The white trainer is one of the most reliable things in a man’s wardrobe and also one of the easiest to get badly wrong. Too chunky and they date quickly. Too minimal and they look like plimsolls. The specific problem most men run into is spending either too much or too little, and neither end tends to deliver what you actually want: something clean, well constructed, and convincing enough that nobody feels the need to ask what they are.

We have spent time looking for trainers that sit in that useful middle ground. The ones where the leather or the tooling or the proportions just look considered, without the price tag that usually buys that quality. White trainers reward attention to detail more than almost any other shoe because there is nowhere to hide. A slightly off white sole, a cheap eyelet, a toe box that rounds too quickly. These are the pairs that get all of it right.