Nordstrom Zack Sneaker – $99.95
About the Author: Stephen Knight is a photographer / videographer who founded Itsaknightslife. His mission is to tell the story of people through style, food, music, and dancing. Catch his stuff at itsaknightslife on Instagram and Youtube.
One of the items in our closet that can get ignored are sneakers. We get dazzled by the loafers, the wingtips, the boat shoes (not really the boat shoes), but often forget that a good sneaker is essential to a man’s closet. But are these the ones you’ll reach for when it’s time to dress down a bit?
I’ve seen some sneakers running into the $200-$400 range, which is still hard to wrap my head around. So comparatively, these might look like a bargain. And it’s Nordstrom. Nordstrom rarely misses on a product. But I have to say, these aren’t as impressive as I was hoping they’d be.
Yes, they look good. The mostly off-white leather uppers up against the white soles and tan leather accents are right in the wheelhouse when it comes to versatility. These sneakers should be able to match with most things in the closet. They’re not a true, bright white, but these could fill that role despite leaning a little more to the cream side of things.
The outside leather of the shoe feels well made and oddly soft to the touch, and feels like it can handle everyday wear for a while. But the inside of the shoe… felt strangely stiff.
Like really stiff.
The foot-bed, although claimed as cushioned, felt tough as well. I wore my chuck tailors on my right foot, and these on my left, and could tell the difference in cushioning. The chucks felt more cushioned, which is ironic because chucks are known for not having the most cushion. Maybe this would change with a few wears and breaking in, but it was something I noticed right away.
If you have wide feet, feel free to stop reading and look for another shoe. This one is narrow. Mix that in with the lack of cushioning and the stiff feeling of the shoe, and these are gonna be a miss for many. Yes, the shoe feels substantial on your feet, which is a good thing. They don’t feel cheaply made, but for the brief time I tested these, I admittedly couldn’t wait to put back on my converse. Now the insoles are removable, so you could feasibly remove it and put in a more comfortable solution, but… do you really want to start doing that with brand new sneakers?
As a day to day Chuck wearer (I have their leather version of the chucks II as well as the classics), these felt noticeably less comfortable out of the box. For $99, these aren’t as spendy as the luxury brands, but I think most would expect at least some comfort. And these just didn’t have that. At least shipping and returns are free.
