crooked tongues magazine News Features

It's curious that sports footwear reached a point where premium — the use of actual leather — was treated as a privilege. So when something lands on the desk here that's actually made from an actual cow, we're taken aback rather than intoxicated for all the wrong reasons by an overpowering plasticky glue scent. PUMA's new set of Steppers with Aberdeen's British Millerain are decent. Over the last few years, Millerain's had a resurgence in interest (much like Barbour and Harris Tweed) as the big brands came calling for rugged fabrics for wear in items beyond traditional jacket designs. We love the PUMA Stepper's 1984 era mid-cut style — those extra inches don't diminish the shoe's power at all and these Basket-style leather variations are phenomenal to the touch. These are real butter as opposed to the usual I-can-believe-it's-not-butter pleather efforts on the marketplace and the tonal uppers and patch tongue branding are ultra tasteful, but there's a simple fluidity to this silhouette that this duo of colourways embellishes. The actual use of the famed fabric is super minimal, keeping it on the collar in two Highland-style check patterns that work with the off-white soles and pigskin-soft tan linings. In dark green or a browny burgundy these are some of the best PUMA pieces we've seen all year and they go up in the Crooked Tongues store tomorrow.