I generally avoid spending a lot of money of sneakers -not my cup of tea- but I have developed a soft spot for Onitsuka Tigers. They are so very comfortable and stylish. With a simple, retro design and classic cool, Tigers come in every variety of color and pattern.

Interesting note on the history of Onitsuka – in 1962 a man named Phil Knight, having just graduating business school, traveled to Japan and stumbled across Tigers on sale at the local shoe store. So impressed by the quality and price he arranged a meeting with Mr Onitsuka and talked his way into being the US distributor of Tigers. He began selling the sneakers out of his car under the name Blue Ribbon Sports, which due to the great success of the Tiger in American allowed Knight to start his own company, called Nike. But I digress.

Known as the Mexico 66 because of their roots as the specially designed track shoe of the ‘66 Olympics, these sneaks are really growing on me. Available in Houndstooth, Plaid, and Tweed, aka my favorate patterns, these Mexico 66’s are a very cool spin on the traditionally solid colored leather/rubber sneakers, and will really jazz up a pair of jeans or if you’re feeling really bold, mix and match some patterns to create a totally unique look.

Anywhere you can pepper in something different or interesting is key to having a unique and memorable style, and something like Houndstooth sneakers is much more interesting matched with a denim shirt and slim kahkis or jeans and a knit sweater then boring black sneakers and a houndstooth jacket. Putting patterns/colors where they are unexpected is what differentiates true style from vanilla fashion sense.