One of my eighth graders wore the same pair of white sneakers every day from September until June. Snow. Slush. That weird week in April when the parking lot turned into a lake and the district still refused to explain why. Same sneakers. I asked him once if he kept another pair for emergencies and he gave me this look like I’d asked him if he kept another set of teeth.
Right about then I realized that the men’s sneaker conversation that’s happening online, the one I pretend to follow half the time, isn’t actually about real humans wearing real shoes for a real year.
My co-worker Dennis thinks the whole retro running shoe trend, dad sneakers renaissance, call it what you want, has peaked. That everyone’s going to swap back to low profile clean leather sneakers that look slightly more expensive than they are and that every bulky shoe is going to look as ridiculous as ice fell haircuts by 2023. I think Dennis is half right and half wrong, but only half wrong because Dennis only buys one pair of shoes every three years and acts like it’s making a statement about the industry. I buy sneakers like some guys buy fishing reels. Way too often. And with far too much justification. So I’ve had a ringside seat to what shoes actually hold up to versus what just looks good on Instagram shoot in LA in October.
The bulky sneaker trend isn’t dying it’s just being winnowed down.
Here’s what I think is going on. Outside of what Dennis thinks and outside of whatever The Sneaker Blog with Better Lighting than mine thinks, which is probably way more than I. That chunky sneaker trend started with people actually buying shoes to wear, not just look at. Thick soles that served a purpose, visible mesh that was actually meant to breathe. That New Balance 990 swagger isn’t going anywhere but it is being divided into two categories and most dudes can’t tell the difference between them when they’re buying.
Category 1 is the sneaker that wasn’t trendy first and designed second. The New Balance’s 990 collection falls into this category as do the Asics Gel Kayano before it got redesigned to be cool overnight. They’ve got heft to them. An engineering reason behind why that sole is chunky and I wore NB 990s for two winters here in Minnesota, salt stains included, that maintained their form throughout where most of the trendy_option loses shape to the sides after about four months.
Category 2 tried to cash in on category 1’s popularity. Cheap foam instead of well engineered cushioning, a silhouette that just looks vaguely like the cool kids but none of the craftsmanship. And those are the ones that are going to start looking dated earliest, not because the style of shoe goes out of favor, but because the shoe itself falls apart. I bought a pair of category two dudes back in 2021 from a brand I won’t mention because they don’t need my disgusted emails, and by the start of February the sole was already lifting up at the toe. That’s not a style problem, that’s a poor glue problem. When Dennis saw them falling apart he huffed about how he told you so, and I was kinda stuck explaining to him that he was right about that brand, but wrong about the style. Which isn’t nearly as satisfying but it’s the lesson you actually learn here.
So when people ask me “what’s trendy right now? Bulky or clean?” I feel like that’s not the right question at all. The real question is was any actual care put into the shoe in front of you? And honestly you can tell that pretty quickly once you wear it for six weeks, which is more time than most people wear something to decide they hate it.
Who I’d Actually Spend My Money On Right Now
Alright, if I’m being honest where I’d actually spend my money right now, and I have spent money here, way more than I’d comfortably tell my wife I did, it’s simple. And boring, at least when compared to whatever the trend articles are selling you right now.
New Balance’s 990 and 993 range, in grey. Just grey. Because grey doesn’t show salt stains and doesn’t pretend to be fashion. Know what doesn’t scream trendy: your dudes matching your outfit. I own three pairs of NB 990s right now. And that’s one too many. But the third pair weren’t purchased thoughtfully, they were purchased on a Tuesday while they were on sale.
Asics runners, either the Gel Kayano or the Gel 11,30, again for the same boring reasons, proper cushioning that was designed to handle actual walking, not sneakers that only look cushioned. I wore my Gel 1130s through one of the most sideways hail-turned-snowstorms we’ve ever had where the weather forecast literally said “flurries” and I still felt fine walking around in them. My pride was another story entirely, but that’s a jacket problem.
Simple leather low tops, think Common Projects if you can swing that or an Adidas Stan Smith if you can’t. Simple because Dennis is right about one thing. Sneakers that don’t bend over backwards to look cool still aren’t going anywhere, they’re just not talked about with the same fervor because it’s not a trend. You can still look cool in something that doesn’t need to scream it across rooftops. I’ve had a pair of Stan Smiths for 4 years that I reached for more often than ones I spent twice as much on and considered “trendy.”
Which brings me to what I’d skip. And I say this as someone who bought this exact thing.
Shoes without the Asics or New Balance built behind them that are trying to hit that bulky style. Because unless you’re putting money into those shoes you’re just getting a less comfortable shoe that’ll look worn out by March. Not ugly immediately but exhausted. Like that moment your favorite dunkin donut starts handing its secrets over to big corporate.
Most of you are reading this thinking “these trendy sneakers probs won’t hold up, yada yada yada.” Newsflash: They don’t. But that’s not the style argument we should be having. The style debate that everyone keeps having online is legitimate, it’s just not about style, it’s about did the company actually know how to make a good shoe before they tried to make a cool shoe? Trust the brands who have been doing it for years. Dennis can buy whatever he wants every few years, he lived in Chicago for long enough he probably has that right.
Gareth teaches in Leeds and dresses for four proper seasons, including the sideways rain. He writes about practical clothes, weatherproofing that actually works, and coats he’s put through a full Yorkshire winter.
