The post-new year’s endeavour/struggle to rediscover your workout mojo is one we can all relate to. Shifting the extra pounds amassed from a festive period of over-indulgence can certainly be a daunting task, but sometimes all it takes is a little spark of inspiration to set you back on the right path.
Our latest editorial feature is in keeping with that theory and aims to help reestablish your fitness goals through some good old fashioned wardrobe therapy. We’re placing the spotlight on a focused selection of athletic trainers that we’re hoping can give your workout routines the kickstart they need and deserve.
Givenchy Cream Giv 1 Leather & Mesh Trainers
We featured the white colourway alternative to Givenchy’s Cream Giv 1 Leather & Mesh Trainers in our Holiday Gift Guide edit back in November and we’re pleased to say that the prevailing sentiments still remain today. To put it bluntly, this is about as good as premium athleisure gets thanks to the model’s seamless blending of industry-leading performance features and contemporary running shoe aesthetics. The result being a fine-tuned athletic sneaker that looks as good as it feels to wear. The aerodynamic design and reinforced sole unit make it a perfect fit for more intensive workouts and runs while the subtle, egg-shell colour profile makes the inevitable scuffs and marks much less apparent than the sneaker’s all-white counterpart.
Off-White Grey & Black Runner Mixed Leather Trainers
Off-White’s more performance-focused running trainers have certainly been a staple of the late Virgil Abloh’s more recent collections and these featured Grey & Black Runner Mixed Leather Trainers are a fine example of the care and craft that goes into making them. What stands out to us the most here is the fabric construction, specifically the mix of breathable nylons and meshes that enhance the technicality of the unit and allow for the amount of flexibility that more active workout sessions will demand. In typical Off-White fashion, the use of bold block panelling and graphic appliques give the sneaker an air of uniqueness that we’ve now come to expect from the label.
Balenciaga Mink Grey Speed 2.0 Lace-Up Trainers
The evolution of Balenciaga’s globally-coveted ‘Speed’ trainer has been a fun and interesting one to study. It’s undergone multiple iterations since its introduction to Balenciaga’s extensive sneaker portfolio not so long ago but crucially, it’s still managed to retain its underlying DNA and the foundational features that made it such a hit with sneakerheads in the first place.
As such, Demna Gvasalia has hardly reinvented the wheel with these featured Mink Grey Speed 2.0 Lace-Up Trainers. The unique ‘sock-like’ body and minimalist feature set are still front and centre and we’d posit that the sneaker is all the better for it, especially with regards to performance and wearability. The lightweight construction really does make it feel as if you’re wearing little more than your favourite pair of socks, an engineering design that marries perfectly with your more prolonged workouts and scenarios where you simply can’t afford for your footwear to weigh you down. The ergonomic, reinforced sole unit is the ‘yang’ to the technical knit upper’s ‘yin’, ensuring that the sturdy base and contrastingly lightweight body live together in harmony and provide the very best of both worlds.
Balenciaga Multicolour Runner Trainers
Balenciaga has been so active in the luxury athleisure space in recent seasons that we feel no shame in including another of their superb silhouettes in our list. The Multicolour Runner Trainer is one of the latest offerings in their showcase for Balenciaga fanatics to fawn over and builds upon the experience gained from the development of other popular styles from their archive. It seems to borrow a lot from the likes of Balenciaga’s ‘Triple S’ model with its chunky, maximalist profile, all while incorporating performance-related elements from styles like the technically-geared ‘Track’ trainer. What does all this add up to? A durable sneaker that performs effortlessly under even the most stressful of conditions and stays faithful to the quintessential Balenciaga aesthetic in both its execution and presentation.
Moncler White Lunarove Low Top Trainers
Moncler’s White Lunarove Low Top Trainers don’t stray too far from the path created by the label’s iconic ‘Emilien’ trainer and that is more than fine by us. The ‘Lunarove’ is a seamless blend of technical meshes and flexible neoprenes set upon an energy-generating TPU sole, fusing uncompromising performance with classic Moncler sleekness for an activewear experience like no other. As we touched on before, it’s a design brief not too unlike the Emilien’s and is perhaps another example of refinement over reinvention. But hey, if it ain’t broken, why fix it? We’ve gone for the clean white colourway this time around, one that we feel reflects the intrinsic prestige of the world’s foremost sports fashion brand.
