Adidas Torsion they were called. The Torsion bit comes from a yellow plastic bar that runs through the middle of the sole of the shoe that sat right underneath your unstep and apparently gave you more stability. At £79.99 they were more likely to have given you a smack around the lug if you had the temerity to ask your parents for a pair at age 11. Needless to say I never.
The holy grail of trainers at 11-12 years old however were the Nike Air Jordans. Ranging from £99.99 - £119.99, depending on whether you shopped at Pro on the High St or Inter Sport in the mall, and coming in two colours these bad boys were owned exclusively by spoilt children whose parents clearly had too much money. Check them out:
The black ones were definitely the more desirable of the two, giving you that 'edginess' as a young lad strutting your stuff around the mean streets of North Muirton, Perth. I think only one kid I knew had them and that was because he'd gotten them on holiday in the US when he went to Disney World in Florida and found the in some discount warehouse. The last time I seen them some homeless guy in Detroit was wearing just one of them. They still looked cool mind.
After the Air Jordans came a new development in the world of teenage trainer fascinations - the Nike Air 180s. Ostensibly intended to give you something like 'MAXIMUM comfort' comfort from the oversized air pocket built into the shoe's sole, the reality was, I think, an effective marketing gimmick for all us youngsters to pester our parents for a pair. Useless for fitba mind you:
Can you see where the air is? The clever bit was that they got see through materials to encase the air pocket, making it 180. Nice.
I never got a pair of Air 180s for the simple reason that they were ludicrously expensive and somewhat flimsy. Usually I'd save up a bunch of money from my paper round over a number of weeks and then when it came to birthday or Christmas time I'd find the best looking trainers I could that were best discounted so as to be affordable. Generally speaking I'd be looking at about £40 for a pair of trainers (that I'd put about £20 to from my savings). As a consequence I was able to acquire a pair of these bad boys:
Only, mine weren't blue, but hot pink. I remember being enthralled by the hot pink swoosh and being determined to keep them as white as I could. However, there was some concern amongst myself and friends that maybe I'd inadvertently bought myself a pair of girls shoes. Thankfully a quick flick through the Kays and Freeman's catalogues confirmed that it wasn't the case as they were in the men's section. I was more than relieved. Can you imagine the ignominy of having a pair of girls shoes as a 13 year old lad? I'd have probably had to bin them (or give them to my sister) and move schools if it ever got out. There was the ongoing concern though that some joker would stick a penknife into the exposed air bit at the back of your trainers leaving you with one deflated shoe. There were rumours that this had happened to a kid once. Thankfully it never came to pass for me. Phew.
My favourite pair of trainers that I remember were the cross country Nike Air Huaraches. Just stunning (to a 14 year old anyway). I had a pair of blue nubuck ones that for the life of me I cannot find a picture of anywhere. They were limited edition if I recall correctly though so that may be why. Again, I got them for about £40 reduced from the heady price of £79.99 when they were first out in Pro on the High St. I've NEVER had a pair of shoes/trainers/boots/slippers/footwear that has ever been as comfortable as those trainers were. I loved them dearly:
Even now, I'd probably put aside my aversion to Nike and buy a pair if I could find them in blue again. They're undoubtedly a classic of design on 90s trainers. Look at them! So comfortable.
EDIT: I just found the blue ones. I'm quite pleased about this as it confirms to me that I wasn't imagining things and definitely did not own the pair of grey and purple monstrosities above:
After the Huaraches I moved on to the less aesthetically ridiculous flat sole trainers made by Puma and adidas, not through choice I hasten to add. I had gone over my ankle one day and went up to the hospital as I couldn't walk. The doctor asked me how often this happened, which at that point was fairly often. He then told me that I had flat feet and I should throw away the trainers I was wearing as they were likely causing me the problems with my instep. By that point the Huaraches had more or less died on me and the Puma Court and Adidas Gazelles and Converse, which are far too ubiquitous for me to bother posting pictures of, became my footwear of choice. I did manage to get myself a pair of blue Adidas Trimm-Trab though:
They were aces, but a bit small for me, but blue, red and white so I didn't care. I may have been 17 at the time however...
Speaking of Converse however, my pal Slick used to have a pair of these behemoths in white and purple:
Until he lost em in a loch! We were at a birthday party at a friend's house in the country where we would get up to all sorts of fun things such as running over stacked hay bales, making rope swings, firing stones from our catapults into the fishery to make the fishermen think that Salmon were jumping and other fun stuff. At the birthday party we were having a competition to see who could run the furthest out into the bit of mud/silt where the tide had taken the fishery/loch out. Slick got the furthest, then got stuck in the mud. We couldn't get him out for love nor money. Then the tide came back in and we finally managed to jimmy him out with big sticks and a bit of rope. As pleasing for him as that was, he came out minus one of his expensive Converse boots that he'd just bought the day before. As well as being covered up to his waist in mud. To say I laughed would be putting it mildly. I thought I was going to have a coronary at the age of 13.
An honourable mention also goes to the gimmicky trainers put out by Reebok and Puma at the time. Reebok with their Pump trainers/boots:
You could inflate the tongue! Wow. I never owned a pair, I was more of a Nike man and didn't go for the gimmicks you know?
And Puma with their Disc:
Look, no laces! Hmm, again I was never convinced enough to buy a pair. Plus if the plastic broke your shoes would just fall off with no ability to be repaired easily. Poor.
So there you have it. My nephew has all this to look forward to, plus an uncle who will happily encourage him to follow his dreams and get that pair of inflatable, air-cushioned, disc-tightened, cross country, hot pink swooshed hi-tops with torsion bar for added stability in blue nubuck. I'm sure his mother will love me for it.
1 comment:
Stop. Wasting. My. Life.
Post a Comment