I bought my first pair of Onitsuka Tigers in May, the Mexico 66 SD Vintage in cream and green, and I wasn’t even the one who was supposed to be shopping.
Friends had been telling me for years that Onitsuka Tigers were worth it, and none more than my friend Sourabh, who rode Spiti with me. He used to rave about them, though he hasn’t bought a pair himself recently. He lives in Bhilai, where the only option is to order online, and the model he likes is often out of stock in his size. I believed them in theory but never enough to actually buy a pair. What finally got me into a store was my girlfriend’s dad. He’d spotted someone wearing a pair and wanted one for himself, and she asked if I’d come along. We went to the Onitsuka Tiger store at Phoenix Mall in Viman Nagar, and I had no plans to buy anything. Then I tried a pair on, and that was the end of the plan. Her dad got his pair, I got mine, and we walked out having spent more than either of us had planned.
I took a 41. I tried the 42 as well, but it was slightly loose at the back when I walked. I have wide feet, so I usually buy a size up to stop shoes from biting, but the 41 was snug without biting anywhere. If you’re buying, don’t wait too long. Onitsuka Tigers sell out fast, especially in 41 and 42, the most common sizes for Indian men.
Mine cost ₹18,500, and her dad’s, a different model, was around ₹16,500. They’re not cheap, but once you have them on, the price stops feeling like a stretch. They’re lighter than they look, and the leather is soft from day one, so there was no breaking-in period. The first time I wore them, I wore them all day without thinking about them, which is about the best thing you can say about a shoe.
The design goes back to 1966. Onitsuka Tiger developed the Mexico 66 for athletes heading to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, and it was the first shoe to carry the Tiger Stripes, the crossed stripes on the side that are still on every pair. It got a second life decades later, when Uma Thurman wore a yellow and black pair in Kill Bill: Volume 1. Sixty years on, the silhouette still looks right, with clean lines, the stripes and nothing extra.
That’s probably why it works for both of us. My girlfriend’s dad wears his to work every day, while mine are for everything else, so it isn’t a shoe for one age or one occasion. The cream and green is understated enough to go with most things and distinctive enough that people notice. They look best with jeans or chinos. Some people wear them with trousers as well, but that’s not my cup of tea. People have asked me about them more than once, which hasn’t happened with any other shoe I’ve owned, and the comments are always the same: great colour, which model is it, and what did it cost?
The only place they don’t go is on the bike. I wear them whenever I’m not riding. The leather is soft, and I want to keep it soft and clean, and if I rode in them, the left shoe would wear out fast from the gear shifting. This is a shoe to be worn and walked in, not ridden in.
If your friends have been telling you for years that Onitsuka Tigers are worth it, believe them. Just get to the store before the 41s run out.
As for her dad, his have barely left his feet since that day, and at this rate he’ll wear them out soon. That means I’ll probably be going shopping with him again, and who knows, I might come back with a pair of my own, just like last time.
