Over the past few years, Adidas Samba supremacy has refused to die (which, fair; they’re a beautiful, timeless trainer). More than that, though, anyone who’s opted for a Samba alt has tended to go for one of the many other slim, retro-looking silhouettes: your Puma Palermos, your Onitsuka Tigers, and such. Trainers that look like Sambas, but crucially aren’t. This has meant that everyone is now basically wearing the same sort of trainer, with the gummy sole and ’70s vibe. Except for one, that is… the one It-trainer that I’ve started to think of as the anti-Samba: the Nike Shox.
Here at British Vogue HQ, I’ve noticed that a lot of my colleagues are partial to a pair of Nike Shox. Usually the all-black TLs, which can look alarmingly chic for a sporty trainer and, oddly, smarten up a look as well as casualise it. But I’ve spotted a couple of all-white versions on the streets of London also. And, for the super brave, there’s the volt/fire red colourway which is giving Y2K. Essentially, they’re the anti-Samba because they’re everything the Samba isn’t: faintly futuristic, a little chunky and sporty, with a delectable glossy finish. There’s also something that feels quite British about the style, despite them having American origins (when Nike teamed up with British-Jamaican designer Martine Rose last year, the result was a wonderfully weird pair of Shox that essentially took over fashion month on both sides of the Atlantic).
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