How to choose a suede or canvas sneaker
Suede is leather worked on the flesh side, with a short-nap surface and no protective film; canvas is a cotton fabric. Woz? men's shoes are low, light sneakers built in one or the other, and the difference between the two materials is not a matter of looks: it changes how the shoe reacts to water, to dirt and to time.
Suede has none of the film that protects smooth leather, so water gets in between the fibres and, as it dries, leaves a tidemark along the edge of the wet area. A water-repellent spray applied before the first outing and repeated every few weeks reduces the problem without removing it: this stays a material for dry days.
Canvas takes water in and gives it back, and it can be washed. Suede cannot: it is cleaned dry with a purpose-made eraser, which lifts the stain by abrasion, and then with a crepe brush that raises the nap again. Never use smooth-leather cream on suede, because it flattens the nap and polishes it beyond repair.
A light shoe weighs less because it has fewer layers: thin lining or none at all, a shaped insole instead of a padded one, a low sole. The gain shows on a long walk; the trade-off is that a soft upper takes the shape of the foot straight away and will not correct the wrong size. For the same reason it is worth lacing right up to the last eyelet: on a lightly built shoe it is the lacing that holds the foot back, not the heel counter.
The two materials cover different moments of the year. Canvas lets air through and comes clean when it gets dirty; suede insulates better in mid-season and holds up in the evening, but it marks and does not forgive rain. In pale shades both uppers show dirt sooner, and it is better to work on them often and lightly than rarely and thoroughly.
Anyone after a thicker sole or a more structured build will find it in the rest of the men's sneakers, where the same uppers come back on bottom units of different depths.
