Why Superga Will Always Be the IT Sneaker

The low-key allure of Italy's people shoe.

I remember my first pair of Superga sneakers nearly a decade ago. My parents had just gotten home from their annual September trip to Italy, and my mom couldn’t stop talking about these sneakers all the Italians were wearing. And no, I am not referencing the high priced, beat-up Italian Golden Goose Super-Star sneaker. She handed me a no-frills shoe box with an even more low-key pair of sneakers packed inside. Superga. This was the first I had heard of these cotton canvas, rubber-soled sneakers.

Silly me because I am a gal who loves a sneaker. I have seen and worn them all, from Vans’s black and white checkered slip-on to Nike’s blue, red, and white Cortez. Yet, I had been missing out on the Italian sneaker that is chic, low-key, and above all, affordable. Flash forward to today, in a world of trending brands and things like The Row and Khaite, or bubble-gum pink and navy platform Adidas (that will collect dust in the back of your closet in the next year or so), why is more light not being shined on brands, as Superga likes to say, for the people?

Background

Of course, the Superga brand is Italian. It only makes sense — how else could a simple and borderline groundbreaking shoe be so alluring?

The shoe's legacy dates back to small and cozy Turin in 1911 when the brand was born as the Walter Martiny Rubber Industry, where Walter Martiny himself brought over a rubber-making invention, and he started producing rubber boots. Two years later, Walter’s tennis-loving wife more or less created a similar version of what the Superga shoe is today for tennis usage. By the 70s, the brand was a regular official sponsor in the world of sports as athletes wore the shoes to play in, and by the early 2000s, Superga was worn by locals and foreigners abroad.

Cool-coded

Photo: Superga x Lisa Corti

Everyone from Emrata and Hailey Bieber to Princess Kate Middleton has been seen wearing The Classic 2750. Even Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen once collaborated with the brand on creative direction (can we talk about ironic?), and the brand has co-branded with LoveShackFancy, Missoni, and Lisa Corti, to name a few. The Superga brand for Italians is like the Brazilians and their Havaianas: nearly everyone can recognize and love them; they’re simple and chic and can go with…everything. Yes, everything. Linen shorts and vintage Levi jeans to leather pants and wool floor-length jackets. Just ask Italian IT girl Margherita Cardelli Cavaliere, co-founder and creator of Italian sartorial brand Giuliva Heritage, because she sports her nicely worn-in 2750 pair even to events like Paris Fashion Week.

Simplicity and the Low-Key Allure

So, what’s the deal? Will this sneaker be the next trend on my FYP? Or has the trend already sailed away? I think neither, and this is what I love the most about Italian fashion. Again, I am not talking about the trending Prada nylon mini bag that went viral two years ago. At its core, Italian men and women don’t chase trends. Sure, they can incorporate trends here and there, but it’s not the main focus of personal style. Their intuition is unique, whole, simple, low key, with consistently an allure making you wonder — but where did he/she/they get that? 

Thanks to social media (most likely), more and more people need to be told and link-fed what is “in” and what is “out” this season on a biweekly basis. Where is the simplicity? Where is the originality? Where are the core timeless pieces? It is exhausting. And I think that’s why the Superga sneaker will always be an IT sneaker that whole-heartedly represents Italian street fashion at its core — it doesn’t have to be a chase, it doesn’t have to be a trend. It can be as simple as a rubber tennis shoe from 1911 that is and will always be the people’s go-to.

After all, isn’t that what makes fashion cool?

X,

By Gabriela Rose