Itchy Oxford article

Sole brothers

Itchy loves trainers. Put your best foot forward and follow us on our guided tour of the hottest pumps around...

The them-were-the-days trainers

No trainer article would be complete without an old-school hip-hop reference. Puma have gone one better and dedicated a whole range to the seminal late 80s/early 90s Yo! MTV Raps programme. They don’t sing or dance, but let’s face it, Big Daddy Kane and the gang can do that for you; these just look seriously cool. There are two versions:













Big Daddy Kane’s trainer, complete with trademark gold chain.
Puma Daddy Kane Suede, £55














The MC Shan trainer, which includes an embroidered homage to his major hit The Bridge. ‘MC who?’ you’re thinking. Panic not. We’ve never heard of him either.
Puma MC Shan Suede, £55
(0192) 442 5500

To celebrate the launch of PUMA's new range of YO! MTV Raps trainer range, we're giving away two pairs of the classic, PUMA Clyde trainers, courtesy of our friends at PUMA. Click here for more details.












The design-your-own trainer

Sick of having the look of your trainer dictated to you? Then take the power back. With Nike iD you can pick the colour-scheme, material and logos on your own sho, and they’ll make it and send it to you. Ok, so the design choices are limited, but by clashing colours and fabrics, you can actually create quite an individual trainer. Let’s face it, it’s probably more input than Ronaldo had on his entire range.
Nike iD from a selection, prices vary
www.nikeid.com














The paint-your-own trainer

With Adidas Adicolor you don’t have to sit about waiting for your creation to arrive. Nor are you restricted by anything but your own imagination. Adidas re-released the Adicolor in six different models in 2006. The shoes come with a variety of tools, from marker pens to spray cans and jewelled adornments, ensuring you get a real pair of limited-editions. As an added bonus, there’s no need to worry about them not going with anything, as the range includes accompanying clothing and accessories. If the sought-after ‘06 Originals elude you, JD sports have a selection of new Adicolor shoes.  
Adidas Superstar 2 Adicolor with interchangeable stripes, £54.99
www.jdsports.co.uk













The spinning-around trainer

If you’re anything like Itchy, Kylie will already have a restraining order on you. Console yourself by emulating her dance moves instead, for which you’ll need a pair of Bloch Klassics. They’ve got a small spot on their soles that enables you to rotate fast enough to make Pete Burns write a song about you. So go on, move out of our way. We know you’re feelin’ us ‘cuz you like it like this.
Bloch Klassic, RP £44.99
www.blochworld.com














The climb-up-the-walls trainer

The rubber soles on Five Ten trainers transform the wearer into a climber of Spiderman-like abilities. Originally designed for climbing, these griptastic shoes have been adopted by freerunners who hop about off walls and on roofs for fun. Ever found yourself needing to get out of a second-storey window sharpish? Yeah, us too. Make sure you’ve got a pair of these handy and you might have a chance of getting out of his or her bedroom alive.
Five Ten Guide Tennie, 64.95
www.fiveten.com














The personal-trainer trainer

Nike presents trainers that are in sync with your mental state… Well, in sync with your iPod at least, which is pretty much the same thing. The sensor in the new range of Nike+ trainers allow works with your iPod Nano like a personal trainer, keeping track of your workouts: distance covered, calories burned and time taken. This info can be uploaded to the Nike website where you can compare your athletic achievements with Paula ‘I poo in the street’ Radcliffe. Itchy especially likes the concept of the PowerSong, which is a tune of your choosing that you activate any time you need an extra boost. All that’s left is for us to choose whether we’ll listen to I Need a Hero or Eye of the Tiger.
Nike Women’s Air Pegasus+, 65
www.nike.com














The dreadhead-to-foot trainer

Grand Step brand’s ‘Marley’ pump is made from hemp. Fitting tribute, but it does carry the risk of some pasty-faced yoof trying to smoke your footwear.
Grand Step Marley, 29.95
www.thenaturalshoestore.co.uk















The read-the-message-in-the-stripes trainer

Like secret codes? Then you’ll love K-Swiss’s Fenley Shifter. Position the shifting colours on the stripes at certain lengths and you’ll be communicating things like ‘I’m single’ or Respect’. Apparently, groups of way-cool European kids thought up the language during some focus group. So secret, no-one else will ever know what you’re trying to say.
K-Swiss Fenley Shifter, 59.99
www.jdsports.co.uk














The tone-your-bum trainer

Your bum, your stomach, your thighs and your calves – no part of your lower body is left unexcercised by these babies. Don’t believe us? Ask June Sarpong: she loves ‘em. Cancel the gym membership, walk around as normal, eat whatever you like and Chung-Shi shoes will do all the work for you. Said to improve posture, circulation and oxygen intake, aid weight loss, banish cellulite, bring about world peace and make poverty history. You can’t say fairer than that now, can you?
Chung-Shi Navy Flash
(limited edition), 129
www.ljmsports.co.uk

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