crooked tongues magazine News Features

Deconstructed Superstars should be a very bad thing. A very, very bad thing indeed. Somehow the Superstar Lite LTO works. We’re surprising ourselves with that sentiment—we’ve long been anti metal eyelet when it comes to our Shelltoes, and an excess of padding back in the early ‘00s had us despairing (remember when Footpatrol seemed to be the only place in the UK to grab a normal Superstar?). On the padding and bulk front, these take an opposite tactic —everything’s been gutted. It’s gone. The majority of the lining has been eliminated until only the very necessary remains inside.

The sole unit’s made from a lighter foam rubber, with some extra flex grooves on the familiar herringbone outsole and the toe is fabric rather than rubber. These feel well over half the weight of the Superstar 80s we’ve got at hand, and the whole project should result in the shoe being a horrific, slimline mockery of what may well be the greatest sneaker design of all time, right? Incorrect. The by-product is a silhouette that’s akin to a Superstar 2 in the width department.

To keep the weight down, leather isn’t an option on these inaugural makeups. The grey canvas with embroidered 3-Stripes and denim with an appropriately copper-coloured stitch application than matches the original detailing, plus a leather tongue patch that completes the look thematically. It could’ve gone horribly, horribly wrong, but picking up where the equally effective CLOT KZK Superstar’s minimal makeover worked so well, these are a good alternative to the current shelltoe offerings for the warmer months ahead. Both colourways will be in stock next month…