Chuck Taylors: White or off-white?

[Brigden]

So, my little brother wants a new pair of Chuck Taylor's for Christmas. I ask him which colour and he says "white." I go to a Foot Locker, or whatever, and they have two pairs in two shades of "white." One is bright white, like a sheet of paper; the other, off-white.

Which is cooler? I personally preferred the bright white.

 

[bye4now122]

I personally like the ones called "optical white" which I think are the off white ones, mainly because they're going to get dirty anyways (who buys chucks to keep em clean).

And I think the off white ones have the red and navy stripes. I like that too.

 

[evilgeniusdan]

The off white chucks are called "white". The ones that are just uniform white are "optical white".

 

[xchen]

Right now I have optical white. But in the spring I am going to get the (natural) white as well.

AA tee, raw denim, and chucks is an awesome look for spring/summer.

 

[CDC]

Originally Posted by Brigden

So, my little brother wants a new pair of Chuck Taylor's for Christmas. I ask him which colour and he says "white." I go to a Foot Locker, or whatever, and they have two pairs in two shades of "white." One is bright white, like a sheet of paper; the other, off-white.

Which is cooler? I personally preferred the bright white.

The off-white ones will go with more. Stark white is a difficult 'color' to work with. Stark white also looks worse when it gets scuffed and whatnot. The off-white will handle stains and spots better; the marks wont jump out as much.

 

[dougie]

yeah, 'optical white' is the bright white, 'unbleached canvas' is the off-white. white t, raw denim, and unbleached chucks is like my base outfit. i just build off of that.

 

[jufros]

dirty optical chucks look absolutely filthy though. love that look.

 

[tiecollector]

go with the unbleached standard white ones. Optical white is a little too metro or poser skater.

 

[Gus]

I get the bright white, then I wash them in the washing machine 2x with bleach. It cuts the brightness but they look better to me than the off white.

 

[stickonatree]

the yellowed white; they're going to get dirty anyway, and i would imagine that the yellowed white would look more "natural" when they are dirty.

 

[danilo]

I like the off white myself...

 

[brycep]

I'm a fan of my optical whites, though the first dirt marks stood out like hideous blemishes. Luckily they're cheap so i'll just buy another pair come summer...

 

[progressiveminded]

Originally Posted by brycep

Luckily they're cheap so i'll just buy another pair come summer...

I wish. Forty bucks a pop isn't exactly what I'd call cheap for half a yard of canvas and a bit of rubber.

 

[Parker]

I always used to get the "natural white". It was the only white they made for many years. But, then they started making the "natural" look too much like yellow custard, including the laces. Just looks wrong to me, so now I go for the optical white (which also looks wrong, but not as wrong, esp. when dirty). Both have the red and blue pinstripes. p.s. I'm old and grumpy.

 

[Omar1223]

im actually a fan of the optical white. the chucks look clean and go with pretty much anything especially dark denim. although it does not last long.

however, i have heard from some people that they scotch guard their chucks and it helps with preventing some stains from getting on the shoes. has anyone tried this?