The Vans Syndicate Holiday 2007 Collection consists of Mr. Cartoon Sk8 Hi, the Gusset Half Cabs and the newest Vans and W)Taps collaborations.

Mr. Cartoon Sk8 Hi has the all black shoe upper. The material is premium suede and canvas. The toe box is suede. The rest of the shoe is canvas. There is a pattern of repeated red devil faces on the canvas panel of the shoe. Letting the devil loose during the holiday season helps to create a festive mood.

The Vans and W)Taps retain their traditional design of having a black colored toe box. The side panels of the shoe are in one color and the graphic is printed on the color. This Holiday 2007 collection has released 2 new colorways; the blue and brown-cream.These colors are duller and might be in tune with the cooler autumn season.

The Gusset Half Cabs look small because of the rounded toe box design.People with large feet can use these to induce the look of smaller feet. Of the 3 different colored pairs, I like the chocolate colored pair the best. The brown colors are nice. The light brown/beige pair is quite striking while the all black pair is a bit dull.

New Balance just released their Factory Plaid collection and now they have another interesting pack – the CM576 Tartan Check Pack.

The New Balance pack features two colorways – red and blue – each with a tartan pattern running over the toe box, tongue and heels.These shoes are much cleaner looking than the plaid collection, featuring some blocks of white.

The tartan pattern on the blue shoe features green and gold for a very regal look. The heel is metallic gold with “new balance” in green. The red shoe is very similar but obviously in red.

Checks and plaids are very popular with New Balance right now. In addition to the aforementioned Factory Plaid Collection, they also release the Porter Buffalo Check Collection recently.

These shoes in the Tartan Check Pack are relatively inexpensive at only 13,440 yen, which is about $120 USD, at Atmos.

Purchaze received the

Nike Court Force Hi Premium “Earth Pack” in the “Gum Yellow/Dark Cinder-HP Orange” Colorway.

Featuring light leather upper and a dark brown swoosh. Velours side parts with a stamped leaves design. This design was also used for the ankle area in green coloring and is revealed by the transparent sole parts. Light green inside fabrics and logo details on the brown velours tongue with stamped layers of earth.
Metal logos of Ryo’s label “Bush Hunter Music” in brown and gold. Comes with a second pair of orange laces!

Check that out.

More pictures after the jump.

 I spoke glowingly of fellow Wisconsinite Chris “C2″ Hui in my last post. The Nike Air Force Ones I highlighted in that entry were exceptional in terms of design and execution. Great sneaker artists fall flat once and awhile though their failures still eclipse the successes of lesser designers. The Nike Dunk Highs highlighted above fall short of the C2 standard.

I dislike the Dunk Highs in question for two reasons: color scheme and finishing. The light blue/black combination sends this shoe back to the early ’90s when neon colors were in style. The pictures I have viewed of C2’s work on these Nike Dunk Highs make it look unfinished. A look at the finishing on the heel show that these sneakers could use some additional work.  C2 will get a hit nine times out of 10 with his custom sneakers; you can check out some of his masterpieces at www.c2-customs.com.

Patrick’s latest release features a sweet ostrich skin perforated upper. These low shoes are available in two colors – black and brown, which both feature a white sole and trim.

These high-end sneakers are very simple, but the ostrich skin makes them a very rich looking shoe. You can easily pull off wearing these as a dress shoe because the style is so chic.Both colors are available right now at Atmos-Tokyo.

I prefer the brown pair because I think black shoes are played out. But really both of shades of the Punch Ostrich are cool. These luxury shoes are priced at 61,950 yen, which is about $550 USD.

Look for this latest release from the Gil II Zero series. The theme of this shoe is to try to get everyone to vote for Gilbert Arenas for the Best Celebrity Blog of 2007.These shoes came out today – Friday, December 7th.

Only 3,000 pairs of these shoes will be released. Along with the sneakers, a special T-shirt is included. Price of these kicks is $110.

These sneakers feature a shiny gold upper and solid black midsole. I think the “MVP” tag on the tongue is a little too much, but these shoes will sell.

Even though Gilbert is sidelined with an injury for the Washington Wizards, you can still support him with these shoes and with the votes!