AUTHENTIC?

So the past couple years I have noticed the increased popularity of a certain model of shoe. This shoe is of course the Vans ERA/AUTHENTIC.

I must preface this by saying I DON'T hate this shoe. When I was younger I wore them all the time. At that time('99-'01), they were hard to find and I remember being made fun of for rocking them by people that were wearing the dreaded Osiris D3. I guess my frustration is stemmed from the influx of popularity of this shoe years later. I conducted an informal double blind survey of 20 people at the shop one day. Out of the test sample, 14 of them were wearing either an ERA or an AUTHENTIC. Out of the 14 pairs, 10 were either black/white or white/white. What is also worth noting, this vans thing transcends every type of person: High School kids, skateboarders, kids that dress like skateboarders, hipsters, heshers, tween girls, dads, guys that look like "The Rock" and wear designer jeans, sneaker heads and pretty much everyone at Sierra College.

Now, this isn't Russia. You and your friends don't have to wear the same pair of shoes. Whether the color pallet is flipped or slightly tweaked, you are wearing the same pair of shoes. Doesn't it bother you? You wouldn't wear the same shirt as your buddy if the color was different, would you?


Point being, this shoe has run it's course and it's time to move on. There are several alternatives that will set you apart from your Sadie's Hawkins date, I mean your friend.

a few examples:

1)PF Flyers- Waver
2)ALIFE- Public Outrage
3)Cr8tive Rec- Rocco
4)zig zag winos


I'm just saying....

-brian