As much as I love my heels and boots, I’m a sucker for a cool pair of sneakers and these from Nike’s Vintage Running Collection make me feel like a kid again. The shoes, which are replicas of original sneaker styles from the ’70s, come with aged laces, yellowed midsoles, weathered foam, retro and wrinkled nylon. Nike boasts that each pair are crafted to look 30 years old — fresh out of the box.
Of course, these aren’t for real joggers or runners per se, more for the urban hipster to don with jeans and a T. It’s a perfect gift for a sneakerfreak who can always use another pair of comfy kicks. They retail for about $80 a pop.
The collection includes the Cortez Nylon, Daybreak, LD 1000, Waffle Racer and the Oregon Waffle. Click here to see other colors. The retro running shoes are sold at a limited number of retailers, including: Nike.com and FinishLine.com. (Otherwise, they’re sold out at local sneaker shrine Blends at the Lab in Costa Mesa.)
Why don’t they just sell them new and let people wear them out on their own? I can’t understand how someone would pay for shoes that are already aged for them. Quite frankly, I think it’s really lame.
I guess if jeans are sold pre-distressed and given that worn-in look, why not sneakers? I suppose the thinking is that people want that worn-in, vintage look right now and they don’t want to wait a certain amount of time to achieve that look.