Nike Jordan City Boot Flax

Flax works with earth tones and heavy fabrics. Wear it with dark selvedge denim stacked slightly over the shaft, a cream cable knit and a waxed jacket for the standard winter version. For a sharper take, run charcoal wool trousers cuffed to sit just above the boot, a black roll neck and a long overcoat, so the pale tan becomes the only warm note in a cold outfit. Boots run larger than sneakers, so consider half a size down and wear thicker socks. Waterproof before first wear, brush the nap back up after each outing, and store it stuffed so the shaft does not collapse and crease across the ankle.

Jordan Brand was built in public, through Spike Lee's Mars Blackmon advertising and the 1984 signing that made Nike the shoe of basketball and, through basketball, of hip hop. From the 1980s the label's products became status objects in urban fashion before settling into mainstream American youth dress. A boot carrying that badge is the logical extension of a sneaker culture that grew up and needed something for winter without giving up the association. It borrows the credibility of the court line and applies it to a category the court line never touched.

A boot changes the priorities. Where a court shoe wants a flat, direct feel, a boot wants coverage, a taller shaft, a lugged bite underfoot and materials that survive being rained on, and Flax colourways traditionally use a napped or brushed finish that hides scuffing better than smooth leather does. Nike's engineering instinct still runs through it, since Bowerman's waffle iron experiment established that the outsole is the first place the company solves a problem, and a boot is essentially that argument taken to its extreme. Care differs from a sneaker too: use a suede brush and rubber eraser rather than soap and water, waterproof before the season starts, and dry it slowly away from radiators to stop the nap hardening.