Gianneli Colours Dark Red Men's High Top Sneakers

A deep red woodgrain running the length of the canvas, printed flat and then cut and hand-stitched. The grain lines run along the shoe rather than around it, which is why this pair looks longer and leaner than the abstract prints in the range: the eye follows the line from heel to toe instead of stopping at a stroke.

Lengthwise Grain, Leaner Shoe

• The line runs heel to toe. A pattern that travels the length of the foot reads longer and narrower than one scattered across it.
• Fine lines stay fine. The grain is dyed into the fibre rather than printed on top, so it does not blur or thicken where the shoe creases.
• The scuff zone is capped. Faux leather covers the first panel a canvas shoe loses, so damage lands there rather than across the pattern.

Weight, Flex And The Collar

A 100% polyester canvas upper on an EVA rubber outsole. EVA is foamed rather than solid rubber, so it takes the impact from each step and flexes with the foot while keeping the pair light. Padding runs the whole way round the collar, which is what keeps a high top wearable past the first hour. Breathable lining and a soft insole inside, with lacing to the top of the ankle so the fit closes where a high top needs it.

Damp Cloth Only

A damp cloth and a little soap cleans the canvas. Keep the pair out of the washing machine. The print would survive the cycle; the adhesive holding a hand-assembled sole would not.

The box smells of glue when it is first opened. Hand assembly leaves that behind, it is not a fault, and it clears within a few days in open air.

Oxblood Behaves Like A Dress Shoe

Deep red sits closer to a burgundy than to a bright red, so it behaves the way oxblood leather does in an outfit: it works with navy, grey, black and raw denim without shouting. It is the pair in the men's range that comes closest to looking like a dress shoe from a distance while still being canvas up close.

Red, Brown, And Whether It Fakes Timber

Is this red or is it brown? Red, but a deep one with brown in the grain lines, closer to oxblood than to scarlet. That depth is why it reads as a considered colour rather than a loud one.

Does the woodgrain look printed or does it look like wood? Printed, and deliberately so. It is a graphic interpretation of grain on cloth rather than an attempt to fake a timber surface, so it does not fall into the uncanny territory a photo-realistic wood print would.

Will the grain line up between the two shoes? No. The design is printed across one continuous panel and cut afterwards, so the grain runs at a different point on each shoe. They match in pattern and colour rather than aligning line for line.

Size Guide

Stand on a sheet of paper and measure heel to longest toe, then match the length below rather than ordering your usual number. Foot length is rounded to the nearest quarter inch, so five pairs of neighboring sizes read the same. If you fall between two, take the larger.