Sometimes we need to detox our feet with timeless designs rendered right. No neon, no pirate ships - just the basics looking as they should do. We've sometimes pondered as to how much any of the big guns care about the scattershot nature of their retros. It's only a minority who notice the details, right? Yes, but that eagle-eyed minority put the shoes on the pedestal they're currently teetering on, and sullying a rock-solid heritage is dumb. PUMA delivered with these Suedes. Lately, bar a few harder-to-find exceptions, the shape on Suedes, Clydes and States has been a little unusual, with the malady of the curved sole (a phenomenon not confined to PUMA) occurring frequently. Not on these.


The Suede harks back to the late '60s, where the titular material offered a premium and practical alternative to canvas. Not that we were around then. Take a look at the reissued 'Subway Art' too, and clock the primary shoe-of-choice on those oversized pages. Now that's an endorsement you can't buy. We know 'old school' has been bastardised by new-nostalgics who think that '94 is worthy of the term (though in fairness, 'old school' is totally subjective), but we're talking a truly nascent scene, where this shoe was established as a trend piece, even before Cooper and Chalfont got familiar.

The b-boys lapped up the Yugo-made '70s/'80s cut, and the skaters of the '90s might have been razor blading (nothing personal to the brand - it just seemed the right thing) Formstripes on the cut of the time, or sourcing deadstock. In fact one Crooked Tongues crew member swears blind that the deadstock in a local boutique was obtained by an ex-colleague. Beyond the board there were the beard scratchers too, helping instigate the rise of simple silhouettes. Black Moon's Buckshot rocked them well too. In the ensuing 16 years or so, the Suede has visibly aged. The ones in TK Maxx circa '04 weren't right, but things got worse after that on the sole unit front. Way worse.


Luckily, these makeups are super-simple and deeply effective. The chocolate brown numbers? Beautiful. The sole looks like it's been improved via a trip to the archives, the shape and branding is superior - less wonky than before and yes, the name of the shoe remains written beneath the gold logo, but it's far from a dealbreaker. Three sets of three, set to arrive in three drops between August and December in a selection spots that includes the Crooked Store. Excellent proposed pricepoint too...