Nerdthusiast Halloween Sneaker Drop: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Halloween is upon us, and it brings with it the usual suspects of Halloween themed sneakers. I was originally planning on only discussing the pairs that interest me personally, but I decided against it. Rather, I want to take this time to compare and talk a bit about why these certain brands or shoes don’t appeal to me. Perhaps it’s best to do this in the time-tested format of the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

The good: Nike SB Dunk Low “Mummy” 

https://www.nike.com/si/launch/t/sb-dunk-low-mummy

It’s no surprise to anyone that knows me that a Dunk low made it in this section. However, this shoe is far and away the best holiday shoe I have seen in a while. With features like a suede wrap overlay that can be removed and multiple glow-in-the-dark hits including eyes, this is a shoe I would love to have. In terms of wearability for a holiday shoe, it does have a generally neutral color scheme in its favor. The materials and stitch patterning on the outside look great while the whole shoe keeps from being a walking Spirit Halloween ad. There is a point to be made that Nike is simply making every good colorway a Dunk right now, but that is perhaps a different discussion. 

The rest of the Nike offerings this year are of the generic variety; An assortment of black with orange or green accent models that look like shoes for preschoolers. I’m aware that not everything is made for me and that’s okay. There are still some other decent options if they match your taste like the Prestos. I’ll be too busy wrapped up in this pair to bother. Here’s hoping we can avoid joke pictures feature toilet paper wrapped shoes on Instagram.

The bad: Reebok x Ghostbusters Zig Kinetica 

https://www.reebok.com/us/ghostbusters-zig-kinetica-shoes/H03293.html

Before you think that this is another list that places anything not Nike as bad, hear me out. I think that getting to do a collaboration with a company that is not Nike is way better for creators who want freedom. The art and design choices made lead to some great sneakers, but these are not one of them. The whole shoe looks like it is encased in the plastic used to make 6-pack rings. The tongue accents are well done and the colors themselves are unoffensive, but it just doesn’t fit on that model well. If you took this design and placed it on a pair of Vans or a basic low-top silhouette, this shoe would get a pass. It’s unfortunate that I feel brands must make a choice sometimes between doing a design with Nike or getting to make something creative. 

The rest of this collection is similar in my eyes, good details but just not tied together well. I do personally enjoy the Ghost Smasher because they leaned fully into the costume element of design, and it looks straight out of a movie. How wearable it is may be another story, but I think as a piece of design it looks awesome.

The ugly: Vans x The Shining Slip-On “Horror” 

https://www.vans.com/shop/vans-x-the-shining-classic-slip-on-horror#hero=2

Vans released a full line up of Halloween movie classic designs this year and most of them I have no problem with. This one however should have been kept out of the daylight. The flowers are faded enough on the side of the upper that they look like bad cheetah print to me. I will say that doing a full graphic front on a Slip-On is a risky venture because it takes up so much of the design. That makes the outcome of the look pretty hit or miss depending on how that one section looks. 

I just don’t think this graphic looks good being this big and on the front of the shoe. It seems more like a minor detail on the heel kind of thing to me. I get that they wanted to do something more besides just the usual checkboard with characters and all over print, but this just didn’t do it for me. I usually feel like at worst a Vans collab is just plainer than I would personally like, but these just rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. 

Themed holiday sneakers can be a tricky mix of very unwearable out of season and slapping every symbol associated with the holiday on a single shoe. Overall, this year has some decent options to choose from for everyone. I personally am only on the hunt for the Dunks, but some of the Vans designs like The Gremlins all over print might be something my girlfriend gravitates towards. Still, none of these designs are as bad as leaving your Stockx or Ebay verification tags on your shoes. Avoid that and you shouldn’t look too scary. 

By: Justin DiRe 

Nerdthusiast Content Writer and Editor

Twitter: Beanster88