If there's one thing I'm personally sick of as a sneaker editor, it's the rise of the brands trying to charge high-end prices for Italian-made, all-white sneakers that are basically knockoffs of the adidas Stan Smith. It's boring, contrived, and usually perpetrated by people who are jumping on a bandwagon rather than having a genuine appreciation for sneakers. I'm not the only person who feels that way.
Skylar Bergl at Four Pins — he's sitting two desks away as I type this — has had enough of the Common Projects copycats and decided to do a takedown on this topic, titled "We Don't Need Another Minimal Sneaker Brand."
In his piece, he states that this sneaker trend is very similar to the selvedge denim wave that rose a few years ago, with brands coming out of the woodwork to create a simple product at a luxury price point. As Bergl writes, "The basic sneaker has been beaten like a dead horse ready to head to the glue factory. Why not try something a little different? Put a spin on the design and make it something that doesn't immediately elicit groans of "rip-off." Sure, that requires some extra ingenuity, creativity, design, research and time. Undoubtedly, some people will probably hate it. But at least we'll have an opinion."
Read the rest of his complaints here.
