SNEAKER SPOTLIGHT: ONITSUKA TIGER RUNSPARK

10 September, 2012 11:40am | Posted in Onitsuka Tiger | No Comments »

With September being a relatively “quiet” month for sneakers, I decided to scour the metro and check out the other brands and see what’s up. With Asics making its way back into our sneaker rotation, I took it back a notch and dropped by Onitsuka Tiger to see what’s up. As much as I love the Mexico 66s as the next guy, I’m pleased to see the other silhouettes from the OT archive, such as the Runspark.

The Runspark was launched as a track and field shoe way back in 1972, more popularized by the ‘Flying Finn’ Lasse Viren. If Nike had Pre, OT had Viren. Lasse Viren was a long distance runner (5,000 and 10,000 meters) and won Gold during the 72 and 76 Olympics. When he won the Gold in 76, he took his Runsparks off and held them above his head during his victory lap, causing the IOC to accuse him of malicious intent(back then, the IOC frowned upon branding and advertising). This almost caused him a crack at the finals but definitely cemented Onitsuka Tiger in running history.

Inspired by the classic, the Runspark has been tweaked a bit for lifestyle use. Tiger used a high-quality vintage treatment for that retro look and feel, with new toe reinforcements as well as that egg-shaped support on the forefoot area. OT brings out two colorways to choose from- Black/Paloma and Blue/Black. The Onitsuka Tiger Runspark retails for 4,700 php and is now available at OT stores (Greenbelt 5/BHS/Shangri-la/Megamall/Sneaker Club Davao) around the metro.

Tags: Onitsuka Tiger, OT, Retro Running Lifestyle, Runspark