Hiking, River, and Surfing Sandals: If you’ll be playing in the mud and muck, look for a sole made of hard rubber compounds. Choose sandals with a deep tread, which will serve you well when you’re going up the face of a steep mountain or balancing precariously on wet river rocks. The upper portion of your sandal, including any straps, should be made of breathable and durable material such as nylon webbing or polyurethane. For the top sole, memory foam allows for supportive cushioning and comfortable wear. Moreover, these materials are water-resistant, whichmeans they won’t become saturated when you stomp through a creek and won’t rot away after a few wet wears.
It was only two years ago that Acronym released its first Presto with Nike, even though it feels like a generation ago in terms of sneaker releases. Predating the Off-White collection, the remix that Acronym brought to the Presto was a big surprise—at that point Nike very rarely let collaborators edit its silhouettes. It was a shot across the bow for traditionalists, and caused a well-deserved fervor. This year they followed up the partnership with a trio of Prestos that played with pattern as much as texture, and color as much as expectations. We don't think the 2018 pairs quite live up to the 2016 pairs, but they're still a welcome addition to 2018's list.
Foot Locker is one of the best online shoe stores for athletic footwear. You can find shoes for specific sports and activities, such as basketball, golf, cheerleading and tennis. You can be very specific in the type of athletic shoe you want by narrowing the search results to item categories such as lightweight, maximum cushion, motion control and stability.
The Adidas Crazy BYW deserves to be on every list it can get on. The shoe perfectly blends the heritage of Adidas’ Crazy line that launched in the early '90s while incorporating contemporary materials and design. Further, it’s an amazing representation of how Adidas is forming a new identity in the last few years: wild soles, fun texture, and playful lines. One of our earliest introductions to the shoe was the collaboration with Bristol Studio that brought us not just one take on the silhouette but two. The collaboration represented and early apex for the shoe that has been approached since, but never quite met again.
With just a little effort, you will have the kinds of cheap sandals that you're excited to wear summer after summer. You will feel cool and comfortable thanks to the effort you put into finding just the right shoes. You will have chosen the right materials, the kinds of straps you need as well as making sure to care for them properly. Thanks to what you went through to buy the right selection, you will have the kind of look and feel that you're going for no matter how hot it gets outside. Enjoy that cool casual feel all summer long.
Outer Sole: Specialized rubber manufacturers like Vibram offer durable treads for hiking and portaging over rough terrain. Stealth Rubber, featured in Five Ten climbing shoes and Astral river shoes, is designed to stick to rocks to keep you on your feet in the current. You can spend days researching rubbers but at the end of the day, reputable brands use excellent proprietary sole materials.
Best in class construction- The bedrock of a quality shoe is one that promotes healthy, supported feet. The original BIRKENSTOCK footbed, renowned for expert construction that’s been perfected over decades, is the standard of custom comfort. Created with optimal materials to provide overall support and cushioning—cork, jute, plush EVA and suede, among others—our footbed also isolates individual areas to ensure that different regions of the foot are properly served—the toes enjoy extra room for natural movement and foot alignment, and the heel is cradled and cushioned through its deep cup.
This year saw the wide release of Adidas’s Futurecraft 4D, a true advancement in sneaker technology. Adidas has solved the problems around 3D printing, using a fast and efficient process to mass produce soles in a sustainable way. Each sole contains up to 12,000 "struts," or printed arms, that have been carefully and individually calibrated to create the most supportive sole possible. The 4D carries with it a massive price tag, but all advances come at a cost. The shoes look amazing and are honestly worth every penny.
Huaraches: A recent arrival to the mainstream market but tried-and-true for centuries is the huarache sandal. A mix between a flip and a hiking sandal, these ultra-light sandals are composed of a simple rubber sole (typically Vibram) and narrow webbing that splits the big toe like a flip and hugs the heel and cinches like a hiker. The simplicity of these sandals, with the omission of top and midsoles, makes huaraches the closest option to going barefoot. Some folks run 100-mile endurance races in these, but the weight and design also makes them great as a packable and versatile sandal.
The outdoor shoe came back with a vengeance this year, and that's in large part thanks to Kith's ongoing partnership with Adidas' Terrex brand. They released a slew of kicks, but our favorite is this TR Boost EEA. We love these because they straddle the line between an ostentatious outdoorsy shoe and a more digestible streetwear look. The classic Ronnie Fieg colors of navy and salmon pink appear all over the shoe, with a rugged sole that makes them work just as well on a hike as they do on Lafayette Street.
With the possible exception of track and field, there isn’t another sport as spartan as wrestling when it comes to individual gear. Compared to competitions that require helmets and bats and sticks and skates and shin guards, wrestling requires only headgear, a singlet, a mouthguard and shoes. The most important piece of that puzzle in terms of athletic performance, the one piece that directly affects the outcome of a match, is a pair of wrestling shoes. Here’s what most beginners and their parents ask when looking for this vital piece of equipment.
Flips: If lying low is the goal, a standard pair of flip flops, or thongs, can’t be beat. A pair slips on and off in seconds, packs easy and weighs little. In terms of comfort, leather flips are tough to beat after some breaking in but they can become slick when wet. Rubber top soles don’t compare comfort-wise, but are more utilitarian.
