Unpopular opinions
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@Brian nah the good ones are in Western Australia. best in the west as they say..
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All the Australians will fight about who has the best wine. I'm in Queensland and will gladly concede this one, ours is like vinegar!
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@Brian said in Unpopular opinions:
@seawolf the South Australian in my completely disagrees
100% @Brian, while I have not been to SA, McLaren Vale (primary producer of nectar from the gods) has been the source of the best big reds I have savoured.
We don't even need to talk Grange.
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Disclaimer – this is an unpopular opinion, and I appreciate that trainers are widely worn today.
For those of you who wear trainers with Iron Heart gear (other than shorts), I'm genuinely curious about your perspective. Iron Heart's work is, in my view, incredibly high-quality and aesthetically refined, and personally, I don't see trainers fitting that same aesthetic or quality standard as, say, good boots or traditional shoes. There are so many excellent quality boots and shoes that pair really well.
So, for those who do, what's the appeal or reasoning behind that pairing for you? I'm trying to understand the different style choices.
(And to clarify slightly, I do differentiate between sneakers like Chucks or Old Skools, and more performance-oriented trainers like Air Force Ones or New Balance.)
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@Bridger I wear mostly 3 pair of sneakers/trainers along with to many quality boots. 2 are Shoes like pottery and an old pair of SL72 Adidas I can't seem to ever throw away or replace. SLP are very well made so they seem to fit the IH vibe. Often I'll peruse the Nike SNKRS app on my phone but never have pulled the trigger. Always feels like I'm to old to mess with them. Add the poor quality and it's easy to just save for more Iron Heart or other quality.
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IMO Chucks or Jordans 1 to 4 are a good fit, aesthetic wise.
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@Bridger I have a few pairs of Shoes Like Pottery and wear them through the summer with IH jeans and then switch to boots when the weather cools down. I understand your opinion that the high quality denim deserves a high quality boot but I think most people switch to sneakers/trainers simply for comfort when the warmer weather hits.
Moonstar manufacture the Shoes Like Pottery brand along with a couple of others, one being the Iron Heart branded sneakers. I don’t think Haraki would have gone to the lengths he did when he designed his own sneakers if he only ever intended his denim to be worn with boots?
Also, after spending a couple of years on this forum now, one thing I seem to have picked up on is that the general consensus is “wear it however the fuck you want”
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probably an even more unpopular opinion
Overall, I prefer the aesthetic of denim with sneakers. I’ve never been that interested in the look of “heritage” clothing, and by that I mean clothes that are designed with a previous time in mind. I totally see the appeal of rugged clothing with a pair of well made boots, but I’m just not interested in looking like a logger from the PNW, or a biker from the 50s. Nothing wrong with those looks at all, but I just feel like I’m wearing a costume. For some reason, whenever I wear my (limited supply of) boots with denim, I feel a bit like I’m in a costume or dressed as a throwback. While I definitely wouldn’t say no to a nice pair of Whites, Wesco, or Rolling Dub Trio boots, the price tag and my experience of wearing boots always pulls me back from splurging.
This is one of the main reasons I’m drawn to IH above other brands in this space; for example I love the look and quality of adjacent brands like Mister Freedom, but I know I’d feel like I’m cosplaying if I wore those clothes. The brands that I’ve been consistently drawn to in this space, to my eye, do not look like “heritage” brands; of course they take some inspiration from the past but aren’t defined by it, and as a result I don’t feel conspicuous wearing it. Wearing a pair of Iron Heart jeans with New Balance, Nikes or Vans feels like a much better pairing than with say Mister Freedom and the aforementioned sneakers.
So yeah, the combination of aesthetic, comfort and variety from sneakers appeals to me, and I don’t think they are a mismatch for Iron Heart as much as other they would be with other brands.
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@sabergirl, Chelsea boots are my go to as well. In fact, I have a pair of blunnies, which come to think of it are probably my version of crocs!
@DeeDee85, good shout on the Moonstar sneakers.
Great post @jerkules – I will now add cosplay to my list of interests on bumble
I figured comfort would be the main response to my post. 95% of the people on stage at Back to the Beginning were wearing trainers, including Ronnie Wood who was rockin’ the Jerry Seinfeld look.
So….anyone else into cosplay?
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I've got a pair of Solovair Chelsea boots that I wore all winter, which are my go to's apart from NB. Funnily enough I was looking at boots for next Fall, not a lot out there that caught my eye. Rogue Territory did a Chelsea boot with a white vibram sole a few years back which I really like
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I had a pair of Chelsea Ranchers for a few years and enjoyed them; however, when it came to replacing the soles and side elastics, the cost was prohibitive, and they have since stopped making them.
When looking for a replacement, I wanted something with a beefy tread that I could wear on ski trips.
I ended up with Gardener Commandos, which I liked when I first got them, but I'm not sure the quality warrants the price.
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@Bridger, I grew up wearing “proper” shoes so trainers always feel a bit weird in everyday life. I do have two pairs of canvas shoes (Moonstar and North Sea Clothing) for summer use but I still mostly wear leather shoes/boots.
Supplementary unpopular opinion: comfort is overrated – a certain degree of suffering should be tolerated if you want to look good! Some might say I need to suffer more
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