Making Retro Sneakers That Look Right Isn't As Easy As You'd Think

We all complain about retros, but one designer explained on why it's not as easy to produce the sneakers as one would assume.

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To a portion of the core sneaker-collecting community, it's almost as if there's nothing else worth purchasing other than retros. You know, the archival models that are released on a regular basis. Often, there are complaints about quality, shape, and price when it comes to these throwback products, though.

Some see it as brands taking shortcuts, and that may be true. Many don't know, however, that it's a time-consuming process to make sure the silhouette of a certain model is reproduced correctly. That's tough when something's been out of production for decades.

One collection that seemingly got things right was adidas' recent release of the SPEZIAL capsule, designed by Gary Aspden. In a recent interview, Aspden talked to Crooked Tongues editor and Complex contributor Gary Warnett about how difficult it was to get everything looking proper.

"The thing I’ve learnt is that the gum-soled stuff is actually quite hard to bring back because the lasts from that era are very different to the ones we have now. I’m currently working on shoes for winter 2015 and if you haven’t got the right last…" Aspden lamented. "I’ll go up there with a vintage shoe and we’ll actually look for the last that’s as close to it as possible. If I can’t find the right last, we have to say no. We’ve got to second round samples we had to scrap because it wasn’t near enough. I’d rather it be dropped."

For those complaining about their favorite sneakers that are brought back, at least there's one person out there who's making sure everything is right.

[via 032c]