After quite a while I have copped another pair of shoes – and an extraordinary one at that. Here’s a few lines about the Stan Smith for the 20th anniversary of UK retailer Offspring.
Who doesn’t love to make a bargain? Even if those times are long over when I had to know about every sneaker release and every collaboration, I still like to check out fresh footwear now and then. And more often than not, I tend to land on British websites.
What British shops and mailorders have on offer is often refreshingly different than here in Germany and doesn’t only address the hype kids. In the UK, a more mature sneaker culture does exist, propelled by quite a lot of older street and terrace wear aficionados.
Maybe that’s why in 2016, for the 20th anniversary of British retailer Offspring – besides some strong collaborations with Asics, New Balance, Clarks and the like – there was an Adidas Stan Smith released which seemed strictly for the mods among the lads.
In any case I’d never seen a Stan with an upper made of olive green canvas before. Or one with a frame-stitched crepe sole. Unfortunately, the attached product photos did not show clearly whether the whole thing was crap or a totally underestimated banger.
Also, there was hardly anything on the shoe to be found in the internet, which could be up to the somewhat misleading choice of name: At Offspring, they ran the shoe as “Stan Smith Wedge” – just like an old Smith version of these terrible Marant-style wedges.
But when such a shoe is offered up as a “Last Pair” in one’s own size at a bargain price, one shouldn’t think twice and hit the right buttons! And now that the package has finally arrived from England, I can honestly say: The venture was absolutely worth it!
The canvas material isn’t too thick and comfortably soft, and the toebox is not too stiff on the inside – I was very curious about this part, since I once had canvas sneakers with an all too stiff toe area that let out an audible and tangible cracking sound with every step.
And this sole! Genuine, sweet-smelling natural rubber, neatly sewn and in some areas sticky like honey – and offering comfort and grip under the foot. And of course the whole thing has this incomparably British mod look and feel! It has to be said: Nice one!
