Oi Polloi + Reebok | Magical Mystery Trainers

It's an interesting way to launch a trainer, not to give away a single detail - but that's exactly what the guys at Oi Polloi are doing.

For their latest collaboration there's no pictures, no details, just a silhouette of a shoe and a list of sizes. The shoe in question looks like a Stan Smith, but this time they're collaborating with Reebok, rather that adidas (although granted, Reebok are owned by adidas - so no harm there, surely).

Oi Polloi are planning a fairly exclusive launch party to reveal these trainers to the world. For your chance to win an invite, drop your email address on their site here.

Good luck!

Sneakers | A longing for PF Flyers

Longing (adverb)

“a strong desire especially for something unobtainable”.

We’ve all felt it. As children it can be for almost anything, like those brightly-coloured sweets promising untold pleasures. But your pocket money has run out and your parents won’t treat you. “This is a valuable lesson", they say. You lie face-down on the pavement and pound the floor with your tiny, helpless fists.

As a teenager, the girl next door creates such longing you think your heart will break in two unless she notices you, returns a smile, or laughs at your immature jokes. Then she moves to Lancashire and leaves you singularly alone.

For adults, longing is more abstract. We’re cynical creatures, protecting ourselves from unrealistic fantasies by a lifetime of emotional armour.

Sometimes we yearn for simple things like a lie-in at the weekend, or a week of winter sun. But there is deeper longing too: for the youth which was wasted on us at the time, or hardest of all, for the one that got away.

PF Flyers know longing. Their designs hark back to a simpler time, referencing classic baseball and basketball styles. Their catalogue features archival reissues of the shoes which made the brand so popular in the 1950s and 60s, and this heritage appeals to anyone wanting an alternative to the ubiquitous Converse All Stars.

In American baseball nostalgia-fest, The Sandlot (1993), PF Flyers are imbued with almost mystical properties; “shoes guaranteed to make a kid run faster and jump higher” – which comes in handy at the film's climax. The Center Hi Sandlot Edition is an all-black colourway available in celebration of that rose-tinted coming-of-age movie. But not only does the brand continue to honour its roots with its vintage styles and authentic detailing, it collaborates with contemporary designers, artists and trend-setters, knowing that nostalgia will be around for a while.

I've worn PFs almost exclusively for 10 years. I love the combination of classic silhouettes and contemporary touches. And they are the most comfortable sneakers I've ever owned.

Sadly, it's hard to find them in the UK these days. They're owned by New Balance – a brand that's been having its own renaissance in recent years – so PFs are not regularly distributed or marketed here. I have imported several pairs from the States, but it's a costly business. I long for a time when I could buy them in little independent stores in Soho, but, like all of us, I long for many things I can't have.

- Adam. Designer.

You can find Adam on Twitter and at Street and Two Veg.

What's your route? Nike + Glenmuir

Runners seem to be creatures of habit - I know I am. Favourite shorts, favourite t-shirt, favourite socks, favourite trainers, favourite route. All the favourites.

It probably won't come as a surprise that my favourite running shoes are Nikes. Well, they didn't use to be. I was more of an Asics man, but trying out some Lunar Flyknits has changed my preference. They're incredibly light, yet solid enough to provide some support on the endless concrete, stone, and asphalt I pound along in London.

Pound. Ha ha. As if I go that fast! I counted at least five people who overtook me on the way home tonight.

That's my most travelled route. The run home from a client's office - when I'm there. It's a great run. Shoreditch, to the City, over the bridge at St Paul's, and then a long home stretch along the South Bank.

A few small ups, a few small downs, and plenty of tourists to dodge in the summer. Distraction comes from the brilliance of London. The different views, different landmarks, different running surfaces. Perfect.

Aside from that, I try my best to mix things up. A loop around Westminster is a particular favourite, but I'm starting to explore a bit further by running along tube line or two and catching the train back.

I'm sure the other folks on the tube are happy with that! Although, I'm usually well dressed - donning Glenmuir base layers. They're good in the cold and the warm. Wicking away the sweat or holding in the warmth.

Anyway, that's my route (or two) what about yours?

Making my Nike iDs

I've been lucky recently, to say the least. About a year ago, I owned a single pair of Nikes (Nike Free 5.0 in black, if you're asking). Now, I own five.

Now there's a well worn pair of trainers!

Yep, that's right, five pairs. One for each day of the week and a pair of slippers for the weekend. I'm getting old.

Three of my pairs are iDs, with the fourth a 'thank you' present for an NFL training session at Wembley (Nike 5.0 Trainers, if you're asking).

The iD process is simple, the actual undertaking is not. Log-in, choose your shoes, and then spend an age agonising about exactly how they're to look.

Don't forget, these are a pair of shoes that define you - as you're the one who made them!

Left to my own devices, I choose the conservative option. My Lunar Flyknits and my Free Flyknits, both black. But I've tried my best to push my own creativity and go for some bold colours. The Lunars are orange, while the Frees glow in the dark - honest, they do!

The third pair - the first iDs I ever made - are a little different. Working with Pendleton, we were convinced / persuaded / encouraged to push the boat out a little. So they're green, grey, and red, with a large white sole.

A very different pair, I worried for weeks that they'd look terrible, and that's the 'problem' (read: fun) of iDs - the panic over what the trainers will look like in the end.

I needn't have worried and I don't care what anyone else thinks, these are without doubt my favourite pair of trainers. Hopefully they'll last me a few more years before I'm back on the Nike iD website yet again.

Universal Works x Walsh: City Runner Project

Bolton. Not a town you'd associated with trainers. More likely Peter Kay, Championship football, and a town gradually being swallowed by Manchester.

But you should, you really should, as that's where Walsh are based.

While other trainer brands trip over themselves in the search for a history, Walsh have it in spades.

Starting as a manufacturer of athletics and fell running shoes - that's right, fell running (check that grip!) - they stepped into the everyday sneaker market with their range of casual trainers and have now gone a stride further, collaborating with Universal Works on the City Runner Project.

If you don't know Universal Works, you should do. Pay them a visit online or at one of their stores in Soho or on Lamb's Conduit Street.

Together, the Walsh and Universal Works collaboration brings us a UK designed, UK made trainer, available in three colours, named after three cities: London, Tokyo, and Paris.

It's a stylish trainer, but don't take my word for it - see the sneakers in action, modelled on the streets of their namesakes.

We were luckily enough to be invited to the launch (lets play spot the dork!). A couple of beers, a sculpture made from shoe boxes, and a discussion about blueberry yoghurt - a standard product launch, to be honest.

Based on the success of the launch alone, I'll be surprised if Walsh and Universal Works aren't thinking of the next trainer as we speak...

Images: Universal Works and Walsh.

Sneakers: The Trump Card Game

This is just for fun really. A quick post that I thought sneaker (trainer) fans might be interested in.

Sneakers: The Trump Card Game, sounds geeky and is geeky. But who doesn't need something to keep them busy on a long car journey - especially when you've ventured so far from London that the 4G no longer works.

They might come in handy soon, actually. The Buckets and Spades team are planning a European adventure for 2015. We already have a few sponsors on-board (including a car company!), but there's still a space for a brand to sponsor the in-car entertainment.

Either that or we'll just record endless podcasts as we drive through Northern Europe - and no-one wants that!

Pendleton x NikeiDs x ASOS

When I was a kid, designing your own trainers involved colouring them in with felt-pen. Honestly, there was a trainer you could buy made specifically for the purpose. Totally white, with some (probably poisonous) luminous pens that would stain your sneakers, fingers, sofa, and walls.

Oh well, I'm sure it's done me no harm. If I even had a pair, that is.

NikeiDs take this ace idea and do it properly.

From their website, you can customise your trainers however you like - and I do mean HOWEVER you like. The choice of options is ridiculous. From the eyelets, to the laces, to the colours of the specks on the sole, everything is up for grabs, even the name on the back (or tongue)!

We were lucky enough to get some help with the design. Some of Nike's finest folks to guide us throw the process, a beer, and a donut, all served up at ASOS HQ in North London. The one stipulation, or rather encouragement, was that we used Pendleton fabrics.

I know what you're thinking. Nike, ASOS, and now Pendleton? How many brands does one trainer need? And who are Pendleton?

The first answer is yes, the second three, and the third, check out Pendleton's history here.

Pendleton are a brand that Americans know very well, but hasn't had much in the way of exposure over here. It's a shame. We're really missing out. Their shirts are brilliant and fit right in with my love of Levi's and Red Wing. Basically, a classic American workwear brand. Perfect!

Anyway, being given some fabrics to play with in the design of the trainer was actually quite fun, rather than restraining. At least it gave me somewhere to start, rather than the completely blank slate available to anyone visiting the NikeiD website.

We're back at that felt-pen training again or perhaps I'm just someone who needs a helping hand when it comes to creativity.

Either way, I'm very pleased with my trainers, so much so I'm making another pair...more on that soon.

Image: My Instagram (mostly).

Win a Year's Supply of adidas Originals

Mat Pike of Buckets and Spades introduces a competition you can't say no to...

Would you like to win a year’s supply of adidas Originals trainers? That’s a rhetorical question, as we all know the answer.

As a kid you’d hear, “win a year’s supply of cereal…win a year’s supply of cat food” - but what does that really mean?

Well, our friends at Mainline Clothing are offering one lucky so-and-so the chance to win a fresh pair of adidas Originals trainers every month for 12 months. So that’s a box-fresh pair of classic streetwear every four weeks - your mates will be thinking you've starting working for good old Adi Dassler or something!

From training to street, beach to festival, adidas has become synonymous with today’s fast-paced modern culture, and the person who is lucky enough to win this competition will find themselves right at the top of their game.

Superstar, Stan Smith, Gazzelle, Topanga, Spezial, Beckenbauer, Hamburg, ZX Flux, Adilette….count this as your brand new starting line-up for your already packed out trainer cupboard. Room for 12 more?

To be in with a chance of winning a year’s supply of adidas Original trainers head over to Mainline Menswear.

- Mat (@mat_buckets)

Images: Taken from our Pinterest Sneakers & Shoes wall.

Blinded by the Light | Le Coq Sportif Eclats

Just when you thought you had anything you needed, a brand comes along and designs more stuff for you to sink your wages into.

Glow-in-the-dark trainers…I know, they wouldn’t look out of place in a primary school playground.

Well I never did get those flashing lights LA Gear trainers, and there’s no doubt I’d look a 100% wally stomping around in those on the mean streets of Lancashire - so maybe these Glow in the Dark trainers by Le Coq Sportif would be a good compromise.

With the Eclat being one of the French brand’s signature and most recognisable models, it seems only a matter of time before they started a “pimp-my-trainer” scheme by sticking all the bells and whistles on them.

Or in this case giving them to Ghostbusters treatment.

I’ve only just bought myself a pair of Le Coq Sportfit Eclat trainers in the Xmas sales (after seeing one of the Harry Stedman team in them and having visited their fine looking store in Seven Dials, Covent Garden), so I may hold off just a while to see if I really want them.

Or maybe I’ll be swayed while on one of my midnight bike rides by an unsuspecting streetwear ninja.

Le Coq Sportfit Glow In The Dark Eclat available at size? very soon.

- Mat. Editor of Buckets and Spades.

You can find Mat on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Images: Le Coq Sportif.

Sneaker Watch | Nike Free Trainer 3.0

Some people get very excited about the technology behind trainers. The materials, techniques, and devices used in their construction.

That's cool.

Part of me wishes I could understand more about intricacies of trainer design. Who knows, perhaps I will, one day.

For now, I'll appreciate their look and take the slightly conservative approach that if a brand's product has worked for me in the past, it'll work for me in the future. A limited outlook, I know, but one that hasn't seen me too far wrong.

I'm the proud owner of two pairs of Nikes (that's right, two whole pairs!) - one, a pair of black Nike Free 5.0; the other, a pair of Nike Free Trainer 5.0 that Nike were kind enough to give me for attending an NFL training session at Wembley, for Buckets and Spades.

I'm always looking to add to that meagre collection, as Nike are a brand who get their trainers right.

A strange thing to say, but there is never a press release I receive from Nike and wince at - a lot of other brands, who do produce some great stuff, regularly produce a dud.

These Nike Free Trainer 3.0 are exactly what I mean. Click the link and admire.

Read the tech specs if you like, but I'm already wearing these (in my head) to the gym, for a run, or on the walk to the climbing wall. So good, so Nike.

Pictures: Nike.

Like Nike? Like Running? Check this piece on running shoes and this one on running in London.

Running Gear | Asics GT-3000 2

This Christmas I was recommended the book Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. As the Kindle app icon whirled through the download, I started thinking of that age-old debate as to whether or not running is actually good for you.

While there's no argument that running doesn't aid your cardiovascular capacity, while burning calorie after calorie, the damage that can be caused by the high impact nature of running is frequently cited as a reason not to run.

As strange as it sounds, I enjoy running too much to care. My knees still work, and after a run, I don't ache anymore than after football, rowing, climbing, or the gym, so I'll carry on for now.

Perhaps it's my trainers that help.

I was always told never to skimp on decent running shoes.

Okay, the person who said that was trying to sell me a pair. He does a lot of running though, so I trust his judgement. Besides, running definitely is a high impact activity, there's no escaping that. Shoes that cushion, support, and don't peel your toenails off can only be a good thing.

Everyone I speak to has their own preference for running shoes, discovered either through trial and error or via a gait analysis. This preference usually extends to a brand, as well as a style. For me, that's Asics and in particular the GT-3000 range (formerly the GT-3030 range).

I won't go into the technical details of how, why, or what makes this trainer my favourite - mainly, as I don't understand them. Instead, I'll point you in the direction of this piece from Runner's Forum and simply say that these are the most comfortable running shoes I've ever worn, supporting my feet for every mile I've run in the last year, and still feeling as good as new.

Pictures: Asics website.

Like running? Check out my piece on running in London or my adventures at Tough Mudder 2014.

Oi Polloi + Adidas | Introducing the Ardwick

Trainers breed fanatics. Not just people who love this type of footwear (see #thedailytrainer), but people who are obsessed with a particular style or brand, considering to buy or wear no other.

When it comes to Adidas, Nigel Lawson, of Manchester based clothing store Oi Polloi, is most definitely in the fanatic category. And now, he's had his just rewards for years of championing the brand, working with Adidas to create a trainer exclusively for Oi Polloi - the Ardwick.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll let the words of Oi Pollio's own blog explain the project, the product, and some of the obscure tales behind their obsession with trainers.

Oi Polloi have 200 pairs of Adidas Ardwicks to sell in-store from 8am on Sunday 14th December. Get queuing now!