﻿10 Golden Rules Sneakers [0:00:00]
[Music] Golden rule number one,
avoid the hype. Don’t go with the latest trend, instead choose a classic timeless style.
Now, if you couldn’t tell, I’m not a sneaker head and I’ve got nothing against trends and fashion.
But I do think for the guy just starting off, the regular guy that wants to add sneakers to his
wardrobe, he needs to go with the style that isn’t going to go out of fashion within a few years.
Instead of going for flashy colors and the latest cuts, go for a style that you know is
going to work with your existing clothing. And that takes me to the next golden rule,
choose a color similar to the color of shoes you already have in your wardrobe.
It seems obvious, but if most of your shoes are brown, the outfits that you put together with it
are going to work with brown. So, when you choose a pair of sneakers in a similar shade,
they’re going to naturally seamlessly work in your wardrobe. If all your shoes are black,
then go with black sneakers. Maybe you want to change it,
go with a little bit of white there on the sole or go with a black sole. Point being is look at
what’s going to already work with the clothing you own, that way when you buy something, you actually
wear it and get your money’s worth out of it. The next golden rule is to know your history
and the different styles of sneakers out there. Sneakers have been in men’s wardrobe for over
a hundred and fifty years. Initially known as plimsolls over in England.
When they made it over to the United States, they took on the name sneakers
because the advertising agency said, “Hey, these shoes they have that rubber sole, you could sneak
up on somebody.” Makes sense, right? Now, whether you call them plimsolls
whether you call them sneakers, it doesn’t matter because in the 20th century, they
became popular because they were inexpensive to manufacture. Popular with children and
with sportsman because of the properties of the rubber sole, it gave the wearer grip.
Nowadays, sneakers come in a wide variety of styles, but for today’s video, I’m going to
make it simple. I’m going to break them into three families. We have basketball shoes,
we have running shoes, and we have tennis shoes. Now, when you think of iconic basketball shoes,
the one that pops up is the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star. This is the one that for decades set
the trend of the basketball shoe. Eventually, it was supplanted and nowadays the basketball
shoe industry is a huge industry. But, in general, what do we see? We see good grip
on the soles and we see high tops the majority. The next family of sneakers, running shoes. Now,
a lot of people think that swoosh company out of Oregon invented running shoes. Not true. J.W.
Foster out of England in 1895 developed the first pair of running shoes that had spikes.
Eventually, other companies in other countries started to develop shoes
for their athletes. We saw adidas in 1936 started to make shoes for the Germans.
But, it was in the 1970’s when that fad jogging became a worldwide phenomenon and
all of the sudden, the demand for a jogging shoe a running shoe for the average person
all of a sudden put running shoes on the map. And the third family we’re going to talk about
is the oldest design, the tennis shoe, the sailing shoe. This is a low top,
usually made with a leather upper. This is a shoe that has that rubber sole primarily a lot
of traction on it for gripping, whether you’re on a boat, whether you’re on a tennis court.
Now, really quick, gents, I want to thank today’s sponsor, Thursday Boots for making
today’s video possible. What? Thursday Boots makes sneakers? Yeah, they make damn good ones. In fact,
in classic styles that you can easily incorporate into your wardrobe.
Seriously, gents, if you’ve watched my channel, you guys know I love Thursday Boots,
quality at an affordable price. I know the founders. I love what this company stands for.
That being said, these guys did not stop at boots. They realized, hey,
you want great quality sneakers, casual shoes that you can wear on the weekend, great looking
shoes that will work with the clothing in your wardrobe and won’t break the budget.
Now, last year, Thursday launched their first sneaker collection. They were putting their
toes in the water, they wanted to see how you guys would react. But, they took the same craftsmanship
the quality they put into their boots and the affordable price right here into these sneakers.
I had their first collection. I got it right here. I’ve been wearing them. They’re
really nice, good quality, I love the stitching, I love the attention to detail.
Just like in their boots, they paid attention to the build the quality the materials.
Now, with this new collection, they brought in the classic colors, classic styles to
make it easy to match to be able to bring the stuff into your wardrobe. Oh! And did
I mention free shipping, free returns? And let’s talk about their insoles. This
vachetta leather is incredibly comfortable. I was wearing this the other day, I absolutely
love. When I put this on, it was like butter. And it’s a quality build. When I look at the
stitching, I look at the leather on the type of leather they are using, everything about
this screams quality. I mean, in person, this looks so much better than even on the website.
And they easily work with a lot of the outfits I already have in my wardrobe.
I wore this the other day and I got a couple of compliments. Yes, they were family friends,
but compliments are compliments. Point being, guys, if you’re looking to
pick up your first pair of sneakers, your tenth pair of sneakers, go check out Thursday Boots.
These are amazing deals and use that link down in the description to get the best deal on the
web. Seriously, guys, a great company, I’m proud to support them and go look at all the options.
Beautiful shoes at an affordable price. Again, gents, use that link down in the
description to check out Thursday Boots premier low top sneaker collection. This
is a great collection, love the styles, love the looks, and I know you will too. So, guys,
use that link, go check them out. [0:04:52]
The next golden rule, canvas is cool, but leather is king. I have nothing against canvas,
it’s lightweight, it’s going to be more affordable. But, when it comes to an athletic
shoes something you’re going to be actually sweating in, wearing maybe on the basketball
court, to the gym, then, yeah, canvas is fine. But, for a day-to-day sneaker that’s just going
to be a little bit more put together, it’s going to have just a little bit better of a look to it,
I think that leather is worth spending a little bit more money on and getting something
that works great that looks good on you. And this is especially key if you’re wearing
sneakers every day. You’re wearing them into the office. You want a go-to shoe, go for leather.
The next golden rule, no, when you want to wear sneakers; no, when you want to wear dress shoes.
Guys, you’ve got to understand dress codes. So, sneakers as much as I love leather
sneakers and they look good, I’m not going to wear this with a suit. If I decide to
wear this with a suit, then you better either own the company or be paying for the event.
You’ve got to understand that if you’re going to wear this with something that’s formal,
it’s really breaking a lot of rules. Now, you can own it and you could find a way to make it work,
but for the vast majority of men, you’ve got to understand that there are certain
shoes to wear with certain events and certain pieces of clothing.
This right here, a pair of classic brogues, so this is going to work great with odd trousers,
sports jacket. I could wear this with a casual suit. For, yeah, a more formal suit, I want to
go with a more formal shoe. Point being is to know your shoes and when you should wear them.
The next golden rule is don’t be afraid to spend a little bit more to get exactly what you want.
Buy quality. I can’t stress this enough. So many people decide to go cheap,
they think that they’re saving money, they’re not. Because eventually the shoes discolor,
they start to crack if they’re made with plastic or made with an inferior material.
You want to make sure that you’re buying one with great leather on the outside or if you’re going to
go with canvas, make sure that whatever you buy, you buy quality. You cry once about the price
and then you’re happy because you got exactly what you wanted. Because if
you don’t buy quality especially with shoes, they are going to break down very quickly.
As a kid, I remember we used to buy these cheap plastic shoes over at Payless and within a month,
they would have holes and cracks in them. So, when you go and you buy leather, which leather can take
tens of thousands of basically folds like that before it even starts to show anywhere to that.
You do need to maintain them and that is another golden rule I will hit on is take
care of your footwear. So many people they go out there and the buy leather shoes and
they don’t clean them, they don’t wash them. They don’t actually use a conditioner on the leather
to make sure that they stay supple. Leather is a skin, so it will need to be
reconditioned. Not all the time, you can probably get away with using a leather moisturizer or
conditioner on a pair of shoes like this. Even if you live in the Arizona desert, I would say
once a month if you wear them every single day. But, you know, if you’re, you know, getting an
inclement weather, you do get them wet, then it is something because they’re made from a leather
material, you’re going to want to let them dry naturally and then use a moisturizer. Make sure
you go with one that doesn’t have any color. That way, it doesn’t color light-colored shoes.
But, yeah, take care of your footwear. Now, the next golden rule in wearing sneakers
actually doesn’t have to do with the sneakers, but the pants that you pair with them. You
want to make sure that you go for the right size pants especially how they fit in your leg and how
they’re going to fit overall with your body type. I like slim, I like tapered pants when you’re
wearing sneakers, it just looks better. You don’t want to go with something that’s overly baggy,
a large bootcut. It just proportionally doesn’t seem to work for the sneakers and for
the build and just the overall look is bad. And don’t forget to hem your pants. You don’t
want the pants to be so long that the back of your pants is getting caught on that back part
of your sneaker because over time it’s going to tear up the pants and it just looks bad. It does,
it looks sloppy and you want to be able to show off these good looking sneakers.
You want that look put together. So, make sure proportionally you find the right pants
the right jeans the right chinos that work with the sneakers and work with your body.
Now, this next golden rule seems obvious, but, guys, buy a pair of sneakers that fit your
feet properly. So, different brands use different lasts. Now, last is the foot design that they use
to build the sneaker around. You want to make sure when you’re putting the sneakers on
that they feel good. If something feels off, they feel too tight, they feel just
too small in a certain area, do not buy them. Or if you’re going to say, I’m going to try to
make this work, wear them around your house, but wear them on carpet, so that you could return
them. Because if you’re out wear them around town, you tear up the bottom of them, then
they’re not going – going to be unreturnable. You want to make sure that you can test and
you can usually feel this within just a few minutes of walking around your house. Yeah,
I’m going to need to send this back. They are too tight in this one area.
Guys, I will say looking on the inside of sneakers, if they’re not using an inner lining,
to me, that’s a sign of poor quality. When you’ve got a leather inner lining, what does
this here for is to absorb a bit of sweat. That’s going to make it much more comfortable
whenever you’re wearing the shoe over time. That leather is just going to absorb the sweat,
it’s going to actually going to go through the shoe or anything like that. But,
that is one of the things I look for, a little bit of cushioning as well around the edges.
And you want to make sure that they’ve got enough laces. Sometimes they don’t have
enough for the eyelets and the laces don’t go very much. It’s not going to be allowed – it’s
not going to give you room to tighten it in a way that’s going to feel comfortable.
Now, this next golden rule bonus and you may disagree with me. And if you do,
let me know down in the comments below, but I think you should start off with
low tops. They’re a lot easier for most men to bring into their wardrobe and I actually
feel that they look better with mot outfits. High tops take a little bit more skill. I think,
you know, if maybe you got already a couple of pairs of sneakers, then for sure,
bring them in. But, agree? Disagree? I’d love to hear from you guys down below.
[0:10:01] So, what video to watch next? How about the
ten golden rules to wearing chelsea boots? I break it down, I explain how to do it right here. And,
you know, it’s not super complicated, but I do point out some things you want to avoid
doing, so it’s a good video. Go check it out, guys. I’m going
to hold it up here for a few more seconds. Yeah, it’s a good one. Go check it out.
All right, guys. Take care. [0:10:20] End of audio