ICE-COLD CLASSICS

Having turned 35, Nike's hoops-inspired silhouette has enjoyed a big year, with commemorative collabs having cropped up weekly by creative visionaries like Travis Scott and Virgil Abloh. Follow the lead of streetwear’s most renowned and go back to the blueprint with a pair of AF1s in their most defining colourway: white on white.

Look up ‘sneakers’ in an encyclopedia, and you’ll literally see Chucks. The All Star has cemented its position as the rubber-toed icon of Americana over its 100 years of life, but the blueprint was perfected in the 70s, as proven by these vintage, back-from-the-archive editions. A mainstay for over a century? They’re a pretty safe bet. 

Suedes never let you down – they’re one of those rare pairs you can throw on with anything and do no better. It was the shoe’s clean lines, cool colourways and the all-important chunky laces that gave the 1968 b-ball icon instant entry to the trainer hall of fame and they’re showing no sign of losing their celebrity.

Vans rule when it comes to skate steez, but it was function, not form, that originally made the Sk8-Hi a winner. They went next level (well, just above the ankle) with this shoe to help protect you from wayward boards, and in the process brought a whole new look to the park.

adi didn’t call it the Gazelle for no good reason – this 1968 training shoe was a winner right off the bat thanks to its sleek, elegant shape and smart aesthetic. It has sprung up every decade and touched on almost every major subculture since then, making it a universally timeless icon. While the Gazelle’s impressive list of colourways is a defining aspect of this shoe’s story, there’s no beating a classic high-contrast monochrome make-up.

Stefan Janoski had been blowing minds in the skate scene with his own brand of steezy tech wizardry for a hot second, but it was his signature sneaker design, the Nike SB Zoom Stefan Janoski, that made him a household name. Mashing up a deck shoe with a vulcanised sole shouldn’t have worked, but it marked the start of the longest-running signature skate shoe and is still repped by four-wheel fanatics and sneakerheads alike.