NIKE DUNK HI AC SUMMER '12

Made of this nice deep blue canvas upper, the new Nike Dunk Hi AC arrives for summer. Fitted with round brown laces and matching tonal eyelets, it looks a very strong edition of the ever-popular high top silhouette. The gum tips on the clean white outsoles absolutely nail it, finishing the sneaker with a great balance, one that I've not seen too often. A very solid drop.

ADIDAS ORIGINALS COURT DECK VULC MID

These are the new Court Deck sneakers by adidas Originals for Summer '12. A light court mid with boat shoe influences, it brings a refreshing feel to the standard shoe. It comes in three colourways, but each uses varying materials, thus producing completely different takes of the same silhouette. There's the pinstriped canvas with brown leather stripes, which is perhaps the most summertime-friendly, then a clean white and black model, as well as an all-leather upper version with embossed detailing. An interesting collection of three bold stand-alone summer footwear, available to purchase now.

NIKE AIR MAX 1 PREMIUM SUMMER '12

Set for release this summer are these hot Air Max 1s by Nike. It follows the Safety Orange colourway unveiled a couple weeks back in the Hazelnut collection, this time sporting an all black upper in suede with leather details matching the brown outsole and tongue label. I quite like the classic style and the colours go well, a refreshing look from all the white outsoles around these days. With clean white highlights in the swoosh and top eyelet, it looks to be a solid release adding to the popular Air Max series.

RONNIE FIEG x ASICS GT-II ROSE GOLD

Two years in the works, Ronnie Fieg has finally completed his latest project with Asics, working on the GT-II sneaker. I've never been sure about Asics' aesthetics, and I've never bought a pair before, but these images coming through today look really nice. Something about it I'm finding myself drawn to.

It comes in a beautiful "Rose Gold" colourway on a soft pigskin upper, perforated at the tongue and toebox. It features rich nubuck detailing too, including the Asics stripes, and the colour/fabric combination is indeed very good. And as frontrunners in the trainers sector, these GT-IIs make for perfect casualwear in both style and comfort. As with all of Fieg's collab footwear items, they will be available in limited numbers at Kith, to be released on March 2nd.

NIKE SB BLAZER ELITE CLASSIC CHARCOAL

Part of a collaboration with Lance Mountain, this is the newly released Blazer Elite by Nike SB. The "Classic Charcoal" model features premium leather upper, nubuck suede details and Zoom Air insole, which has a pool print in reference to the pool service pack. The golden hop stitching contrast nicely with the dark rugged look, as does the cream white outsole. I'm a fan.

UNDFTD x PUMA CLYDE STRIPE-OFF

I had to look back at these a couple times to decide if I liked them or not. It's the new Stripe-Off pack from Puma's collaboration line with Undefeated, including three suede colourways of the Clyde model. I love that they've totally stripped the shoe down to its core structure, it's just some suede panels with a logo tag, nice and simple. But there's something that opposes the simplicity which almost ruins it for me, perhaps it's the thick laces or the massive 3M logo on the tongue. It just feels a little too chunky and inappropriately loud for me. It's a good set of colours though finished with nice premium suede.

A.P.C. LACE-UP BOOTS SPRING 2012

These boots are such beauts. Footwear simplicity at its best. Made out of 100% calfskin suede, A.P.C.'s spring boots epitomise elegance and quality throughout. It's available in two colourways of dark navy and the pictured tobacco, each featuring with metal eyelets, topstitching and rounded cotton laces, plus suede and smooth leather lining. And the crepe soles finish it off great, giving these boots a light style, very much needed to move on from winter, perfect for any look.

NIKE BLAZER MID WOOL

Available now, perfectly suited for the dwindling cold season, are these wool Blazers. Nike's iconic mid top has been given the Vacuum Technology and comes in a dark grey premium wool upper with tonal swoosh branding and perforated leather inner lining. Placed atop a light grey outsole, the resulting silhouette has a clean and contemporary look that's very slick and presentable. The dotted woven laces add a nice touch too. A pretty solid bit of footwear.

PUMA SUEDE MID MADE IN JAPAN

This week, a special pack of suede mids came out from Puma, special because it's made in Japan. It means top quality material, deeper colour tones and a nicely embroidered "Made In Japan" tag on the tongue. The mid tops come in two equally attractive colourways, colours from a certain blog I know.

The retro sneakers have a solid monotone look, housing full burgundy or navy uppers on clean white outsoles, with gold logo details which contribute to the exclusive feel these Japanese editions inevitably hold. They dropped this week in Japan and so are available to purchase. A very nice simple bit of suede footwear.

RANSOM x ADIDAS ORIGINALS ALAN CREPE S/S '12

Kitted with a quality leather upper and soft crepe sole, this is the new Alan Crepe sneaker from one of my favourite collaborations, Ransom by adidas Originals. Part of the Spring/Summer 2012 collection, the Alan Crepes take a simple summer silhouette with near to no branding, emphasising the iconic Crepe sole and its wooden welt, which works so well against the clean leather body. It comes in two colourways, black and my preferred choice of tan. The perfect shoe to finish that summer look with elegance and no noise.

NIKE SB ERIC KOSTON 1 VINTAGE GREEN

Released this week is this new Vintage Green colourway of the simple and elegant skateboard sneaker Eric Koston 1. Paired with a metallic silver swoosh, the model is made of a suede upper and clean white outsole. Once you nail a sneaker's silhouette, they become very fun and easy to be creative with, matching various colours for varying seasons, and the Nike SB lineup has achieved just that with the Janoskis and these Kostons in my view. Any colour, any time, chances are I'll like it. Vintage Green is nice.

ADIDAS ADIZERO F50 MESSI

The unrivalled world's best footballer to grace the pitch with the generation's most incredible feet, Lionel Messi was awarded his third successive Ballon D'Or award this week. To mark the special achievement, his main sponsor adidas and their fitting three stripes have created these custom adizero F50s for him to wear for the second half of the season. Coming in a clean white and gold colourway, this just goes to show how bad all the vibrantly coloured mainstream lines are in comparison. I just don't understand the current trend in football boots with candy purple, flash green and blinding orange, they're just silly. But this Messi model is very pretty and it features the award-winning years, a message of gratitude, the Argentinian flag, and also Leo's new personal logo, following the likes of Tiger Woods and Roger Federer. It's a brilliant pair of boots, available to all through miCoach.

In related news, do you know who won the women's award? Japanese national captain Homare Sawa, who had a truly dazzling year, leading the nation to its first every World Cup accompanied with the top FIFA world ranking. The equivalent coach's award was given to the Japanese coach, Sasaki, who managed them to this superb feat. Amazing news.

NIKE AIR MAX 90

We've seen a resurgence of Nike Air Max 90 over the last year, and it seems as though the hype will only grow bigger as we move into 2012. I wasn't so sure what all the fuss is about though, as a fan of all things clean and simple, the Air Max for me has too much going on with its layers, textures and colours. However, I am also a fan of all things burgundy. And having just spotted this, I am in love! It's a wine red colourway from the Medium Grey range, from which we saw the Volt last week, blocked with flash yellow. But this burgundy colour is so perfect, complimenting the navy, white and main man medium grey excellently. It's a colour scheme that fits the palette of a certain blog... I'm led to believe these sneakers comes out soon, and I want it.

ADIDAS ORIGINALS x RANSOM ARMY TR F/W '11

Adding to the Fall/Winter '11 collection, the adidas x Ransom collaboration line releases these simple and rugged high-tops, the Army TR. Available in two neutral colourways and uppers made of suede or canvas, they feature a broad side ribbon, distinguished toecap and matching eyelets and laces. There are also two low-top options too, but these mids are much better balanced, making for a top choice item of casual winter footwear. The relationship between the designers has grown stronger over the seasons and their products too have been more and more impressive, as it appears this is a collaboration with much more to give in the future. I'm sure there'll be Spring news coming soon.

NIKE SB STEFAN JANOSKI MID PREMIUM INUIT

Another new year is around the corner and the upcoming releases are starting to appear. Nike SB are of course one of them having unveiled a bunch of January drops, but this particular one looks special. It's the Stefan Janoski Mids in a premium navy leather with some significant features. The faux fur lining and D-ring eyelets bring influences of a winter snow boot, and the brown highlights match elegantly. Finished with a white swoosh and outsole, it makes for an excellent Janoski sneaker with its typical urban lifestyle comfort but the look has an added sophistication that really works.

ADIDAS SKATEBOARDING JONBEE

adidas Skateboarding have this week unveiled their skate shoe, Jonbee. Arriving next year in four subtle colourways, the new model takes clear inspiration from the shapes of the prominent range by Nike SB, taking the structure perhaps of the Paul Rodriguez or Stefan Janoski silhouettes. The sneakers are fit for the skaters but also hold the aesthetics and comfort for stylish urban footwear. But adidas have added a twist, and a cool one at that, merging the typical skate shoe with features of the timeless boat shoe which works very well. Look out for their drop early 2012.

NIKE SB STEFAN JANOSKI MID PREMIUM BROGUE

Unveiled this week was another drop by Nike SB Zoom for their perfect Stefan Janoski shoe. This time, it's the mid-top quickstrike silhouette, coming in a chestnut brown colourway, made with premium leather and featuring the focus element of perforated brogue detail. The formal touch makes the already very versatile sneaker even more suitable for every occasion and it fits really well with the Janoski model. I hope the new feature will reappear in drops to follow, because this would look sexy in a darker tone of brown and I'd love to see a solid black option too. For now though, these babies are set for release next week.

NEW BALANCE FOR J.CREW HOLIDAY 2011

So having recently become available in the US, after initiating in Japan, the J.Crew x New Balance collaboration 1400 sneakers have two new colourways to make a cute block colour series of eight for the Fall/Winter 2011 Holiday pack. They are now available in mocha and the pictured wine.

I've never been a fan of New Balance, ever, just because I have this connection of lameness tied up with that fat N logo. I still don't really like it, it's not particularly slick, but I do have a weak spot for decent burgundy/maroon colours and this wine red colourway certainly looks appetising. Made of premium American suede, it makes for a good day-to-day piece of footwear. These exclusive kicks are out now for $130.

VANS VAULT DECEMBER 2011

VANS Vault have dropped this month's footwear collection to add to their Fall/Winter range. It includes two colourways for each of the SK8 Hi LX and Era LX models, all made with premium leather uppers and accented with suitably autumn features. The Eras have flannel constructs and nice metal eyelets, while the hi tops are finished to a cleaner look with simple contrast branding and cute seasonal laces. It's a strong foursome, up there in its design, quality and practicality too as they all make for great footwear both smart and casual. Drops like these help me through the coldness.

UNDEFEATED x PUMA CLYDE F/W 11

The minimalist Clyde Strip Off silhouette by Puma returns with its collaboration with UNDFTD for the Fall/Winter season in three autumn colourways. The premium leather sneakers come in tan, navy and orange, each with matching laces, white outsoles and contrasting tongue label and ankle branding. You know I'm a fan of all things simple and sleek, and these sure are. Elegant shoes with bold character and of course excellent quality in the leather upper and lux insole. They were released today, followed later in the week online too.