By Shu Xie

I’ve always liked Reebok’s Instapump Fury, especially those in the craziest colour-and-print combinations, but each time I try on a pair, I feel I am treading in Titanics. Of course I am contradicting myself since it’s the massiveness and the height that I am drawn to. With each re-imagined version, in particular the Darth-black pair by Factotum and Atmos (sadly, available only in Japan), I convince myself that they’re boat-sized enough for me, but, in the end, they still look, even from up here in my best posture, too much a tanker.

That’s why I’m attracted to the scaled-down sibling, Furylite, since it is just sampan enough for my regular-size feet. The Furylite is not a new shoe, and there’s no denying that its lineage can be traced to what was once considered a monstrosity. But the less-fierce version is no slouch. In fact, to its detriment, the Furylite is considered a “hipster trainer”. But I give no thought to its street cred; I like it because of the Roshe-like body and a padded quarter that is oddly space-age. In this iteration that caught my eye, it is given the ‘pack’ treatment known as Cloud. I am not sure what the designers at Reebok saw, but the print looks like camo-for-the-desert to me. What is unusual is that the shoe is underscored by a polka-dotted midsole. Macho camo and dotty dots—some of us just love odd couples.

Reebok is, perhaps, enjoying a bit of a moment now that Gosha Rubchinskiy, the Russian wunderkind backed by Dover Street Market, has given the decidedly low-tech-looking Reebok Phase One sneaker a makeover. In the wake of so many celebrity collaborations that push Adidas to the noisy, crowded front, sometimes it is just more fun to jog along with those unconcerned with the finishing line.

Reebok Furylite Cloud Pack ‘Stone’, SGD110, is available at Star 360 stores. Photo: Reebok