I bought the Cruyff Vanenburgs after seeing someone wearing them with rolled up chinos at a Logan Square coffee shop and deciding, right there while waiting in line for a cold brew, that my sneaker rotation was missing something vaguely shoe-shaped and that the hole was shaped exactly like a 1970s Dutch footballer’s name on the side of a shoe. Which is to say I did zero research beforehand. Zero reviews. Zero sizing confirmations. Cold brew stronghold/pub gym to marketing pipeline in approximately two hours flat.
The box they arrived in felt cheaper than the sixty five dollars I just dropped on them. Should’ve been red flag number one.
Wasn’t. Got too caught up in how nice the panel work looked, how that curved leather piece ran along the side like a lazy check mark, to care that the sole looked like it was made of spare skinny tie material and/or hotel slippers.
The Things They Don’t Promise Before You Lace Up For The First Time
Here’s the deal with Cruyff as a whole brand though, and I say this having now owned three pairs over the last two years, which is generously more than anyone should need from a brand most Americans haven’t heard of and most Dutch dudes just treat like.. the bread shop down the street? Unremarkable, but there. In person, these shoes look good in a way that doesn’t quite translate to photos. I’m not saying they’re the pinnacle of menswear shoes here. What I’m saying is when you’re actually standing next to a Cruyff, on your feet, walking past a storefront mirror you hadn’t planned on stopping at, it does something. Clicks a box. That check mark panel with the low profile, it’s cooler looking than a Stan Smith but smarter than your basic North Face fresh foam in white leather. Put them on for the first time and your mind is blown. Mike Myers blew his mind, steak emojis, the whole nine.
Then you spend a full day wearing the damn thing, and the narrative changes quickly. My first pair, Vanenburgs in that off white leather gave me a blister on my left heel four hours into what was easily the least foot intensive day of my life. Saturday, did not hike, did not climb, did not anything particularly strenuous. Just walked around Chicago, lived my normal Chicago life. Lunch. Lines. Sitting down for a bit and standing up again. Every step after “sit down for twenty minutes” was torture on that heel. My theory is the heel counter was too stiff, not just “new shoe tight” stiff, but unlike anything I wear across stiff leather on a brand whose sizing I actually know. It felt less “quality material breaking in” and more “we haven’t tested this with an actual foot yet.” Required me to limp the last quarter mile home and I did not wear them for three weeks out of spite.
I wanna be balanced about this because pair number two, the Nivel in navy suede, did not suffer from any of that. Collar was softer. Break in was welcome. No blister. Actually comfortable by day two. So when I say the story changes… it’s not changing to “every single Cruyff shoe will destroy your feet.” Problem’s murkier than that and honestly far worse for the brand than if I had a clear opinion either way. Merciless. The quality control yo-yos in a way that literally makes me wonder if they inspect every pair or just blindly ship based on whether production hit their numbers that week. It’s inconsistent shoe to shoe, and when you’re hovering around sixty dollars a shoe…
The Pricing Issue and Where I Finally Stand on Cruyff
Sixty dollars to ninety, depending on model, lives in this uncomfortable arena where the cost is too high to excuse a botched pair as “two cups of coffee” and not high enough that you feel justified expecting bespoke, learned-from-hard-knowledge construction that can survive four hours of Saturday foot activity without blistering. Every time I think about that price gap I hate Cruyff more than I did the blister, which is saying something because Caps Lock BLISTER BROKEN APPLEGATE. I’ve bought forty dollar pairs from thrift stores that lasted me longer than my first Cruyffs and I’ve spent two hundred dollars on sneakers that felt like they were constructed by people who had actually worn identical models on their feet.
You’re asking mostly-middle class folks to pay sneakers almost-but-not-quite Birkenstock prices for a product that, in my experience at least, has a fifty fifty shot at making it through breaking in with your feet intact. That’s not okay just because it fits well and Michelite looks nice on your ankle in hipster joke shop downtown. If your shoe doesn’t earn its price tag through material alone, or comfort, or just… doing its damn job on an actual human foot for a regular day of regular walking, then you’re selling yourself short on everything but the logo and cursory google image searches. Cruyff doesn’t know enough about George Best to have him mean anything to most of your customers yet, which means “feel nostalgic about our underrated sponsor” doesn’t apply.
I don’t think Cruyff is bonafide skating away on their brand, Nivel solved that concern for me, but I think they’re smoking close enough to the weird Columbian butter they advertise on every pair that I wouldn’t suggest someone take a chance on buying without trying first. Now we’re down to it. You came here already knowing whether or not you wanted to buy, let me not waste your time.
Are Cruyff trainers good? Good enough to where I still keep a couple pairs on hand as rotation fills, but not good enough that I won’t warn you to please try before buying. Feel them up in the store if you can. Walk around, actually wear them before you throw money at something you think looks nice based on Instagram. That swoopy panel is sexy, but it won’t protect you from forty dollars of traumatized skin if your shoes are like my Vanenburgs and not like my Nivels.
If you’re set on ordering online, and we live in that world now so of course you are, grab the suede versions over the smooth leather whenever possible. Took mine for two successful pairs. Beyond that though, there’s simply no telling if you’re getting my blister-city experience or my wonderland of comfy dreams and you can’t know until it’s on your feet and too late. First world shoe buyer problems.
Marcus started the menswear section after getting fed up with coverage that called a two hundred and fifty pound hoodie an easy Tuesday buy. Based in London, he writes about pricing, returns policies and what brands actually deliver.
