede adidas Superstar 80s is one of the first shelltoes to hush the office momentarily in a long time. In fact, we haven't seen so much localised (i.e. within our own four walls) hype over a shoe that should be readily available since the Superstar 80s made its return with the grey felt 3-Stripes. That was a classic. Really, how much can we write about this model? Superstar 35 might have left you fatigued after all ...

The New Balance Undefeated 1500 mixes a few things we thought we'd have tired of by now and makes them pretty appealing. These aren't our pics, and we missed the opportunity to stock them (it won't happen again) but they're nice enough to warrant inclusion. Plus we owe our friends at New Balance a favour (watch this space folks) - New Balance US seem to be making up for lost time at the moment. They might lack ...

You can't go wrong with an adidas ZX 500. Well, not too wrong. The byproduct of the aZX focus on these technical marvels has been a steady flow of good hype-free makeups of our favourite adidas ZX colourways. This 1984 design was state-of-the-art on its debut and remains one of the greatest trainer designs ever. We throw superlatives like that around on the regular, but (cue a Just Blaze beat) we really mean it. Great shape, great use of ...

The adidas Consortium Micropacer Lux is a pretty interesting take on a current craze. The craze in question is dressing a bit like your dad. Everyone's complementing each other on their waxed jackets and punch-patterned shoes. We don't feel particularly threatened by it because those leather soles on a train platform ain't no joke. You'll always need sports footwear in your life. For an early '80s curiosity, the adidas Micropacer's maintained a remarkable level of ...

If you've seen the Nike Mister cartoon Rejuven8 Mid in the Crooked Tongues News before, it's because it was, but the photos weren't up to much, so we put it up again. We can't believe we effed up and made a half-arsed news post - our excuse was we didn't read the affiliated press materials before we uploaded it. The forthcoming camo version of the Nike Lunar Rejuven8 Mid is refreshing on a number of levels ...

Gourmet's "The 28" mixes a conventional, dare we say it, smart-casual look with an air bubbled midsole with effective results. We hope we got the shoe's name right on this little preview. More Gourmet set for a forthcoming release, and this model gets it pretty right. It's odd to see some homages to what's already a homage-laden line from some brands imitating the Gourmet approach, but what's on its way here is a collection of ...

We've seen a lot of versions of this shoe lately but the adidas HUF Rod Laver Vintage from the Consortium line is the best so far. The Rod Laver is a great shoe, but we thought we might burn out on from an overdose since the blitz of Summer 2009. If this version had been in that rollout, we would have been all over it. The model's simplicity is actually a curse for potential collaborators - what exactly do ...

Kronk, So Me and Delta have made the Nike Dunk AC High waaaaay more-than-bearable. We tore apart the Autoclave devolution to our favourite Nike models (The 180 Force AC was particularly offensive) but we couldn't shake a grudging acceptance of the Nike Dunk AC. After all, what else could they do to a shoe that's had everything hurled at it over a decade. EVERYTHING. We still think taking it back to baked basics is a strange move, but ...

The Gourmet Quattro Skate makes an interesting nod to the skateboard lineage of the brand's founders. Gourmet have been delivering the goods lately, and the Fall line should silence a few critics who've found the more eccentric pieces hard-to-take. The premium feel remains, but we can't get enough of the nods to flossy formal pieces worn at street level. The skate line gets a few mentions in our new feature, talking to Gourmet's Jon about their ...

Few shoes seem to hit home with a local audience like the Nike Air Max 90 in infrared, grey, black and white. Despite a semi-regular re-release program (is this Europe's equivalent of a crispy white-on-white Air Force 1?) it just hits fever pitch each and every time that mesh, faux-suede and nylon mesh reappears. We were pretty surprised to see it in the showroom again untampered with - we assumed it might be modified like 2008's premium accompaniment Air ...

The adidas aZX project still brings back happy memories for us. One abiding one is how much of a no-brainer the model pick was at Crooked HQ - we wanted Torsion and we wanted Softcell. The 8000 and 9000 were an instant shortlist seeing as they, bar the Playtex section, were highlights of many a youthful browse in the Kays catalogue back in the day. In the end we picked the 9000 for the versatility, and because we knew we couldn ...

Pastel applications on a runner isn't anything new, and ASICS are obviously pushing those colourways on your favourite shoes as far as they can. Retro silhouettes in pastel rather than pop can prove hugely effective, and finally it feels like ASICS makeups like these - so tasteful it's almost painful, are finding their audience again. There's no theme there that we know of other than visual appeal and no unnecessary theatrics. Lightweight has long been the underlying theme ...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's our take on PUMA's classics. We don't need wacky applications -  "wit" on our shoes isn't necessary. PUMA have a formidable archive of banging models, but it's always going to come back to suede. Why? Because they helped bring the material to the courts back in the late '60s, and because the PUMA Suede is one of the greatest designs in history. The Clyde took a ...

Crazy flamboyant for the rap enjoyment, the Nike HTM Woven a few years back took a design that was already bizarre, and as opposed to the starkness of other Hiroshi, Tinker and Mark teamups, gave it some extra visibility with rainbow weave. The 2000 and 2001 Wovens were muted in colours, despite the shock-of-the-new by way of traditional design cues - the extra colours were something else altogether. Now it's all Lunar everything, that sole's getting fused to a ...

The Nike Lunar Rejuven8 Mids that accompany these Footscape Motions in their USA pack have already been in the News section before, but these deserves their own inclusion. Bar the impending grey speckle South Africa Lunar-soled releases, the Cartoon pack is the crowdpleaser in Nike's World Cup trend-level armory, representing the USA. Remember when we chuckled at the Americans in '94, even though they were hosting and we never qualified? Remember wizard-like Alexi Lalas? Actually, that summer was pretty ...

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking the News at the moment is sponsored by Nike, and that we go to bed with visions of All Courts floating around in our craniums. Neither are true. We're holding back on some great adidas previews for next week's (lord willing) relaunch of Crooked Tongues. The fragment design All Courts have been spotted elsewhere so they can go up now, but it's not exactly the kind of shoe anyone can ramble ...

]Uh-oh. More Nike Air Max 1s in time for summer. We understand if you lost interest (bar Patta's efforts - you've got wooden eyes if you couldn't appreciate the simplicity of the greens and purples) in the '87 Air Max a while back because of the sheer onslaught of colours. We guess-timate that at one point there were 3 variations for every man, woman, child and animal on earth. It felt like that anyway. Lately, at trend level ...

The Nike Footscape pretty much encapsulates everything we love about Nike's mid '90s madness in one shoe. Remember when stores like Duffer were buying 'em up from specialist running stores then charging £150 for a previously affordable release? Remember The Hideout getting co.jp pieces in several years later? The black and red retros on Foot Locker sale shelves? Then there were the modifications - the deeply crappy Footscape 2 from 2001 is a dark moment in Nike sequeldom alongside ...