White Ain’t Always Right: The Perils of Monochromatic Colorways

Is all-white always a safe choice for sneakers?

words // Nick Schonberger

Selecting a shoe for white-on-white treatment is something of a heroic labor. While it may not necessitate Herculean strength, the task does require a certain savvy. Not all silhouettes are created equal. Many, in fact, are predicated on color blocking for full celebration of the design. Therefore, picking what is right for white is as perilous as supervising the disposal of nuclear waste. That is to say: Take a wrong turn, and one can properly fuck shit up.

This weekend, Ronnie Fieg’s whiteout Puma XT-2 will hit the shelves of London’s fashionable Dover Street Market. For the designer/retailer, the launch is a studied power play—formalizing the native New Yorker’s ascension from pure sneakerhead titillation to a broader footwear buying public. The aesthetic hits the nail on the head of trend (clean white), and the material choices are vintage Fieg (his obsession with subtle leather textures marries beautifully with the silhouette).

“The idea was to offer both shoes colorless,” said Fieg. “I wanted people to purchase them based off quality, not color or branding. The XT-2 was the perfect fit for the concept.”

Designed as a neutral performance runner, the Puma Trinomic XT-2 first released in 1991. The shoe came, as most items did in the early part of that decade, dressed in bright, bold fluorescent accents. These colorful hits, however, do not follow function. Instead, it’s the interworking of the materials that form the structure, regardless of how each pops against the core base of the sneaker. Thus, when Fieg goes white, you see the XT-2 in all its glory—the structural overlays at the forefoot, for example, are apparent because of the design alone. Fieg also removes the superfluous branding, allowing Puma’s Formstripe (which became a brand hallmark in 1958) to act as lone manufacturer's identifier.

An all-white Puma Roma, in contrast to Fieg’s creation, is only acceptable if your name is Carla Espinosa (and you are a character from the slapstick hospital sitcom Scrubs). The model simply doesn’t have the same dynamic depth as the XT2. Depth of layering is important to the integrity of a white-on-white shoe. When UNDFTD stripped the Formstripe from the Clyde in 2011, the decision effectively stole the Clyde’s personality. Fine for a Common Projects Achilles, but problematic when the extra leather piece virtually defines the silhouette. What is an Air Force 1 without the Swoosh? A number of sad skippies, of course. And, while the AF1 sings most harmoniously in crisp monochrome, some of its siblings suffer.

“One sneaker that looks bad to me when it's made up in all white is the Air Jordan 1,” said frequent footwear collaborator Frank the Butcher. “All detailing and distinction of panels are gone - basically everything I love is gone. It doesn't even feel like a Jordan.”

Black and red define Jordan. For the 1, so do a whole host of contrasting schemes, and without them it is, dare I say, just a hightop. The Air Max 95 reaches its potential only when a gradient surfaces, and great Stan Smiths always needs that distinctive heeltab. The list goes on and on, of course. Some shoes are characterized by the interplay of color, a select few work in all white.

“All white is classic, traditional, and best on silhouettes that have similar shape and materials,” said Nick Engvall, digital content manager at Finish Line. “To give a new hoops shoe a classic all-white makeup doesn't do the sneaker, or the all-white colorup, justice in any way. It's kind of like having a chromed-out 2014 Corvette, it's a dead giveaway of mid-life crisis.”

The Trinomic XT-2 is an understated tech shoe. Its cushioning system, an arrangement of hexagonal cells providing comfort and stability, only surfaces on the outsole. Outwardly, the XT-2 is all early-‘90s shaping that actually improves when the color palate is minimized. Not so for, say, the Puma Disc Blaze where white obscures the interplay of cables, leathers, meshes, and plastics. In the XT-2 tech, effectively, works in hiding, much like in the Air Force 1.

Trend is certainly driving interest in white-on-white sneakers. Sometimes the efforts fail (*cough*Air Raid*cough*), but when the subtle factors of shape and sculpting combine congenially the chosen silhouette reaches a peak. Bruce Kilgore knows. So should you.