Saucony's Shadow Suede: A Sneaker Retrospective

Saucony (pronounced "SOCK-A-KNEE") does a wonderful favor to its loyal followers, especially its running crowd. While having developed resurgence with the whole retro craze that began in full force about 8 to 9 years ago, one of the main models of the company has been its Shadow model.

The Saucony Shadow is a basic running shoe, but is given interesting looks due to its leather overlays and stitching. Capitalizing on nostalgia with Eighties-era technology like the dual density midsole largely, the Shadow was an underrated shoe in terms of its style and performance. The Shadow Suede, though, is another animal.

As a performance running shoe, the Shadow Suede has some notable pros and cons. The good things that stand out about the shoe are the support that the Shadow provides. Much has to do with the midsole and Saucony's patented performance foam insole; another part of the good bit is that the suede upper provides some additional support that doesn't result in much weight. The tread of the shoe is also quite nice, which allows for the Shadow to be run in virtually any terrain, while the toe box is also adequately roomy.

The negative aspects of the Shadow Suede are in its namesake-the suede; the total suede upper traps virtually all the heat that is generated from running or even walking in the shoe. Along with this is the relative over-softness of the shoe which can cause more pressure to be concentrated into the toes; this can create undue stress and general discomfort in use of the shoe.

The fashion aspect of the shoe is generally pleasant, especially with the gray suede colorway, although a minor caveat of the shoe, which happens to be a setback, is that wearing the Shadow can make your foot look smaller, if that means anything to the wearer.

With all considered, the Saucony Shadow Suede is a decent buy and pretty cool to have in your collection. It's an acquired taste in wearing Sauconys, but the Shadow doesn't really disappoint, but it's not highly recommended in running usage if it's the Suede version. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if you mispronounce the company name or not, because Saucony seems to always show itself somewhere...even if lurks in the Shadows.

Sources: Saucony.com