Old is gold? Do we really don’t want to let go of the past? Is it an ode to a simpler time, that we crave for? Does it remind us of a beautiful childhood? The shoe designs from the 80’s and the 90’s are making a grand comeback as we speak, and everyone seems to want those colorful and chunky sneakers again. And almost every footwear brand is revisiting the past, including Puma, Reebok, Nike, Fila, Onitsuka Tiger and New Balance picking out the best shoes from the years gone by, and giving it a more modern reboot.
What is the reason why retro footwear designs are making a grand comeback? Actually, there are many reasons for this. First is the demand from the consumers, who probably wanted to experience the shoes from their younger days. “Consumers like going back in time. Fashion is often cyclical. Hence retro will always stay relevant,” says Abhishek Ganguly, Managing Director, Puma India. One of the biggest examples for Puma is the Suede from 1968. In 2018, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Suede, Puma released 50 exclusive Suedes through the year.
There is a trend that styles from the 70’s and the 80’s, particularly worn by running and track athletes are now being worn as steet wear sneakers, with the conversation revolving around fashion. “Most look like they have come straight out of your father’s closet. Imagine the classic white shoe with pieces of patches stuck together, paired with tube socks till below the knee and shorts. Many shoes feature thick soles and overall a chunky look which screams comfort. Hence the “Dad shoes” got their name, thanks to their retro appearance,” Abdon Lepcha, Head Creative, Cravatex Brands Limited points out.
Apart from the “dad’s shoes” influence, there is the question of adding a modern touch. To add modernity to the iconic suede we collaborated with legends of the music world, the streets, the fashion industry, and pop culture.
Which retro shoes can you buy right now? Puma has an extensive line-up of the RS-X shoes including some Hot Wheels inspiration. “The PUMA Suede remains an all-time favourite,” adds Ganguly. Reebok has the Classics line-up, New Balance offers the X90 range, Nike is going strong with the likes of the Cortez while Onitsuka Tiger has a wide range of shoes inspired by the elders from the 80’s and the 90’s, including the Serrano.
The Reebok Classics Leather ATI 90s shoes (Rs 8,499) have been rebooted with an upper that blends suede, leather, synthetic as well as fabric, and what you get as soon as you slip your foot in is a feeling of a shoe that you probably wore for sports back in school. At first glance, just like the Puma RS-X too, the retro shoes tend to have a visually bulky design. This makes you wonder if they are heavy and cumbersome to wear too. But that illusion is pretty much dispelled the moment you slip your foot in. That is because the modern touch to these retro shoes means you get lightweight materials on the mid-sole, outsole and the upper, which ticks off the comfort box too on the checklist.
Fila is certainly taking the retro shoe stuff very seriously. The shoe maker has resurrected a number of styles from the Fondazione FILA Museum, in the Province of Biella, Italy. This includes the Mindblower, with a chunky runner silhouette originally released in 1995, the ‘Fila Disruptor II all white’ which was originally launched in 1996 and was eventually named the shoe of the year 2018 and also the original tennis Tennis shoe, considered one of most iconic sneakers in the Fila archive.
Then there is the Puma RS-X (Rs 8,999 onwards) which is a mish-mash of elements and a whole lot of abstract art personality. At the heart, which is the mid-sole, is the Puma Running System (RS) polyurethane midsole. We feel there is the Ignite foam in there as well, though Puma doesn’t officially say. Slip your foot in, and you would realise that there is a medial longitudinal arch beneath your foot—this basically runs from the heel to the front, and is a polyurethane protrusion built on top of the midsole to provide support where otherwise there is a gap below the middle of your foot and covers the foot’s anterior transverse arch as well. This is interesting as an addition, because it cushions the foot at the shoe’s flex point when you run, thereby reducing the stress on the foot. There are heel and toe ‘pillows’ as well, for extra comfort.
In the world of footwear, time does change quite quickly. Which does beg the question—how difficult is it to make a retro shoe reboot work in the modern day scenario? A lot it has to do with the technology a shoe packs in, thereby balancing the requirements of comfort too. “The products are reinvented and updated with modern elements. Sometimes is the materials, silhouette, branding elements, print executions etc. There are cases like in the Suede where we would collaborate with various artists across music, fashion and streets to get interesting renditions out,” says Puma’s Ganguly. It is not just about picking out one shoe from the line-up from a few years ago, giving it a fresh coat of paint and putting it in stores. Lepcha believes the thought process is critical. “Anything and everything from the past cannot be converted to new designs. Each design and style needs to have a history behind it and tell a story today,” he says. Fila uses multiple technologies like Hexo, Comfort X and Energized which focus on comfort and recovery.
The modern day footwear does focus incredibly hard on the constantly improving materials, build, design and cushioning. Therefore, it is only logical to assume that the same ingredients would be critical for retro shoe reboots too. “The materials there were used then would not be suitable now, yet with the new-age technology, materials and textures can be manipulated into something that is pragmatic for today’s lifestyle,” says Lepcha.
What the likes of Puma, Fila, Reebok and Nike to name a few are doing is a blast from the past. But with the necessary modern touches to tick off the comfort, robustness and recovery boxes on the checklist. Customer preferences in terms of how a shoe should feel are significantly different from the 80’s and the 90’s. But what remains the same is the craving for the retro design touches. And that is a fine balancing act that shoe makers are only too willing to work on.
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