Going Green/ Luxury: How to Tell If You Bought Something Great

Hello everyone! :) As you can see from my cheerful and bubbly greeting, I am in a good mood. I just bought a pair of shoes from Sunway Pyramid and this blog post will be about the shoes that I bought. After all, it was one of Spartacus's intentions to create this blog, that we update each other on the things we have and bought. I am exceptionally proud to say that I have bought a great pair of Adidas shoes.

First of all, let me start by stating the reason why I bought this pair of shoes. I currently have a black pair of Converse All-Stars which I have been wearing since I first came here back in August 2008. I use them as my walking shoes and I go around everywhere with them. They are great as they match anything I wear. They are after all, the original black Converse All-Stars that millions upon millions of people have been wearing for decades long. However, I realize now why Converse All- Stars retail for such a cheap price (you can get them for RM89.90, which is quite cheap for a branded product, it is expensive individually but cheap relatively). It is simple, the wear off very easily and were meant to be worn in another age. When I first wore my Convers All-Stars, I was happy to wear an icon that had been assimilated many societies around the world for decades.Everybody is just used to seeing this shoe.Anyway, after taking a few steps, mind you I was wearing a new pair of socks. I began to feel very uncomfortable as the rough fabric in the interior of the shoe began to rub against my socks resulting in friction on my shoes, socks and most importantly feet. This just keep happening over and over again and the more I walked, the worst my feet would feel. On some days where I would walk long distances, I would find my feet blistered or scratched by these shoes. My shoes were falling apart too. The interior which was made from fabric started to wear off and tear especially at the heel part of the shoes. This made my feet feel even worst whenever I walked around in it. Oh yea, since the shoes are made up entirely of fabric (with rubber at the soles of course), I would get them wet whenever it rained due to the puddles and rain drops. This, well, sucked. Another reason why I decided to buy a ne pair of shoes was because 2 of the holes (I think their called eyeholes or something) that were like metal rivets came out. I'm not even sure how that happened.

Anyway, I bought a new pair of shoes today. Just look at it. If you were to inspect them thoroughly with your eyes, you'd know that this pair of shoes were made with effort, dedication and most of all passion. My pictures below don't truly capture their perfection so I'm not doing much justice to the shoes. The shoes probably look about 15 times better in real life than they do here:

Here's a picture of the box. It is green in color unlike normal Adiddas Originals boxes which are turqoise. I bought a special edition tennis shoe. I'm not sure what is the model name of this pair of shoes. The box is really great. It is actually quite big in size compared to the normal Adidas Originals boxes. In fact, this is the biggest shoe box that I have ever gotten. One other feature of the box is that the 3 white stripes are embossed. This is a really nice effect and is not available on any other Adidas boxes I have ever seen.

The side view of the box. The model name is stated here along with the details of the shoes. Notice that I bought size 11 1/2 US. Yeah, my feet are big but the supersizing is probably due to the Adidas wierd sizing of shoes. I'm actually a size 10 1/2 US by Adidas standards. 10US by Nike standards. If you look closely the original price stated is RM 329.90. I didn't buy it for this price though.

I'm not sure if you guys can read this but it says Tournament Edition on Centre Courts since 1949. Again, this pair of shoes were a special limited edition. They were made with a lot more effort. So everthing is more special.

Open the box and you will see a big card covering the shoes. It is bigger than and A4 sized paper and it say the same thing as what I wrote earlier.

Here's a nicer photo of the card.

When you lift the card out, you will see the shoes. Don't they look great? This box is special because it is divided into 2 parts. That's carboard there not some cheap piece of paper. Even I was suprised when I first looked at it. This was what made me decide to put up this post. Just look at how much shoe manufacturers are holding out on us.

Another view of the shoes when I put them upright. They look like Adidas Superstars but they are very different. They don't have big laces. The front part of the shoes which is made of rubber has no patterns and has been dyed to give the shoes a vintage look.

The bottom surface of the box when I remove 1 shoe from it.

The view of one side of the shoe. The stripes are in 2 colors. The stripes at the ends are in a leafy green color whereas the center stripe is in a light olive green colour. If you look closely, notice that there is a tag hanging at the side of the shoe. It is made of real leather. It completes the shoes look. The shoes look like haute couture. Extremely high quality. Attention to detail. Not a single flaw. The white leather shines as if they have been poilished with high quality leather cream. The leather quality is seriously very good guys. You have to look at it in real life to appreciate it. It shines and you can just tell, it is just great.

The other side of the shoe. You can see the leather shining in this picture.

Top view of the shoe. The tongue of the shoe is perforated and is made of leather both on the outside and the inside. This is very good since there's a lot of leather inside the shoe.

The tip of the shoe. It is made of rubber ans it has a vintage look. It has a mildly course surface and does not have any patterns which is unlike the Superstars.

The behind part of the shoes. Notice that it is just green in color. Without any patterns or logos.

The heel of the shoe. Look at the badge embroided inside. It looks fabulous. You almost never ever see any shoe with this much attention to detail. Usually, the inner sole of a shoe just has some cheaply printed on logo that comes fades away after you wear it for a while. This shoe has an emborided label. The inner sole is covered with leather. LEATHER man......! How often do you get shoes like these. Most shoes just come with some cheap fabric on the inner sole. The heel part is also made of leather. It is in a mild brown/cream colour and the leather has padding under it. It's just like the interior of a perfect sports car. The leather is really like the ones you find on expensive bags. The Louis Vuitton ones, etc. It's just so fucking high quality.

A close look at the heel. You can see the embroided badge and leather heel here.

The bottom part of the shoe has a simple pattern. However, I think it was designed to look like the holes in a tennis racket or something. I'm not too sure though. But the holes are shape like tiny hexagons.

The label. Notice my shoe size is 11 1/2. I'm a Hobbit. :(

Okay, my honest opinion of this pair of shoes, they are of extremely high quality. They appear to be designed like shoes used in country clubs. A lot of high quality leather is used in these shoes and it really make the shoes live up to their design cnocept. They are like luxury brand goods. They are on the same foot as Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Tods, Stuart Weitzmann, Jimmy Choo. Okay, they may not be that good but I think Adidas really compared themselves to these luxury brands and they came out being winner for creating a product this good. The only thing this shoe does not have is higher quaility material which is what luxury brands like Louis Viutton and Jimmy Choo use. But Adidas used materials which were available to them that were still great. This pair of shoes are really great and shows that Adidas has really branched out into the fashion industry. They are no longer just a mere simple sporting goods manufacturer. They are fashion designers. They are really shoe specialists. While other high fashion labels can make beautiful dresses for women or great tuxedos for men, Adidas can beat them by making the best possible sneakers. It is Adidas's domain and Adidas, with this shoe, has made a statement to high fashion brands which says, "Don't step into the sneaker making business, that's our thing. We've been doing it forever and we know what to give to our customers. All you've got is an expensive brand that appeals to social climbing people who are ignorant".

Now for the price of this pair of shoes. If Lacoste were to sell this shoe, ther would probably sell it for RM800.00. The original price that Adidas names was RM329.90 as I have mentioned earlier. I bought this on discount for exactly RM197.95. Yes, it is still cheaper than those cheap, lauzy, Nike Cortez shoes or the entry level ones. Adidas has really outdone themselves by making a product this good. You've got to respect the Germans, they know how to make their cars and shoes right. It definitely puts Adidas up there above Nike and any other sports brands. I salute you Adidas for making this pair of shoes. For really wanting to make me happy. For doing something becaused you desired to not because you were forced to.You can tell that you bought something great if iyou are just compelled to write a blog post for 3 hours. It is really that good guys. I love shoes. Alvin, this is another reason why you will not ever need a girl in your life. Aldrin, I know, it's just a shoe.