Jeremy Allen White is an unapologetic Nike Cortez fanboy. Hs been for a while, in fact. Way back in 2022, the actor admitted as much to GQ UK, when he proudly touted the all-white version of the legendary silhouette as his favorite. “They just stopped making white-on-white,” he said then. “It’s really crazy. I feel like it’s a popular shoe, not just in my house, but you know, all over the place.”
In the time since, Allen White’s preferred colorway has since re-released, and he’s quickly added a few of them to his collection. But yesterday at the farmers’ market in LA, he broke out a slightly different riff on the Cortez that might just make his go-to pair nervous. The primary differentiator? A contrasting—gasp—black Swoosh.
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The aforementioned Swoosh hits right at the lateral and medial sidewalls, while additional Nike branding is stamped on the tongue tag and heel badge. But the upgrade isn’t simply aesthetic. When the Cortez first hit the market in the early ’70s, the original silhouette was relatively narrow, a hindrance for folks with wider feet. The newer version, though, boasts a wider toe box for extra wiggle room, souped-up leather to prevent creasing and warping, and a newfangled foam wedge in the sole for added comfort.
The fact that Jeremy Allen White also owns a pair of widely-coveted Bode x Nike Astro Grabbers and still chose to pick up his semi-weekly bouquet in these? That’s called loyalty, folks. Like we said: a Cortez fanboy through and through.
This story originally appeared on British GQ.
