Luxury Version: Y/N?

There’s always that pull I feel to buy something very expensive, that J.M. Weston or John Lobb, and every time I get close to it I’m like, why? It’ll take me a year to break them in and they cost literally $1,000.

Pennies or No Pennies?

I keep pennies in them, I keep it real. The other key to Weejuns is to get them polished all the time. It keeps them looking very good and more expensive than they are.

Frequency in Rotation

Four to five days a week.

Styling Move

I wear them with jeans, Dickies, and Patagonia Baggies. Even for walking around. They’re not that good for your feet, but I’ve just gotten used to it. I love the way they look, so I’m willing to risk it all to walk around Manhattan in the Weejuns.

Lawrence Schlossman

Shoe of Choice: New Balance 990 ( $174.99

Lawrence is Grailed’s brand director and co-hosts the podcast Failing Upwards.

Origin Story

I’ve probably been wearing New Balances for the past four years, and then in the past two years I’ve really fallen in love with the 990 for a variety of reasons, from a utilitarian standpoint to just appreciating them aesthetically. The grey 990 is what my dad has been wearing for ten years at this point. There’ve been a few moments when I’ve worn my 990s to see my parents and my dad’s been loving it. Right now he wears destroyed Carharrts and 990s, which funnily enough has become the de facto cool guy Brooklyn uniform.

Favorite Iteration

The ultimate best is the grey. But my favorite that ever came out was the Stussy collab, which I don’t have a pair of, but it’s that perfect off-white color that you can’t just get from New Balance. But the one you buy, you buy the grey.

Why the 990?

I want the dad shoe look, I want the tech comfort, and the 990 is the middle ground between the really basic shit you might buy at J. Crew that I don’t want, and the crazy chunky stuff like the 999. The 990 checks every box.

Frequency in Rotation

I have so much fucking footwear ’cause I just love sneakers and shoes and loafers. I probably wear them once a week, but that’s saying a lot. I have the Off-White Air Max 90s, and I never wear them. I wear my New Balances more than objectively more hyped sneakers.

Styling Move

I love the 990 silhouette aesthetically because it looks good with looser and wider-fit pants. I have on Supreme dad jeans today, but I’ll wear them with my Engineered Garments cargoes, or Lemaire trousers. That little bit of break and wider opening on top of the 990s just really does it for me. Prior to me wearing pants like that, it was a shoe I thought looked really good with shorts. So I also wear them with Baggies.

Value Proposition

$175 is a lot, but at the end of the day what goes into it is truly worth it. If New Balancess were re-selling for Wave Runner prices, that would be different, but because you can just get them, I’m personally willing to pay that little bit more rather than buy a general release sneaker from another brand for $150 or whatever. You get a ton of bang for your buck. New Balances aren’t made so you can flex on IG, they’re made so you can walk a shitton.

Jon Tietz

Shoe of Choice: Blundstone 500 ( $174.95

Jon is a GQ fashion editor.