Armand Van Helden's five favourite trainers
The kicks that do it for the house icon
Adidas Superstar
Rock Steady Crew wore these with ridiculously fat laces on their album covers. You’d re-lace them to match what you were wearing, so if you’re wearing black and purple, you’d wear purple and black laces.
Nike Air Jordan 1
These were so expensive I didn’t own a pair until my 30s when I bought them on eBay. There’s a ton of stories from when I was growing up of people being murdered and the Jordans stolen from their feet.
Troop
I had to decide between Troop and British Knights – both go back to my childhood! These were the first sneakers made for the hood. Nike, Adidas and Puma weren’t really doing that at the time. LL Cool J wore Troops on the cover of ‘BAD’.
Nike Air Command 180 David Robinson
In my early days of collecting around 15 years ago, these were the holy grail! Nike reissued them recently; I have an original pair, too, but they’re in my little shrine.
Puma Clyde
Along with the Adidas Superstar, the suede Puma Clyde is the epitome of B-boy culture and hip hop. For people a little older the Converse Allstar is the iconic shoe, but for me it was always the Puma Clyde and Adidas Superstar.
