Imagine this!! It’s 2016, and you’re looking to buy a new pair of sneakers. Your parents try to convince you to check out sneakers from the many brands available, but there is only one brand and a specific style you want to buy. After a few many hours of wandering and searching, your eyes finally spot it in the store in front of you, the Adidas Superstars, white base with black stripes. You inquire about the sizes available, and you’re in luck. You try it on, it fits like a glove. It is the only pair of sneakers you’ve wanted to buy, and now you finally have it.
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Wasn’t that a great trip down memory lane? The era of ‘dog’ and ‘flower crown’ Snapchat filters, bomber jackets, flannel shirts, skinny black jeans, and the Adidas superstars. It was the quintessential pair of shoes to have; every 3rd person you met probably did. Those were great-looking, super comfortable, and paired well with almost every outfit. But, as they say, “all good things must come to an end,” the reign of these ‘It shoes’ did fall, with other brands rising to its direct competition in the styles provided.
Sneakers have become a part of our daily lives. We wear it almost everywhere we’ve to be. Some lucky lot of us can even wear it to our workplaces. In the last couple of years, sneakers have created a niche within the Shoe industry, owing to the rise of Streetwear culture and Athleisure, standing at a current valuation of USD 131.1 billion.
In many ways, the sneakers came into the Mainstream limelight given the Adidas Superstars’ success. Some have already worn out the shoes, getting their money’s worth out of it, while some just want to spice up their sneaker game and be unique with their choices. The Superstars have become the fading star, gone from cool to cringe.
While a revival in the near future would be iconic, a look at sneakers that did the opposite and went from being cringe, blah to cool would be fascinating, giving us hope that it could happen for our forgotten hero pair of sneakers, aka the Superstars.
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Veja Esplar sneakers
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These French-Owned company sneakers check all the right boxes. Widely popular in Europe, slowly making its way to the MENA region, these sneakers are not only super-comfortable but go well with every possible outfit. They are sustainable and practice transparency with their supply chain and business modules. Besides being Internet fashion-girls-approved, these shoes are frequently spotted on Royal ladies (Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle).
New Balance 990 series
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A brand that has been around since the 20th century, New Balance lost its popularity to Nike and Adidas and earned its reputation as the ‘dad-shoe’ brand. Still very much a ‘dad-shoe’ brand, the Gen-Z customer seems to have taken a liking for it. 2022 seems to have changed the course of the brand, making its grand comeback with collaborations with brands like Jacquemus and bringing back its 1980s galore with the 990 series, ‘the daddiest of them dad sneakers’ which everyone now wants a pair of.
Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Classic
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Not exactly cringe, but this retro classic sneaker style saw a bit of a ‘stock-market’ kind of dip in its popularity. A style popular even before the sneaker industry was as conventional as it is today, we thank the utilitarian consumer market for bringing back this lost gem. Apart from looking great with every outfit and fit for every occasion, it is also a purchase that could last us our lifetime.
Adidas Samba
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Available in colors one desires, the Adidas Samba can also be customized to your liking, but, like white sneakers are an all-year-round classic, black seems to be the preferred choice of color to have in these sneakers, especially by the ladies. The unisex sneakers are seeing a steep increase in female buyers thanks to Bella Hadid, who was seen sporting the sneakers on one of many occasions she was spotted and captured by the Paps.
Onitsuka Mexico 66
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The Onitsuka Tiger has risen to power and made the TikTok generation fall in love with its Narrow, streamlined silhouette of the Mexico 66 signature collection, first created in 1968 to be worn at the Olympics by the Japanese team, which were held in Mexico that year. However, the selling factor of these shoes is that they were worn by Uma Thurman in the cult classic movie ‘Kill Bill’ in bright yellow, which remains the popular choice for many to buy, even today.
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Beepasha Jani
A 23-year-old Londoner born in Mumbai and raised in the Middle East who loves skating,
cooking Ottolenghi recipes, spending weekends with friends at Comedy clubs, is a hardcore Bollywood music fanatic, and above all, an advocate for Fashion with a growing interest in the sustainability aspects within the field.
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