Why simple white trainers became the Uggs of 2019
YOU might already have noticed. We are in the middle of a fashion footwear explosion the like of which we haven’t seen since every woman in the country (almost) owned a pair of Uggs back in the early 2000s.
Summer 2019 is officially the summer of the white trainer — in particular, a neat, pretty-on-the-foot brand called Veja.
The Duchess of Sussex was spotted wearing the black-and-white Veja V-10 (€125, veja-store.com) late last year, probably because the French label is at the top of the ethical fashion charts.
Veja trainers are made from organic cotton, vegetable tanned leather, recycled plastic bottles and ethically sourced wild rubber from the Amazon rainforest. There are even two vegan styles — the Campo and the Rio Branco.
In this eco-aware climate, Veja is standing head and shoulders above the crowd.
Then again, they just look really, really good. There is something about the broad contrasting V and the logo-embossed heel tab, which come in ten colours, that’s super-chic and one up from your regular trainer.
In a short survey of women I know who own Vejas, only one of them was even aware that it was a sustainable brand. They all just fancied a simple white trainer (white because it looks smart and clean) that wasn’t too clunky, too flimsy or too plimsoll-like.
ALL wanted something a bit more special than your regular Adidas or Converse; a trainer that you’re clearly never going to train in and that’s smart enough to wear to the office.
And that’s where Veja has hit the spot this summer: it’s the smart/casual trainer that thinks it’s a shoe. This is all surprising — and welcome — because everyone keeps telling us trainers are on the way out. That may be true of the ugly, multicoloured ones and the black mesh ones with the white soles, but we’re not letting pretty trainers go without a fight.
Ever since Gucci made white embellished trainers desirable a few years back, the dressed-up trainer has become our go-to for any situation where you don’t require a heel. The right dressy trainer is arguably smarter than a lot of flats.
Not wearing a Birkenstock, thank you. Not wearing a flat mule (need to be able to walk). Not wearing a slide (too casual) or a fancy flip-flop (too casual and exposing). Old-school trainers look too grungey and scruffy, but the right white trainer is different. What you don’t want is a solid white leather sports shoe — that’s too Nurse Ratched. It should have been polished up and ‘fashionified’ just enough to let everyone know you haven’t come straight from the tennis court.
Anything with a cotton upper (that’s a plimsoll) is naturally less smart and resilient. Canvas is too casual and laceless even more so. It doesn’t have to be Veja, of course. Superga does a white leather trainer (€84, schuh.ie), Cos does a super-plain rubber toe-capped version (€99, cosstores.com) and Dune has a leather low-top with black leather detail
(€120, dunelondon.com).
Whistles’ white trainers are super-plain (€103.20, whistles.com), as are John Lewis’ (€93, johnlewis.com), while Marks & Spencer does a white star-embossed style (€35) and one with a stitched black star (€65, marksandspencer.ie). Finally, Boden does a classic white with a cowhide leopard-print flash (€98, boden.co.uk), as does LKBennett (€170, lkbennett.com).
You can get your trainers embellished with glitter stars or rainbow metallic stripes, but that’s only going to limit how you wear them, and the whole point of this trainer moment is that they go with everything. They’re a classic.