My first Vans

I've never owned a pair of Vans. In the 90s when I was wearing skate shoes, I was an Airwalk guy.
That changed when I was looking for a new pair of work shoes. I work in an office environment, but it is a little casual, and I can get away with wearing sneakers. I was looking for a replacememt of the Adidas Superstar IIs that I have. I liked those but they were a little narrow for me and the leather and rubber get hot (I own three pairs of them in different colors, so I am an Adidas guy). I had bought a pair of brown hemp Sambas to be my brown shoes, and I was looking for an all-black version of those since I love those so much.

I looked and looked and couldn't find a pair that was all black except for making a customized version on the Adidas website. Needless to say I wasn't to happy with the idea of dropping ninety five dollars on a canvas shoe, so I actually went to the mall to find a shoe store. I tried these on at my normal size, and they felt a bit loose, so I backed down a size and at the store they felt great. I'm still getting used to them and breaking them in right now. The canvas wears differently than most sneakers, so you feel the friction as your foot moves inside the shoe as it holds onto you sock. Or perhaps I just should have gone a half size up because my foot is wider than it is long.

There's also the fact that the sole is thinner than some other shoes, so when I wear pants that are fine with thicker-soled shoes, the back cuff of my pants keep catching on the heel. Overall, they are comfortable and look good. I don't want to sound too critical, I do like them. In fact I only thought of writing a review because I was looking for more Vans on line. They're just a little different.