Top 5 - Stefan Janoski
03.30.23
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No matter how thought out or purposeful, there’s an intangible aspect to design that can move an idea from considered to classic. Like his skateboarding, there’s a certain quality to Stefan Janoski’s creative vision that’s always present but hard to articulate. The taste, the style, and the thoughtful choices are germane to Stefan and with a legacy shoe that’s endured, evolved, and become a platform for expression since the release of the original Nike SB Zoom Stefan Janoski in 2009.
Decades deep and timely as ever, we caught up with Stefan to talk about his favorite colorways and iterations of his signature shoe.
Once we realized that the silhouette and design lend themselves to adding colors and patterns and materials, it made it really easy to do collabs because you could really change the look without changing the aesthetic. It’s too hard to choose my five favorite shoes…do you mean 500?
- Stefan
Black Woven Slip-On
"The first one is the black woven slip-on, inspired by a huarache. It’s just the coolest shoe—it’s so beautiful. It skates really well, but I don’t have that many so I don’t skate them that much anymore. Nike made a burgundy one with a white sole and some bold color versions, but the all-black is my favorite. My favorites are the very clean and simple versions of my shoe. I stuck with the ones I have and wear the most. That slip-on has a casual but really fancy vibe. I love it."
852 Collab
“The second one is the 8Five2 collab from Hong Kong. It’s the all-white leather, alternative closure version. They’re amazing. I wish I had a million pairs. People joked that it looked like a nurse’s shoe, but I don’t care, it’s awesome."
Brown Suede
“Brown suede with a light brown Swoosh. I’m pretty sure that was the second version of the original and I just love that one. I’m a brown shoe guy."
Dark Blue Suede
“I wear this pair all the time. It’s a dark blue suede with a turquoise/earth tone sole. They’re very different and very cool. Nike did an earth tone series where they had a terracotta sole that was kind of mauve-ish.. kind of pinkish. The black with the terracotta sole is really cool too, but the really dark blue with the flat turquoise is really nice."
Leo Baker Slip-On
“This is the one I wear the most. The Leo Baker all-black leather slip-on. When they came out I got so many pairs and what I like about them is you get a pair, you put them on and they feel great. But the longer you wear them, the better they feel because the leather is so nice. I usually wear them for a long time, then I skate in them.”
