Shoes

In the back of my head, I keep telling myself that I need to get some new shoes - something light and flat-bottomed, as opposed to my current CAT walking kicks. The only thing close to an athletic shoe that I own is a sweet pair of sweet Nike Free.

If I do buy something new, I’m not looking to spend much money - about $40. Come to think of it, I think I’ve seen Airwalk shoes around that hover at that price at Wal*Mart or Zellers or Payless.

I remember a time when Airwalk shoes were the greatest things known to humankind - around the same time as Vision Streetwear t-shirts where in (they seem to be coming back into style via Rob Dyrdek’s Rogue Status clothing line). Same goes with the 1/2 head shaved, other half long look. Nowadays, you can find a pair of them for $30 at Wal*Mart and none of them at my local skate shops or any West49 that I can remember. They seem to be intended more for a mass-audience than the “limited” skate market.

Reading the be-all-end-all info source, Wikipedia, they say of Airwalk:

“…the decision was made to “go mainstream” and focus on a more general audience rather than just creating shoes for sport enthusiasts. There was a brief rise in sales, but some people loyal to the brand found the mainstream designs questionable. Currently, new shoes are being sold at various discount shoe stores like Payless Shoes and Modells around the country.” 

What a bummer. Personally, I owned a pair of Airwalk Blammos when I was in high school. They were the greatest shoe I have ever owned. TRUTH: whenever I go to buy new shoes nowadays, I always compare what I’m looking at to my old Blammos. The design was all-black, including the sides of the sole, with a black logo on the black shoe - I’m such a sucker for brandless-clothing. And not just that - I love that timeless Airwalk logo design.

Having said all that bad news and bashing of Airwalk kicks, I just saw some pretty radical shoes on the Airwalk website - the Andy Mac Signature Shoe (pictured above) that I like an awful lot. According to their website it says that you can find the shoes anywhere, like Zellers, The Bay, and other Canadian retailers. Of course, the “not all styles available everywhere” message is included - don’t blame me if you go and they aren’t there!