This feature is from Complex Magazine Issue No. 3 - Fall 2025 (The Influence Issue), which is available now on Complex Shop.
If you’re reading this, chances are your closet is full of sneakers. Unfortunately, that also means that you’ve become accustomed to shelling out hundreds of dollars per pair to feed your footwear addiction. It costs $115 just to get a pair of white-on-white Air Force 1s in 2025 (that’s inflation, baby). And don’t even get us started on the resale prices you need to pay to get almost any of the hyped-up collaborations that drop on a given week. These costs add up. But as sneaker prices continue to skyrocket, are we getting our money’s worth? And if so, which brand is packing the most value into its footwear offerings?
We decided to try and find out. To do so, we enlisted the help of Weston Kay, founder of the leather goods brand Rose Anvil. You may have seen Rose Anvil’s series of YouTube videos and TikToks, on which Kay has racked up millions of views by getting surgical on some of the most popular sneakers on the market to break down what’s really going on under the tongue. For this exercise, he took a look at three classic models from a trio of brands: Nike, Adidas, and New Balance. After cutting them to shreds, he examined each shoe’s leather quality, durability, stitching, sole construction and cushioning, hardware, and more. These are his findings.
Nike Air Force 1, $115
Type of Leather Used: 2.6/5
The sneaker is made of undyed white-grain, chrome-tanned leather with a heavy outer coating. Over time, this coating distresses, giving the shoe its signature creasing at the toe box. We can tell the finishing isn’t high-quality because when burned, it cracks and flakes off instead of melting and bubbling up. It still holds its shape—it's durable enough for a sneaker, and it will be supportive without being too heavy and thick.
Interior Components: 3/5
The foam and textile lining are lackluster. Nike chose a textile-topped foam insole on top of a non-woven lasting board: the quickest and cheapest way to attach the upper to the outsole.
Midsole: 3/5
The AF1 is equipped with a foam-and-air unit midsole, making it comfortable enough to wear them all day.
Outsole: 3/5
It has a rubber outsole that's 4mm thick. It comes in around 65-70 SA [Shore A hardness scale], which is within average sneaker range squishiness. (The higher the number, the harder it is.) It punctures at 79.5 lbs. It also uses rubber columns in the heel to add more squish under your foot.
Construction: 3/5
The upper is strobel-stitched to the lasting board layer under the insole, then the outsole is both glued and stitched on. You can see the cupsole stitch is real on the inside of the shoe, which makes it doubly redundant in case either the glue or stitches fail.
Durability: 3/5
If you don’t care much about creasing, the shoe will hold up OK, as it has a real sidewall stitch. But overall, it’s an average, mass-manufactured sneaker.
Comfort: 3/5
The foam-and-air unit sole will add some good squish on your foot, but the lack of proper arch support will slide your toes to the end of the shoe.
Worth the Price?: 3/5
Overall, the shoe is fine for what it is. There’s a reason why it’s so popular— it’s a long-lasting, no-frills classic.
Adidas Samba OG, $100
Type of Leather Used: 3/5
White grain, chrome-tanned leather that is heavily coated with a fake print embossed and a suede toe cap. The leather is softer and more tumbled than the AF1 and 550, and the leather won't crease as much and will be more comfortable straight out of the box with less break-in time. But the leather collar lining and stripes of the adidas logo are made of fake leather.
Interior Components: 2/5
Fake leather and textile lining are pretty cheap, the most basic materials.The foam insole is very cheap: a very soft foam topped with textile that will not cushion your foot much.
Midsole: 2/5
The midsole is just the rubber columns in the outsole. It’s the cheapest way to add comfort and squish to your shoes, but they will not be as comfortable and soft as a foam midsole.
Outsole: 3/5
A rubber cupsole that is 5mm thick and comes in around 65-70 SA, same as the AF1, and punctures at 66.5lbs. All the numbers add up to a fairly average outsole, but just a little bit thicker.
Construction: 2/5
The upper is strobel-stitched to the lasting board layer under the insole, then the outsole is just glued onto the upper—which is fine, but would be better if there was a dedicated stitch to make sure the outsole stays on after lots of wear. It’s the easiest way to construct a sneaker.
Durability: 2/5
While the toe cap is truly double-layered, the outsole is not as secure without a redundant cupsole stitch, which may lead to delamination of the sole after use.
Comfort: 2.5/5
You will feel the ground a lot more since there is no foam midsole, but the leather will form tightly to your foot like a sock and mold to your shape quickly.
Worth the Price?: 2.5/5
Worn more for style now, but built and shaped a lot more like an athletic shoe, and will feel more like an athletic shoe for the wearer. More ground feel, tighter around your foot, but less squish and comfort for everyday wear.
New Balance 550, $110
Type of Leather Used: 3.7/5
White-grain, chrome-tanned leather and maroon suede. The 550 also uses a perforated leather in several places that is worse quality than the other layers. It is pretty heavily finished like the other two shoes, which will lead to the finish separating and causing creases. When burned, the grain leather shrivels a lot and cracks the coating off, but it doesn't melt, which means the coating on the leather isn't too plasticky. The grain leather measures 2mm thick and the suede measures 1.3mm thick, so it gets a higher rating since it will be thicker and more durable, with the caveat that the perforated leather is pretty bad.
Interior Components: 4/5
The textile-and-foam lining will be more abrasion-resistant than the others since the textile is thicker. The insole is a dual-density construction: the softer blue foam with a denser white foam under your heel that creates more arch support.
Midsole: 3/5
Foam midsole, which is denser and firmer than the Nike AF1, will give you good comfort and not flatten out too much over time.
Outsole: 4/5
The rubber outsole is 6mm thick, with average hardness for a sneaker, and punctures at 100.5 lbs. This is a solid outsole that should last longer since it is thicker, but it will be stiffer than the other two.
Construction: 5/5
Board-lasted and cupsole stitched. Board lasting is when the upper is pulled down under the pink fiberboard layer under the insole and glued to the outsole, before the cup sole is stitched around the outside. Board lasting is the nicer, more durable way of constructing sneakers, but it will be stiffer and require more break-in than a normal strobel stitch.
Durability: 5/5
Built the best out of the three—it has a real cupsole stitch, the leather is decent, the outsole is good, and the construction is the most durable, so it gets the highest rating. But the leather panels are not truly double-layered.
Comfort: 4/5
The insole and midsole will add a good amount of squish under your foot while the lasting board will stay rigid for longer, so it will require a break-in period but be more comfortable for longer.
Worth the Price?: 4.2/5
It’s a solid sneaker. It is built the best, has the best lining, has a nicer midsole, and the leather is decent quality. It relies on older technology, but will be a good sneaker to wear for both comfort and style, though it will be stiffer and require a slightly longer break-in than most mass-produced sneakers.