I don’t know much about tennis, but if I was asked to provide some critique of the industry, which happens all the time, I’d say it seems rather ungrateful that no one wears tennis shoes for playing tennis anymore. I mean, not many sports have classic silhouettes named after them. Twenty years down the line when everyone is playing football in weird sock-boot hybrid things, I wonder if fashion circles will start wearing predators and total 90s. I’m all for that, in fact I might stay ahead of the curve and start wearing mine asap.
Back to the matter at hand… I love Novesta. I actually would’ve been very content if they simply decided to release their classic starmaster silhouette in different colours for the rest of time. But they’ve fully surpassed all expectation and introduced this new ‘Itoh’ model, based on an old school tennis sneaker. As always the design is restrained and the branding is minimal. Full leather upper, grippy herringbone tread, a woven tongue label and embroidered branding on the heel. The Slovakian masters have done it again.
The Novesta Itoh are available now at Working Class Heroes, here.
