17 Brands Like Onitsuka Tiger for Retro Sneakers
Half the reason you bought the Mexico 66 was that hardly anyone at your gym had a pair. Two years on, the slim leather trainer with the stripe down the side is on every second commuter, and the pair by your door feels less like a find.
Onitsuka Tiger is an ASICS-owned Japanese label selling mid-range retro trainers built off 1960s track shapes, the Mexico 66 among them. Seventeen other brands work the same seam. Some cost a third as much, one makes everything in a single Slovak factory, and one of them is the parent company itself.
Quick comparison: the closest matches on shape are Adidas Originals and Saucony Originals, with Nike's Cortez and Puma's Palermo close behind. The cheapest ways in are Keds, Vans, Converse and Bershka. The premium end is Veja, Diadora and Clarks Originals, and the specialists are Novesta for traceable European manufacturing, Superga for canvas, FILA if you want bulk, and ASICS if you want to stay inside the same company.
| Brand | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| New Balance | Mid-range to premium | Retro shape with real cushioning |
| Superga | £77 on the 2750 | Canvas for warm weather |
| Keds | Budget | The plainest canvas here |
| Adidas Originals | Mid-range | The nearest match in shape |
| Reebok Classic | Mid-range | White leather with 80s pedigree |
| Vans | Budget | A beater pair you won't baby |
| Puma | $75 on the Suede Classic XXI | Suede instead of leather |
| Nike | Mid-range | The 1972 Cortez silhouette |
| Converse | Budget | Slim line, zero sport reference |
| Clarks Originals | $110-$180 | The same profile for an office |
| Saucony Originals | $90-$115 | Retro running in bolder colors |
| FILA | £60-£110 in the UK | Going chunky on purpose |
| Bershka | Budget | Testing a silhouette cheaply |
| ASICS | Mid-range | Same company, bigger shoe |
| Diadora | $80-$310 | Italian assembly |
| Novesta | About $110 at stockists | One factory you can name |
| Veja | $210 on the Jitsu | Paying more on purpose |
New Balance
New Balance is the pick if you want the retro shape with more shoe underneath it. The 327 stretches a 1970s running silhouette over an outsole that climbs up the heel, reading vintage from ten feet away and modern up close. The 574 keeps a boxier, softer profile that Onitsuka wearers usually walk past.
Where the Mexico 66 gives you a thin sole and not much else, New Balance builds in foam. The Made in USA 990v6 carries FuelCell cushioning and is the version to buy if you're on your feet all day and the Tiger leaves you aching by evening. Mainline models sit mid-range and the Made in USA lines run premium. It's the least fashion-driven brand on this list and the one your knees will thank you for.
Best for: Retro looks you can stand in for eight hours.
Superga
Superga is the cheapest way into this look that still carries real history. The Italian company started in Turin in 1911, and the 2750-COTU Classic it sells today is the canvas-and-vulcanized-rubber shoe that set the template most casual sneakers still follow. It's £77 on the UK site and €86.25 across Europe.
The trade against Onitsuka Tiger is sportiness. There's no stripe, no leather panelling, no track reference at all, just a flat canvas upper on a chunky white sole. That makes it the better shoe with a dress or linen trousers, and the worse one if the athletic detailing is what drew you to the Mexico 66 in the first place.
Best for: Warm-weather wear where the Tiger looks too sporty.
Keds
Keds sells the plainest canvas sneaker here. The Champion Originals lace-up is the one to look at, a low canvas upper on a slim rubber sole with no branding louder than a small label at the heel, and it sits at the budget end of this list.
Onitsuka Tiger reads as sportswear. Keds reads as school shoes in the best sense, and the current range leans further that way with the Revival Mary Jane and the Center III. If you want the low, narrow profile without anyone reading a sport into it, this is the shortest route.
Best for: Plain canvas at the lowest price on this list.
Adidas Originals
Adidas Originals owns the closest silhouette to the Mexico 66 that ASICS doesn't make. The Gazelle arrived as a trainer in the late 1960s with a plush suede upper and a hexagonal-pattern rubber outsole, and it's the same low, narrow, stripe-down-the-side proportion the Tiger works in leather.
The Samba is the other one to try. It came off the football pitch in leather, got adopted by musicians and skaters, and it's now the shoe you'll see most often on the feet that used to wear Onitsuka. Both sit in the mid-range, with collaborations climbing well past that. The Gazelle is the closer match on shape, the Samba the closer match on how often you'll see it.
Best for: The nearest match in shape, in suede rather than leather.
Reebok Classic
Reebok Classic pulls its retro from the 1980s rather than the 1960s, which changes the shape more than you'd expect. The Classic Leather dates to 1983 and pairs a soft leather upper with an EVA midsole, so it sits higher and rounder than a Mexico 66 does.
The Club C is the closer call. It started on tennis courts and stayed minimal, and its clean white leather upper is what Onitsuka wearers tend to buy as a second pair for days when they want less going on. Reebok has been rerunning the Classics in premium garment leather too, which is where the Club C and the Workout Plus get a softer hand. Prices sit in the mid-range.
Best for: A plain white leather sneaker with a real 80s pedigree.
Vans
Vans is the cheapest brand here that people still collect. The Old Skool, the Authentic, the Era and the Sk8-Hi have all been in the line for decades, and Vans prices its classics at the budget end of this list, which puts a whole rotation inside the price of one pair from the top of it.
The heritage is skateboarding rather than track and field, so the sole is flat vulcanized rubber and the upper is canvas or suede instead of leather panels. That means less structure through the midfoot than the Mexico 66 gives you. It also means you stop caring when they scuff, which is the argument for owning a pair alongside the Tigers rather than instead of them.
Best for: A beater pair you don't have to protect.
Puma
Puma gives you suede where Onitsuka gives you leather. The Suede Classic XXI lists at $75 with a cow-leather upper and a full rubber outsole, and Puma discounts it often enough that patience pays. It was down to $39.99 when we checked.
The Palermo and the Speedcat OG are the two to check after that. The Palermo is a terrace shoe with a low profile and a gum sole that sits closest to the Mexico 66 proportion, and the Speedcat OG comes out of motorsport with a sole thin enough that you feel the pavement through it. Both give you the slim retro line without the stripes that make a Tiger identifiable across a room.
Best for: The slim retro line at the lowest price when it goes on sale.
Nike
Nike has one shoe that belongs in this conversation, and it's the Cortez. Nike credits cofounder Bill Bowerman with the design and dates the shoe to 1972, and the long, low profile with the swoosh running the length of the side is the closest thing in its catalog to what Onitsuka Tiger does.
Three versions sit in the current range. The leather has a wider toe area and firmer side panels, the textile mixes nylon and suede for the version that looks most like a 70s track shoe, and the premium uses a suede that softens and picks up character as you wear it. Pricing sits in the mid-range across the three. Skip the rest of the Nike archive for this purpose, since the Dunk and the Air Force 1 are built on completely different geometry.
Best for: The 1972 running silhouette with a swoosh on it.
Converse
Converse is the outlier on shape and sits at the budget end on price. Neither the standard Chuck Taylor All Star nor the heavier Chuck 70 has ever pretended to be a running shoe.
What it shares with Onitsuka Tiger is a flat, narrow footprint that adds nothing to your leg line, which is the real reason the Mexico 66 works with cropped trousers. Buy the Chuck 70 rather than the standard if you're spending the money, since the heavier canvas and the taller foxing tape hold their shape past the first few months. There's no cushioning worth the name in either version, so it's a walk-to-lunch shoe.
Best for: Keeping the slim silhouette with zero sport reference.
Clarks Originals
Clarks Originals isn't a sneaker line, and that's why it's here. The Wallabee runs $140 to $170 and the Desert Boot the same, both built on a crepe sole that gives you the low, soft, unstructured feel of the Mexico 66 without looking like sportswear.
The Wallabee Boot in beeswax leather at $150 is the one to handle in person. It's a moccasin construction with a natural rubber pebble crepe sole and a leather lining, and the crepe darkens and scuffs the way the Tiger's leather does. Clarks runs an end-of-season sale that takes Originals styles down to $79.99, so this is a range worth watching rather than buying at full price.
Best for: The same low profile in something you can wear to an office.
Saucony Originals
Saucony Originals is the closest thing here to a straight swap. The Jazz Original costs $90 and pairs a nylon and suede upper with a striped EVA midsole, which is the same retro running formula the Mexico 66 works in an earlier decade.
The Shadow 5000 at $115 goes bigger, with a mesh and suede upper over an XT-600 triangular lug outsole that puts more visual weight underfoot. Both come in colorways the Onitsuka range doesn't touch, so this is where to go if you've wanted the shape but found the Tiger palette too restrained. Saucony keeps these under a separate Originals shop rather than folding them into the running range.
Best for: The retro running shape in colors Onitsuka won't make.
FILA
FILA takes its retro from the 1990s, which means bulk. The Disruptor 2 Edition trainer is £60 on the UK site and the Tennis 88 is £85, and both sit at the opposite end of the volume scale from a Mexico 66.
One thing to know before you shop. FILA's own US site currently reads "the shop is on pause", so American buyers are going through third-party retailers or the UK store rather than a direct US checkout. The Ritmo Trainer in suede at £110 is the pick if you want the 90s shape in a material that ages well, and the Interun Sleek Trainer at £90 is the narrower option in the range.
Best for: Going the other way and buying something chunky.
Bershka
Bershka is the trend shop rather than the heritage one. Inditex set it up in 1998 alongside Zara and Pull&Bear, aimed at a young urban customer, and its trainers section runs interpretations of whichever silhouette is moving right now.
You won't find a 1960s archive here or a story about a factory. What you get is the current retro shape at a budget price, which makes it the place to work out whether you want a chunky 90s runner or a slim terrace shoe before spending real money at Diadora or Veja. Our shoe brands like Dolce Vita roundup covers the same budget end for styles that aren't sneakers.
Best for: Testing a silhouette before you commit to one.
ASICS
ASICS owns Onitsuka Tiger, which makes it the strangest entry on this list and one of the most useful. Kihachiro Onitsuka founded Onitsuka Co. in Kobe in 1949, three companies merged as equals in 1977 to form ASICS Corporation, and the Onitsuka Tiger name came back in 2002 as a separate lifestyle label.
The two brands split fashion and function between them. Onitsuka Tiger keeps the 1960s shapes, and the ASICS Sportstyle line revives running models with the technology left on show. The GEL-KAYANO 14 is the one that crossed over, a stability runner with layered mesh panels reissued under Sportstyle at a mid-range price. It's a much heavier shoe than a Mexico 66 and a far more comfortable one.
Best for: Staying in the same company and getting more cushioning.
Diadora
Diadora has the widest price spread here. The N.92 Advance costs $80, the Equipe Vela SW is $200, and the B.Elite '84 Italia, made in Italy, is $310.
The heritage sneakers are where the comparison holds. The Equipe line and the Prestige Used at $200 both use the layered suede and leather panelling that 1980s European running shoes were built on, which is the same construction logic as a Mexico 66 with more of it. Diadora ships free over $149 in the US and takes returns for 30 days. Start at the N.92 to find out whether the Italian cut suits your foot before you spend three figures.
Best for: Italian construction, with a genuine made-in-Italy option at the top.
Novesta
Novesta makes its shoes in one factory in Partizánske, Slovakia, that has been turning out footwear since 1939. The Star Master is the model to know, a 100% cotton canvas upper on a natural rubber sole that's machine-pressed onto the upper and finished by hand, which gives it a tire-tread texture nothing else here has.
US buyers go through stockists rather than a direct store, and TOAST lists the Star Master at $110. The wider range covers the Marathon and the German Trainer. Against Onitsuka Tiger you give up the leather and the sport reference, and you gain a chunkier, visibly handmade sole. Novesta's Japanese store carries a counterfeit warning, so buy from a named retailer.
Best for: European manufacturing you can trace to one building.
Veja
Veja is the most expensive brand here and the one with the clearest reason for it. The Jitsu models list at $210, and the V-10, V-12 and Campo sit below that. Veja says it makes sneakers "mixing social projects, economic justice, and ecological materials", and the money goes there rather than into advertising.
The shape is court sneaker rather than track shoe, so it's flatter and squarer than a Mexico 66, with the V logo doing the job the Onitsuka stripes do. US shipping and returns are free over $95. If the sourcing is the draw, this is the only brand on the list that leads with it, and it sits at the opposite end from the fast-fashion options above.
Best for: Paying more on purpose.
How to Pick Your Pair
Start with what you'll spend. Under $80 puts you in Puma, where the Suede Classic XXI lists at $75 and discounts hard, or the budget canvas at Keds and Vans. Between $90 and $120 covers Saucony Originals ($90 to $115) and Novesta ($110). Past $140 you're choosing between Clarks Originals ($140 to $180), Veja ($210) and Diadora (up to $310 for the made-in-Italy B.Elite), where the money buys better leather or a supply chain you can read about.
Then decide how close to the Mexico 66 you want to land. Adidas Originals and Saucony Originals hold the same low, narrow track-shoe line. FILA and New Balance take you deliberately bulkier. ASICS is the odd one out, since buying it keeps you inside the company that already makes the shoe in your hallway.
For more of the retro court end, our brands like Autry roundup covers Italian sneaker labels working the same period, and 90s streetwear brands like Tommy Hilfiger picks up the chunkier decade FILA belongs to.
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Written by
Spencer Lanoue
