Fresh Look: Saucony Elite x Bodega Shadow 5000 “Teal/Grey”

Saucony was a brand I slept on like many others. Than again, not much was really being heard from them in the last couple of years. This year, Saucony changed that for the good with a bunch of retro released models, which included the resurgence of the Shadow 5000 in some real nice color-ups. Including the one above in collaboration with Boston’s popular sneaker boutique, Bodega. Limited to 300 pairs for each color, these beautiful premium shoes did make it to the US after all.

After the break you will see a PSE with a Fresh Look of a shoe I almost passed up…

The Saucony Elite x Bodega collaboration isn’t just another one of those hyped shoes you hear about for months. This was a special effort made between the two for a market that is not ours. They were specific to the Japanese retailers, Nalu in Osaka, Lafayette in Yokohama, and Privilege in Shibuya. The shoes also came from a brand new chapter called Saucony Elite. Saucony Elite is actually a new sub part of the brand that is being developed by both parties, Saucony and Bodega. The idea behind it is to bring back classic silhouettes with premium materials. But, who would have known that they would make it to the states because according to Bodega, these were exclusive to that market. Little did they know…

Color-Up

The color-way of the shoe is in a Teal/Grey and is made with a unique color-blocking idea seen before on other shoes. What I do like is the idea of exploring the panels of the shoe in two solid hues. You have the front in a Medium Grey with the back of the ankle liner in the same color and a couple of other accents throughout the shoe. Teal takes up most of the shoe as you see, right down to the laces (it also came with a pair of white ones and very,very light orange ones). They than added white to the ankle liner and a cream color to the mid-sole. They also added a Purple and White tongue tag for added pop.

Materials

The shoes are made up from premium suede and leather. All four shoes come with mesh in the toe-box area and suede for most of the shoes upper. Two of the shoes come with a leather toe-cap/mud-guard and the others come with suede ones. The ankle liner is made up from a really nice tumbled leather as opposed to the common cotton ones. The out-sole is actually not a gummy one as some, like myself, may have thought. It’s actually gummy colored. The last part is the laces. They are made from a very stiff nylon material.

Fit/Shape

The shoe fits real nice. For these, I would go half size down and that goes for any Shadow 5000. After a few wears, the shoe does stretch out a bit. The shape on these is, for sake of argument, slightly better than the original Shadow 5000. I compared them to the Saucony Shadow 5000 Luxury Pack that I have and really like these Elites more. Especially in the toe-box area because they come to a nicer point and are lower.

Wrap-up

After receiving the shoes, I have to say that my past “So-So” thoughts about them have been put to shame. My choice of the Teal/Grey pair here is probably the best color-way of the pack, but that’s my opinion and I’m sure others will choose to their preference. My only gripes with the shoe are on the material of the laces, no Grey laces included and the colored gummy bottom. Though, that deep color of the out-sole does bring out the shoe more.

The four shops that I know of that got them were, Bodega, UBIQ, Kicks/HI (only the all Red and all Blue pairs), and Sole Boutique. If you are still looking for them, Sole Boutique still has them and ExtraButter just got three of them. Hurry, because I know that the sneaker enthusiasts that now know about where to grab them, will grab them fast…

Enjoy the rest of the pics and stay tuned for another PSE on the Saucony Shadow 5000 Luxury ‘Forest Green’ pair and the Solebox Saucony 90.

BTW, look to see more of these Saucony Elites pop up in the coming months. Like these. 😉

Photography by Angel Gonzalez/Vagrant Sneaker©. All rights reserved. You want to use my images? Make sure you give me credit and link back to my blog. That’s all I ask.