It is not often that you will find me switching brands.
I seem to be a pretty darn loyal Nike fella. Going from runners to lifestyle through sb to end with basketball and Jordan. There isn’t really much I don’t like from the guys at the swoosh.

But even from within my brand loyalty, I try to keep an open state of mind towards the other brands out there. And when I do end up buying something else then anything swoosh labelled it has to be as we’d say in French, a “coup de coeur”!

Since a few months, one of the people I have had the pleasure crossing my path is Adam (@sneakercloset) who was also featured on our Adidas feature right here. We both have a totally different style and liking when it comes to our sneakers. He’s big on AM’s and Puma’s and hates anything Foamposite and even goes as to call them grass mowing shoes. And I’m not a big Puma fan, only appreciate a hand full of AM’s and absolutely love Foam stuff ranging from the Foamposite to the Flightposite!

Yet from our own distinct taste, we greatly respect and appreciate each other and discuss about our loved sneakers and future releases.
With those discussions, it will not come as a surprise that each on our own side we influence one another.

It is during one of those chats that Adam made introduced me to the Asics Noosa Tri sneaker line.
In normal conditions and without outside influence, I wouldn’t even take a second look and move on. I have no business looking up general running shoes let alone digging into another brand’s specialty shoes. But throughout his passionate talk about the shoe, he aroused my interest and soon enough I was decided, I wanted to get my hands on my very own pair of Asics Noosa Tri 4′s.
Why? Because they are refreshing, they have a great theme and quite frankly, they pop and will make people’s head shake. And yes, I like it when people shake their head when they look at my feet. But above anything, I like this shoe and it’s wild design!

So my mind was made up, I wanted these. Only problem, they released quite some time ago (quite frankly I’m not even sure how long ago). And well Asics isn’t really what we could call a reseller’s dream brand to buy out, stock and sell for wild amounts of money on ebay. A quick search confirmed my suspicion, no pairs up. I either had to get lucky or find a slightly used pair off of eBay.

A few months went by without finding them. Everytime I visited a shop I had them in the back in my mind but no store in Belgium seemed crazy enough to carry them.

Untill today! I walked into one of the stores I visit every now and then looking for a pair for a friend of mine. They always have some deals going on off unsold sneakers that go on sale to make place. Sadly, this time, nothing I was looking for or could be interested in.
As I roamed the shop, I first stumbled upon these in the triathlon corner.

Sadly, they were the womens, but I instanly pulled out my phone and sent a tweet to Adam all happy of what I had come across. Little did I knew that by turning around and increasing my awareness, I’d stumble upon these.

Finally! An Asics Noosa Tri! Available in store in this little non sneaker loving country I live in! Especially not wild sneakers as these!
Now, I wanted the 4 and not the 5 darned! But I figured, the 4′s will be close to impossible to ever find and these are equally great looking and on my list of liked sneakers, so I might as well slide my foot in ‘em and snap a pic to soo how they fit and how I feel about them!!

Quite eye catching aren’t they? I agree! Lovely looks! Totally different and refreshing! Yep! I was sold, I needed these as well and while I was in the position to get them, I figured I might as well! As the ones I tried on were a little snug, I went to the salesman and asked for a bigger size. A few moments later he came back with a box in hand, hurray!
As he opened the box he appologized as they didn’t have the shoes I asked for in my size but he still had this model he brought out and maybe I liked it…
As the lid opened up, I must’ve had the most stupid happy look on my face ever.
There they were, the shoe I figured I’d have the hardest time ever finding. Absolutely new in the box with every tag attatched and everything!

You probably won’t be surprised that these were instantly purchased! And it is with a great smile and sense of satisfaction I walked out of the store. This is one of those pickups you are proud of even though it’s pure luck and coinsidence, you’re still darned proud you found that one pair you had very low hopes for!

A special thank you goes out to @sneakercloset for introducing these to me! Mad love Sir A!

When we talk Foamposites, I have a feeling we’re talking in black and white terms. You either love them or hate them. Obviously since this is my 2nd pair of Foamposite’s and that I’m totally fond of Flightposite’s, you may say I’m a fan of shoes that end with -posite. That being said, not all of them are on my wishlist, but that’s a matter of personal taste.

After buying the electric blue’s, I had long been looking for the teal colorway as I think it’s a very refreshing color and varies from all the black and white I already own, so to say I look forward to rock these under shorts in the summer is an understatement.

At some point, they even might see some pink laces, not because it’s a must, but because it would make them even more summer suitable! But that lace swap will only happen when summer hits. So untill then, the black laces will remain in them.

But as much as I like them, upon close inspection, I noticed a thing or two that kind of set me off, especially if you consider the retail price of these babies.

First off, on both shoes, the glue job is beyond sloppy, even when pictured from a certain distance, you can see the residue paint on the sole as you can see on the picture below.

Here’s a closer pic

Secondly, it seems like someone seemed to have fun with a toothpick on the foam upper trying to make into one of those punching card pictures you used to have when you were a kid…

So all in all, I’m happy to have this colorway added to the collection, but Nike please, is this the standard for quality control on your production lines nowadays?