Stan stan

The Stan Smith started out in the mid 60s named after French tennis player Robert Haillet. It was the first leather tennis shoe, dreamt up by Adi Dassler's son Horst and made in Landersheim in France. Adidas later put an American player, Stan Smith, on the tongue, and for a few years the shoe carried his face next to Haillet's name. Haillet's name finally came off in 1978.

The Superstar came out in 1969 as a basketball shoe. The rubber toe was there so seven foot men with size 16 feet didn't flatten yours. Fair enough on a court, less so walking round town.

The Superstar's most famous wearer was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (aka Roger Murdock), the first basketball player Adidas signed. He wore them on the way to the 1980 NBA title and his sixth MVP, and in a 1981 ad he credited his size 16 Superstars with helping his sky hook. It's why the Superstar is often called the first signature basketball shoe. Fair play.

I love basketball, and I watch more Nets games than I probably should. But I don't need to dress for the court on my way to Salts Mill.

Some people are Superstar people. I'm not one of them. I had a pair in my 20s, so I've given them a go.

The Stan Smith doesn't even have stripes, just three rows of little holes where the stripes would be. It was the first Adidas shoe to go without them. I love that. Adidas could have stuck their logo all over it and didn't. White space is the winner.

White leather, white laces, white soles, a green heel tab in the classic colourway and a small face on the tongue, and that's about it.

Side on it's smooth, clean, one line from heel to toe.

The Superstar... has that knobbly front, which always looked a bit swollen to me, bulbous even – like the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Add the stripes, the gold tongue and the serrated edges and there's too much going on.

Stan Smiths age well too, scuffs and all. Superstars just look like they've been kicking kerbs, the front collecting dirt like a Brillo pad.

I've worn Stan Smiths with jeans, chinos, shorts, trackies even (when I want to blend in with the locals), a suit and a tweed jacket. They go with pretty much anything. Maybe nothing else (yet to confirm).

Superstars have more of a look, one you have to dress around. They're fine with a tracksuit or baggy jeans, but with a suit you'd look like you'd taken a wrong turn.

Superstar fans will tell you Run-DMC wrote a song about them. They did. They wrote My Adidas while wearing Superstars, laces taken out and tongues pushed forward, and nobody did more for the shoe. (Great tune too.) But the Stan Smith was in Guinness World Records as the best selling trainer of all time, and I'd take that over a song.

Superstars are a cultural icon, fine. So are Stans. Adidas took them off sale for a while in the early 2010s and when they came back people went mad for them. I can't see that happening with Superstars.

Some say shell toes are more comfortable. Maybe, if you're expecting someone to stand on your foot. The smooth feel of the Stan on the top of my foot just feels more... reassuring.

I've been a Stan Smith person for years and own 12 pairs. They start out bright white and end up grey round the toes, and then I buy another pair the same. Run-DMC were right: I like to sport 'em, that's why I bought 'em.

What you like is underrated. So is what you don't like. Sorry not sorry Superstars.