Lusting After: Nike x A.P.C. All Court

Some of you might remember this collaboration between Nike and A.P.C. from springtime last year, but these shoes are too clean not to revisit for a quick second.  The All Court model was first introduced by Nike in 1975 and served as a precursor to what would later be referred to as "cross trainers".  Before the idea of a multi sport shoe became common place within modern sneaker lexicon, this was Nike's attempted to create a shoe you could wear for all your athletic pursuits.  Apparently this shoe was perfect for A.P.C. because of its "simple, sophisticated clean lines" and fit right in with their unisex and simple brand strategy - I can't say I disagree one bit.  The All Court, to me, always seemed to be Nike's response to the Jack Purcell sneaker (purchased by Converse in the mid 70's) and one look at the rubber toe cap seems to confirm this.  Add the JP's signature "smile" to the All Court and you have a pretty much identical shoe.  This doesn't bother me at all considering how much I love tennis style and the All Court is right up there with some of my other favorite canvas shoes that get a lot of face time on Sart Inc.  These babies are hard to track down today, but they do pop up on eBay for a little under their original retail price of $150.  The collabo came in a few classic colorways, with my favorite being the red and white.  Lots of people struggle with the idea of all red kicks as they can be perceived as quite gaudy, but the red accents on this version of the All Court are perfectly understated, much like most of A.P.C.'s renowned gear.

-L.A.S