When Fragment gave a stripped-down Tennis Classic a reworking last year, it gave a model that had been languishing in Sports Directs and JJB shelves a credibility boost. We also attribute this to simple suede applications not dissimilar to the superb Footpatrol Campus that dropped a few months previous. It's easy to assume that it's the appeal is the emperor's new clothes in full effect, but Nike have got plenty in the vaults designed with a court that isn't hardwood in mind that seemed to be treated like a red-headed stepchild, pumped out, slashed in price and kept from the bright lights of blogsville, until a benefactor arrived to give it some shine. The plain canvas mix of the All Court got a boost from the APC hookup too. When the tried and tested profile of what constitutes a discerning sneaker consumer started to morph beyond recognition, as consumers reacted to a glut of weak releases, it's strange that the aforementioned models, and dare we say it, 'dad shoe' pieces like the Nike Match became a shoe that the generation-who-like-sneakers-but-don't-want-to-look-like-they-do would be all over.

Hiroshi and Undercover gave the Match a rehaul earlier this year with limited distribution, with the Match Suede's midsole seemingly switched from a slimmer unit to a similar one to that seen on the slightly tweaked Blazers of recent months. Originally blessed with that tiny Swoosh and perforation to fall in line with tennis decorum, despite the 'early '80s DNA, tiny Swooshes became something we associate with '90s high street white-on-white tweaks on favourites, later AF1 and AM1 retros and much more from Nike. We can live without the teabagged effect on the soles of these (curiously less prominent on the blacks that it is on the browns), but the foam tongued model with shades of Bruin (a lot) and LD 1000 (well, a bit) looks great in red, black and brown, with yellow, grey and red linings. The pseudo-vintage look might not be to all tastes, but we're liking these round these parts, and with Quick Strike distribution rather than Tier Zero exclusivity, they might be an easier find than other heritage reduxes along similar lines. All three work, but in the flesh, the browns are the winners.