The Best White Sneakers for Men Make Clean Fits Cleaner

Clean, crisp, and cool as a cucumber, the best white sneakers for men are non-negotiables. Whether you’re Joe Schmo or Joe Jonas, white sneakers are an essential part of every guy’s wardrobe. No wonder there are so many to choose from. From the household names that your grandparents grew up with, to the up-and-comers of the modern era, every brand has their own interpretation of the classic white sneaker.

There’s a rush when you cop a brand new pair. Pristine. Gleaming. Scuff-free. And that new sneaker smell! Ideally, white sneakers get better with a few knicks and bruises. Snag a pair in spring and come fall they’ll have garnered enough patina to make flea market junkies fork over a fistful of cash. Sure, there's a little sadness when you thank your old, roughed-up white sneakers for their long and distinguished service and set them free. They delivered hundreds of wears; held down hundreds of fits. But there’s beauty in this stylish circle of life.

To keep the circle going, we surveyed hundreds of potential contenders, tested out the cream of the crop, and settled on these seven picks—along with seven honorable mentions—as the best white sneakers for men. (With a few more here if you’re looking for the best white sneakers under $100.) Now go forth and be fresh.

• The Best White Sneaker Overall: Converse Chuck 70 Canvas High-Top Sneakers, $90
• The Best Upgrade White Sneaker: Reproduction of Found German Military Trainers, $280
• The Best Retro White Sneaker: Reebok Club C Vintage Shoes, $90
• The Best Slip-On White Sneaker: Vans Premium Classic Slip On Shoe, $75
• The Best Outdoors-Ready White Sneaker: Salomon XT-6 Sneakers, $180
• The Best for White Sneaker for Nike Fiends: Nike Cortez Leather Sneakers, $90
• The Best White Sneaker for Adidas Stans: Adidas Samba LT Shoes, $120
• The Best White Sneaker for Fashion Guys: Maison Margiela Replica Sneakers, $750
• The Best White Sneaker for Menswear Nerds: Moonstar Deck Shoe, $158

Looks-wise, the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star has hardly changed at all since it first hit the hardwood in the early 1920s; it’s still the white sneaker you probably think of first. In terms of construction, though, the no-frills GOAT hit its peak in the '70s: the canvas upper was weightier, the rubber midsole rode up a little higher, the toe cap was a touch smaller, and the patch on the back of the heel was a cool retro black rather than the standard white. A few years back, Converse decided to make them that way again. For a cool $90, the Chuck 70 gets you all those key design upgrades, plus the benefit of modern cushioning installed into the thicker vintage outsoles. They're the same Chucks you've always loved, only better. The only choice you have to make is whether you want the high-top or the low-top version.

Chucks are as classic as it gets, says GQ commerce writer Gerald Ortiz, and the Chuck 70 is significantly better than its regular counterpart. "The canvas is burlier, the silhouette is chunky but not in an overly trendy kind of way, and the insole is supremely cushion-y.” In other words, they're well worth the minor price jump, so we'd recommend springing for the upgraded version. GQ associate commerce editor Tyler Chin upgraded from the standard Chucks to the Chuck 70s when he graduated high school and says he liked the retro silhouette, added support, and higher quality. “The 70s didn’t look or feel as flimsy as the cheaper Chucks,” he points out. We concur.

Don’t call these Margiela dupes. Reproduction of Found’s familiar kicks get their inspiration from the same place as as the ultra-luxe versions, straight from the West German Army. And like Margiela, they’re not so much inspired as they are a bar-for-bar rip of the original. The main difference is that these aren’t unissued/decommissioned secondhand versions. They’re also made with better materials like supple Italian leather, suede and mesh lining, and rubber soles identical to the OGs. RoF’s are crafted in a factory in Slovakia that’s been making sneakers for generations (including military-issued joints). The point is, these are about as real as they get.

A common thread that joins each of these sneakers is their classic design and evergreen appeal. Though many of our picks have that timeless feel, some have a more retro aesthetic than others. And if you want something that feels like it stepped out of a Delorian, Reebok’s Club C shoes are it. Originally released in 1985 (the same year as Back to the Future), the Club C was designed as a tennis shoe and moved on to mainstream status, as iconic sneakers tend to do. These supremely clean leather sneakers helped one GQ writer kick his kicks kick—and propelled countless dudes into new echelons of style god status. Some might consider ‘em a little played out, but one thing’s for sure: despite fashion's changing tides, a classic is a classic is a classic.

You don't have to be from California or even skate to pledge allegiance to the LX slip-on sneakers. All you need is a keen eye for clean lines and a desire for laidback styling that requires bare-minimum effort. Crafted from sturdy canvas that's been kitted out with a rubberized sole that can withstand the gnarliest of coastal showers, the LX is no-frills footwear at its finest, before minimalist sneakers were even a thing. There's plenty of colorways to choose from when it comes to getting your Vans fix, but we've found that OG white never gets old. Rock them with a big baggy pair of chinos and a plain white T-shirt, and you’ve got your warm weather fits locked in.

GQ senior commerce editor Avidan Grossman is the first to admit he isn’t a skater—or an aspiring Angeleno. (When asked to clarify on both fronts, he just laughed.) But the beefed-up version of Vans’ slip-on remains one his favorite sneakers of all time. “For, like, twenty bucks more than the mainline alternative,” he says, “you get a shoe with a ton more cushioning, styling potential, and throwback charm.” They look killer with sawed-off Dickies and a cropped tee—and even better with pleated jorts and a work shirt. Like a lot of fellas, Grossman wears “sneakers less and less these days,” he admits. “But these are forever cool.”

When the team at the legendary French outdoors outfitter Salomon wanted to get more people interested in their hyper-functional sneakers, they scoured their archives for silhouettes that could serve as canvasses for wild colorways: electric limes, fire truck reds, fresh ocean blues. As it happens, though, Salomon's shoes look plenty sharp with no color at all.

The nylon mesh, sleek panels, and quick-lace system work even better together iced out in glacial whites, and the grippy lug soles seem somehow fiercer. Like all Salomon kicks, the XT-6 has all the tools to conquer craggy mountainsides, but it'll perform just as well on the city streets with your biggest brunch fits. We named them the Sneaker of the Year back in 2019 and they're still a hit to this day.

Before Forrest Gump brought the Nike Cortez to the silver screen, the shoes spent their time on the feet of long-distance runners. Introduced in 1972 by Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman, they were marketed as a lighter and sleeker alternative to other running shoes at the time. And it was a success. That same year, the Nike Cortez was worn by several athletes at the Olympics and continued to pound the pavement for decades after.

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone going for even a jog in these today, but the throwback energy is still running circles around the competition. Now, we know that the Air Force 1s make a hell of an argument for the best white Nike sneaker, but with so much of the shoe’s gravity locked to New York City, we don’t think it has as much global versatility as the Cortez. But go ahead and send us hate DMs if you want.

We've talked about the highs and anxiety-inducing lows of the Samba's reign, but the fact remains that they're one of the most versatile shoes on the market. With smooth leather and suede uppers that toe the line between sporty and casual, the post-training sneaker turned brunch shoe for the netizen's elite is how you keep a low-profile without going totally obscure. Sure, it may feel like everyone has them (and many do), but that's what happens when a shoe makes its way from the sidelines into ubiquity. Love ‘em or hate ’em (but secretly love ‘em), the Sambas are top of mind and thus top of our list.

The Samba, Grossman says, “is a weird little shoe.” Designed in the late ’40s by Adidas founder Adolf Dassler himself, it was initially conceived as a training sneaker for soccer players practicing their footwork in sludgy conditions, before spreading like wildfire across every corner of the globe. Grossman remembers owning two pairs at crucial junctions in his life. In high school, he wore the first religiously with slouchy khakis and rugby shirts, before re-upping in college, when he swapped the khakis for raw jeans and the rugbys for graphic tees. That degree of staying power (and sheer versatility) isn’t unique to the Samba—but it’s increasingly rare to find in a sneaker that costs less than a Benjamin. “When the memes die down in a year,” Grossman adds, “I’ll probably buy my third.

If you’ve been keeping up with men’s fashion for the last decade or so, even peripherally, you've probably come across a pair of Maison Margiela's Replica sneakers, an aptly-named homage to the kicks first issued to the German military in the late ‘80s. The original German Army Trainer (or GAT, in online menswear parlance) bears a striking similarity to the other retro-leaning kicks on this list, but it may very well have been doomed to obscurity if not for a certain press-shy Belgian designer, who introduced the silhouette to the fashion crowd at the onset of the aughts.

Plenty of other brands have put their own spin on it (and it's easy enough to come by an authentic vintage pair), but Margiela's is the rare upscale variant worth every penny. The leather is buffed but not shiny, the suede is appropriately supple but not precious, and the whole shebang is elevated enough to wear to the office on a Friday—and low-key enough to wear to drinks when you clock out. In 2024, Margiela, the man, is revered for his cerebral approach to subverting the classics, but the success—hell, ubiquity—of the Replica is testament to his eye for commercial viability, too. The guy knew how to make a high-quality product and how to market it. How's that for a legacy you'd like to claim as your own?

These may look like a regular pair of sneakers, but you can't judge a book by its cover (as cool as it looks). These collaborative kicks are the work of Moonstar in cahoots with Buck Mason. Moonstar has been in the business of footwear for generations upon generations—since 1873 to be exact. They got their footing by making traditional Tabi shoes and evolved to master the vulcanized rubber process. Each shoe uses a unique method which requires the clay-like rubber to be applied by hand before the shoes are literally baked in a kiln. The result is a higher-quality sneaker with more character and soul (heh) than the competition.

Ortiz (yes, again—the guy went through a 5-year-long white sneaker phase) loves his Moonstars because of how comfortable they are—and how beautifully they break in, like a rare pair of vintage sneakers. “These are the kind of sneakers that vintage fiends drop serious cash for at highly curated so-called ‘thrift’ stores,” he says. “The difference is that you don’t have to worry about these crumbling to pieces.” Are they worth twice the price of other alternatives? If you dig slow-made, well-crafted garments with a great story, absolutely.

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Puma

Basket Classic XXI

$90

Puma

Puma's long held an underdog position in the ongoing sneaker wars. That's fine with us, because that just means its classic styles are really sleeper hits. The Basket Classic XXIs read as luxe and as streamlined as high-end versions from Common Projects or Golden Goose, but the difference is these are the OGs in both name and price.

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New Balance

574 Sneaker

$100

Amazon

New Balance is famous for its monotone grey sneakers beloved by dads and cool dudes alike. But we can't help but think that its signature 574 shoe looks tasty in cream white.

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Adidas

Stan Smith

$100

Adidas

Far, far gone from its tennis originas, the Stan Smiths are the shoe for lowkey creatives. Bleach-white, with a rounded toe, they were the sneakers that begat minimalist sneakers.

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Nike

Zoom Vomero 5

$170

Nike

If you thought Nike was out of the dad shoe convo, think again. The much buzzed-about return of the Zoom Vomero 5 means one thing, as far as we’re concerned: aughts-era running shoes are really, truly back—and when they look this clean, we sort of wish they never went away. The Vomero somehow strikes a balance between throwback and forward-thinking, precisely why they’re so hot right now.

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Norda

001 Trail Running Sneaker

$285

Huckberry

Whether you're hitting the trails or the pavement, the flagship product from Canada's coolest indie sneaker imprint will keep your feet locked and your stride dialed. When they first debuted, we were so impressed with their good looks and performance that we even gave them a spot in our 2022 GQ Fitness Awards. Today, they’re still just as good and have put the big sneaker brands on notice.

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Prada

Collapse Mixed Media Low Top Sneaker

$975

Nordstrom

This sneaker may be newer to the block, but it's got the DNA of several iconic models in mind. WIth a collapsible heel and wafer-thin sole, Prada's zeitgeist kicks are ones we expect will have long legs.

If you’re new around these parts, allow us to formally welcome you to the most exuberant, expressive, anything-goes era of menswear yet. (It’s as fun as it sounds.) But if “exuberant”, “expressive”, and “anything-goes”, aren’t the first three terms you think of when you picture white sneakers, well, we’re with you. The platonic white sneaker should still be cool, but it should also be resolutely classic. Timeless. Time-tested. And that matrix is exactly what guided our selection process here, which nods to the buzziest white kicks of the moment, but remains firmly grounded in the silhouettes that have endured, decade after decade, no matter which way the trends tailwinds blow.

Our seven winning picks speak to that tension more ably than we could’ve anticipated. Each of them is as classic as they come, but taken in aggregate, they offer a telling snapshot of the fashion zeitgeist at this very moment. The discourse-dominating Adidas Samba is duly represented, ditto the very online Salomon XT-6, but so is the Converse Chuck Taylor—and Moonstar’s brand new, retro-inspired riff on a charmingly old-school deck shoe.

When it comes to homing in on the white sneakers that feel right for you, lean on the same matrix, and prize longevity above all else. The names in the mix above earned their status (and their spot on this list) through sheer consistency; they might be inadvertently trendy now, but their pedigree means they’ll still look cool, classic, and whatever other adjective you’re chasing a decade down the line.

Style is subjective, we know—that’s the fun of it. But we’re serious about helping our audience get dressed. Whether it’s the best white sneakers, the flyest affordable suits, or the need-to-know menswear drops of the week, GQ Recommends’ perspective is built on years of hands-on experience, an insider awareness of what’s in and what’s next, and a mission to find the best version of everything out there, at every price point.

Our staffers aren’t able to try on every single piece of clothing you read about on GQ.com (fashion moves fast these days), but we have an intimate knowledge of each brand’s strengths and know the hallmarks of quality clothing—from materials and sourcing, to craftsmanship, to sustainability efforts that aren’t just greenwashing. GQ Recommends heavily emphasizes our own editorial experience with those brands, how they make their clothes, and how those clothes have been reviewed by customers. Bottom line: GQ wouldn’t tell you to wear it if we wouldn’t.

We make every effort to cast as wide of a net as possible, with an eye on identifying the best options across three key categories: quality, fit, and price.

To kick off the process, we enlist the GQ Recommends braintrust to vote on our contenders. Some of the folks involved have worked in retail, slinging clothes to the masses; others have toiled for small-batch menswear labels; all spend way too much time thinking about what hangs in their closets.

We lean on that collective experience to guide our search, culling a mix of household names, indie favorites, and the artisanal imprints on the bleeding-edge of the genre. Then we narrow down the assortment to the picks that scored the highest across quality, fit, and price.

Across the majority of our buying guides, our team boasts firsthand experience with the bulk of our selects, but a handful are totally new to us. So after several months of intense debate, we tally the votes, collate the anecdotal evidence, and emerge with a list of what we believe to be the absolute best of the category right now, from the tried-and-true stalwarts to the modern disruptors, the affordable beaters to the wildly expensive (but wildly worth-it) designer riffs.

Whatever your preferences, whatever your style, there's bound to be a superlative version on this list for you. (Read more about GQ's testing process here.)