Sottosopra Men's High Top Canvas Sneakers

Sottosopra means upside down in Italian, and the painting on this pair earns the name: dark strokes run across the canvas with no obvious top or bottom, so the design reads differently depending on which angle catches your eye. It is the darkest print in the men's range, which makes it the one that behaves most like an ordinary shoe while still being a painted one.

A Painted Shoe That Passes For A Plain One

• It takes the place of a black sneaker. Dark enough to wear where a print would normally be too much, with something to look at once you are close.
• Nothing on the surface can peel. Sublimation puts the dye inside the fibre, so there is no layer to crack at the toe crease or lift along the ankle.
• The panel that fails first is protected. The faux leather toe cap absorbs kerb strikes and doorframe scrapes that would wear straight through canvas.

Shock Absorbed, Ankle Cushioned

A 100% polyester canvas upper on an EVA rubber outsole. EVA is foamed rather than solid rubber: it takes the shock out of each step and flexes with the foot without the weight a vulcanized sole would add. Padding runs the whole way round the collar, which is the difference between a high top that stays on and one that comes off after lunch. Inside there is a breathable lining and a soft insole, and the lacing runs the full height so the ankle can be closed down or left easy.

Hand Assembly Leaves A Smell

A damp cloth and a little soap is all the canvas needs. Keep the pair out of a washing machine. The print would come through the cycle intact, but the sole is bonded on a hand-assembled shoe and the adhesive is what gives way.

The box will smell of glue when it is first opened. Hand assembly does that. Leave the pair out in open air and it clears within a few days.

Where A Dark Print Gets You Through The Door

Dark ground means this pair takes the place a plain black sneaker would take in an outfit, then adds something to look at. Indigo and black denim, grey chinos and olive all work above it. It is also the pair in this range most likely to pass unremarked somewhere with a loose dress code, where a brighter print would not.

How Dark, And What A Deep Scuff Does

How dark is dark? Dark enough to read as a charcoal shoe from across a room, with the brushwork only resolving at conversational distance. If you want a print that announces itself from further away, this is the wrong end of the scale.

Does a dark canvas hide scuffs? It hides dust and light marks well, but a deep scuff shows as a paler patch because the colour sits in the fibre and cannot be touched up. The capped toe covers the spot most likely to take that kind of hit.

Do the two shoes carry the same section of the painting? No. The artwork is printed across one continuous panel and cut afterwards, so each shoe takes a different part. They are made as a pair rather than as mirror images.

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.