My favorite sneaker of 2007

Well, Woody over at our favorite sneaker rag, Sneaker Freaker, asked me to write about my favorite sneaker of 2007 for the end of 2007 ish #11. I had a few I really loved, and many I truly coveted, but I finally narrowed it down to one. I sent in my text, he said he liked it, and the rest is history, on the shelves as we speak! Oops, not really. Turns out that Jesse from Alife also liked his (own) shoe best. So he got to do the piece...why? Cuz he actually designed the brilliant shoe? Cuz he gave Woody some beautiful pairs? Cuz he's cuter than me? Who knows...but here's my piece anyways! And, Jesse, congrats man. It's a great shoe.

Alife, alife, alife. The words play over and over the shoe. If you had told me I’d be loving some sneakers with Alife written all over them, I’da kept my ipod on and kept steppin’. I like Alife, but it just sounds tacky. And fluorescent stripes? Nah, sounds a little too chipper for me.

Well, let me eat my words. These are beautiful! First, the Puma First Round is simply a classic, with its handsome, low slung silhouette. But this Alife model goes way beyond that, topping the charts with a whole new look. The raised glossy letters pile on top of each other, serving as an eye-catching design element rather than the tacky ad that could have resulted from a poor rendition of this bold idea. And keeping with the bold, the puma stripes aren’t just fluorescent, aren’t just patent leather, but are also four different colors. (I love asymmetrical sneakers…)

Personally, I think bright colors got worn out this year, overplayed like a good pop song, in a way that makes you sad cuz you used to like it. But this pair did it right. They didn’t drown the shoe in fluorescent, but kept the design a slick white or black, and then popped it with the stripes and laces. Of course beautiful colors and textures are becoming the soundtrack over at Puma these days. The Bodes, the YO Raps, the Size? States…music to my ears! Ilikeit. I likeit. Ilikeit.