The best Nike Cortez's of all time, ranked

Inspired by Cortez designer Bill Bowerman’s 24-year tenure as the track and field coach for the University of Oregon, the Oregon Cortez is draped in the yellow and green colours of the Oregon Ducks’ college sports teams. The colour scheme comes together nicely and when coupled with nylon uppers and suede overlays, you’ve got a finished product that would be a worthy addition to your wardrobe, but can also double as sports memorabilia if you happen to be a Ducks fan.

A newcomer in the Cortez stable, this watermelon-hued shoe boasts a fusion of dark pine green textiles and flashes of pink. The Cortez is primarily known as a spring/summer shoe, so the resemblance to a certain summer fruit is fitting. Just make sure you style this one appropriately, it’s easy to get wrong.

An inverse colourway of the Forrest Gump (which – SPOILER ALERT – may make an appearance further down this list), this Cortez breathes life into the model. What Nike describes as ‘picante’ red serves as the base and fulfils its role as the bold salient point, but it’s the subtle light blue accent on the midsole that completes the look.

If you’re looking for a classier Cortez – or any shoe for that matter – we’d typically recommend sticking to a plain black or plain white colour scheme. Although together, those two colours do often form an appealing, clean pair that can be far more versatile, which this black and white Cortez is. The predominantly white base is given an infusion of energy in the form of black accents on the medial swoosh, heel, sole and tongue.

What’s better than a classic, clean black and white colourway? A classic, clean black and white colourway with a strip of gold along the sole for a lightening flash of colour. Narrowly edging out its counterpart with one less colour, this black, white and gold Cortez ticks that one extra box.

And now to Jeremy Allen White’s favourite, the plain white Cortez is as clean as they come, and if kept that way they can complete any outfit. “Yeah, look, my favourite shoes are the Nike Cortez, specifically white-on-white,” is what JAW had to say about them – and he’s a man of his word. He routinely wears the shoe throughout The Bear, which begs the question of whether styling preferences are the only similarities between him and Carmy.

The Cortez hasn’t been the most prolific recipient of collaborations – at least compared to other Nike silhouettes. But one of the few occasions where the Cortez did seek design expertise from an outside source resulted in one of the shoe’s best iterations. Back in 2018, Nike worked with Kendrick Lamar on the Don’t Trip Cortez, which remains a coveted collector’s item. Dark red leather provides the ideal base, which is bisected straight down the middle by a white strip. Black laces and accents add to the contrast, but here, the beauty is in the details. On the tongue you’ll spot a ribbon with the words ‘Don’t Trip’ emblazoned on it, a reference to an OG Kendrick song. Printed on the forefoot is the Chinese translation of DAMN, Kendrick’s celebrated 2017 album.

Apologies to anyone who was expecting a more brazen selection for the top spot, but we can’t go past the classic colourway that propelled the Cortez to the mainstream. The iconic white, varsity blue and varsity red colourway existed long before Forrest Gump introduced them to the world. It was actually one of the bestselling Cortez’s in the ‘70s, before Gump’s endorsement. It remains as appealing today as it did back then, because you simply can’t go wrong with this shoe.