The clichéd thing to say here is that Adam "Air Rev"  Leaventon has forgotten more about sneakers than you'll ever know, but the truth is—and if you read this whole thing you'll understand—Adam doesn't seem to have forgotten a damn thing. He grew up a sneaker fanatic, paid his collector dues digging in musty basements for forgotten gems, then later parlayed his years of study into a career as an exec at Puma and DC Shoes. Right now he's testing free agency, but that's a good thing for us, as we were able to tap into his seemingly boundless knowledge. Read on and enjoy. Once upon a Borg, around about 1985, you already had your Bruins, your Shells and your Suedes, and maybe—if you were a fly type of player—your patent leather Concord Mids. If you lived in Philadelphia, New York or Baltimore, maybe you had your Air Force 1s. You tried to have something nobody ever saw before. You tried to customize your joints and put three pairs of laces in them to get that color combination just right and all yours. 

And at some point you might have said to yourself, “damn, I have laced my joints bar style, zigzag and checkerboard; I have jelly rolled them; and dyed them a shade of burgundy that no other cat has done.” sports shoes sale in melbourneUltimately, however, they bit your style. nike free shoes americaHow then, my fashionable friend, could you achieve the style they hadn’t obtained yet?nike black shoes with red laces For a very brief period of time around 1985-86, there was an unusual convergence of rap culture and European culture. nike high tops jordansFILA was an extremely high-end European proposition. best men's shoes to wear in the rain

Ellesse had a jewel on the back, and you couldn’t afford it. Brands like T.R.O.O.P. and British Knights were about to ride the Euro wave and make paper, and emcees were moving the dial with English accents, both legitimate and make-believe. new golf shoes adidasIn that moment, just before Nike put a headlock on the athletic lifestyle market, sidewalks were saturated with Nike, adidas and Puma. But step into your friendly neighborhood sporting goods store, and next to the catgut and Babolat, Kneissl and Prince, you were drawn in by a wall of something very different for your feet. No one could tell you they were skippies either. Euro-pedigreed, and very new to the U.S.. Imported to the store by your favorite retailer. Imported to the block by you. The list you are about to read details out The 50 Greatest Tennis Sneakers of All Time. The list is necessarily personal and is generally based on the following criteria:

Style: This is criteria number one. It is why I started buying shoes, and why most people reading Complex do also. Innovation: This is not an article about performance tennis. Still, innovation and forward progress are mission critical for footwear companies. Innovation can come in the form of performance technology, but can also come in the form of advances in fashion or in the manufacturing process. Story: I am a sucker for a good story. I like the G Vilas, but I really like what Guillermo Vilas was doing during Wimbledon in 1982. I wonder if he was doing it in Puma. Tennis shoes are dope, I am honored to have the opportunity to dialogue on this topic. Feedback is 100 percent welcome. and I'll respond if I can. In the meantime, bust out your Shoe Goo and get to reading!Since their inception in 1972, Nike has been producing — for lack of a better term — game-changing footwear in every category, even inventing some of their own along the way. Like every company they've had their ups and downs, it's just that their ups have been, shall we say, Jordanesque.

So with no further ado, we present The 100 Best Nikes of All Time. RELATED: Sneaker Report - The 10 BestNike Lunar Running Shoes Thank you to Gary Warnett (@gwarizm) for his input and guidance, and apologies for leaving off the Omega Flame.Whether you know them by another name (trainers, kicks, runners, daps, or in my case, 'my babies'), there's no denying that sneakers' appeal goes way beyond functional footwear. The logo design, colourway, style and even packaging design all play a part, but there is still an indefinable quality that marks out your favourites. Historically, sneakers have been a mark of our tribe, a product of our time, an outward reflection of context and culture. Countless sneakers have become indisputable design icons, up there with the design classics of any age. Whether you're an indie gal married to your lo-fi canvas Chuckie Ts; a lanky hoop-scoring 'boss' who wouldn't be seen dead in anything but hi-tech fat Air Jordans; or a modern-day casual for whom vintage Adidas Trimm Trabs are everything, you've got to admit that there are some sneaker designs that are so classic, so iconic, so damn influential that they deserve a place on any classic design list, whatever your tastes.

So with all that said, agonisingly wrestled down from a long, long list of favourites, here's my take on the 20 best sneaker designs ever – and note, these are not in order! The Air Max 1 wasn't the first shoe to use Nike's technologically advanced air cushioning system. That honour falls to trailblazers like the Tailwind, the almighty Air Force 1 and 1982's Air Ace. However, 1987's Air Max 1 was the first to bare its innards to all with its 'visible air' window. Despite the technology, they still manage to look ultra-cool even to this day. A legendary shoe and an undeniable design classic, whatever your personal taste. Virtually unchanged since first release in 1916, Converse All Stars (or 'Chuck Ts', so named after early endorsement by basketball star Charles Taylor) are ubiquitous amongst students, skaters, indie kids, punks and primary school children. Now there's a demographic to die for! The Trimm Trab has been a hugely popular design classic since its release in Adidas' native Germany in the mid-70s.

Adopted with enthusiasm by hordes of 80s UK football 'casuals' as regulation de rigeur Saturday afternoon terrace footwear, the solid chunked-up rubber polyurethane sole remains instantly recognisable. Sadly, finding a mint vintage pair is practically impossible, as the soles on the original models famously deteriorated over time, even when unworn. It's difficult to overstate the impact that Nike's first Air Jordan release had on sneaker design and fashion in general, back in 1985. In its original (now-iconic) red/black colourway, the shoe was originally banned by the NBA in the US for breaking its colour rules. History shows that banning rarely harms the banned, and these beefy Michael Jordan-endorsed hi-top bad-boys soon became enormous sellers, leading to an seemingly never-ending line of follow-ups. Interestingly, the Air Jordan 1 is the only shoe in the Jordan series to feature Nike's trademark Swoosh logo. Following its inception in the late 1940s, Japan's Onitsuka Tiger quickly made huge strides in the development of sneaker technology and design.

Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman (later to form Nike) helped Onitsuka design the Corsair, which would be re-designed further to become the Cortez, an early Nike classic. The Corsair's striking design features the iconic curvaceous tiger 'stripes' weaving along the sides. These were actually first introduced with the also-classic Tiger 'Mexico', the stripes as much a metaphor for speed, movement and power, as a means of providing additional foot support for the wearer. Puma States (or Suedes as they're known in the US) are a timeless piece of classic design with a long and illustrious history. Tommy Smith made his famous Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics sporting a pair, and they've been much-loved by basketball players (Knicks legend Clyde Frazier was a famous endorsee), hip-hop stars, skate crews and street casuals ever since. The old-school classic 'Superstar' is an off-the-scale design sneaker icon. Not just because the instantly recognisable low-top shell-toe design is simply 'cool-as', but because of its massive impact across so many musical trends, cultures and tribes.

Enjoying instant popularity on courts when released in 1969 as a basketball shoe, its subsequent adoption by hip-hop crews in early '80s New York (helped along just a smidge by Run DMC's My Adidas homage) led to a massive explosion in popularity for the Superstar. Released in 1965 and endorsed by US tennis legend Stan Smith, these eponymous adidas sneakers are quite simply legendary. So much so that they were treated to a re-release in 2014. The epitome of classic, understated design, these beautifully simple all-leather works of art are a striking triumph in 'less is more', particularly notable for the three rows of perforations where the usual adidas three stripes would appear. Not a shoe typically found in top 'all time' lists, and certainly not deemed 'cool' by those in the know, but nevertheless... this is my list, right? So, I have a confession: I'm a sucker for Etnies Faders. A classic, appealing aesthetic, understated contrasting colourways and solid sturdy construction add up to a modern design classic that I absolutely love to wear.