Men's NPC II Casual Sneakers

[PLEASE SEE MY LATEST UPDATES AT THE END OF THE REVIEW] REVIEW: Like a lot of other reviewers, I've been wearing these since almost the beginning. I've tried others, but these are almost the perfect everyday shoe for me. Super comfortable, look great, last a decent amt of time. And Amazon is a great place to buy them! However, they are a fairly narrow shoe which really hugs your feet pretty tight. I personally love that, but many people might not. Buyers with wide feet or like loose-fitting shoes should probably consider a 'court' shoe rather than these. Life changes, and so have these shoes over the yrs. Some changes for the better, some not. Let's run down some of the changes and which ones I'd like to see Reebok return, or introduce into a "premium" version of this shoe: 1) Leather - This is the most obvious change long-time wearers will notice. Reebok used to use a thinner and softer leather. They were sooo soft, and felt just super-premium. You just wanted to keep touching the supple leather of the old shoes (when new). The downfall was eventually near the end of the shoe's life the leather would become dry and crack along each side of the front (near the bottom of laces). It was a chronic and annoying problem. A few years ago they changed to what feels like a thicker leather with a waxier coating. The leather doesn't feel as premium or soft, but not hard either. At first I didn't like the change. But I have to admit, the new version DOES wear better and seems to stay nicer-looking for longer and hold it's shape better. And I've literally dunked these shoes in soapy warm water and scrubbed them clean with a brush multiple times. And they hold up better exposed to rain, etc. Even after two or three years, the leather still retains that 'waxy' feel and hasn't become dry and hard or misshaped. And the white pigmentation has held up better too. So, while I loved the softer leather for comfort.... I do see an improvement in the new way. So, I guess the change is net positive with the new leather. 2) Tongue - It used to be on the older shoes (2010-ish and before), the tongue was a vinyl material on the outside (terrycloth inside) with much thicker padding, the very top stuck out more and was trimmed with a nice embroidered leather. I liked that better than the thinner nylon mesh. For one, the vinyl helped seal water out better. It looked better. The vinyl stayed looking nicer long (easier to clean, less dirty looking), was also warmer in the winter (I wear these all year round!). Finally, the padding being noticeably thicker was more comfortable. The vinyl might have reduced breath-ability, but I never noticed it much. 3) Sole - Minor changes and some cosmetic changes. The compound feels the same. They DID make the sides about 5mm lower (shorter) and added a bit more rubber material around the perimeter on the bottom. These were improvements b/c the shorter sides seem to keep the leather from cracking on both sides, which, as I described above, was a chronic and annoying problem in the past, and a little extra rubber around the bottom perimeter does seem to help extend wear ever-so-slightly. I wish they would add a little more rubber to the rear corners and the center where the ball of the foot goes. Give the buyer a little more sole-longevity. Now the sole definitely wears out faster while the leather is still decent. 4) Rear - It used to be they used a thin leather piece on the back of the shoe which was embroidered. Although cosmetic, it was a touch of class the old way. Whereas the rear piece now is a synthetic material which has "Reebok" printed on it. It's not a gripe...just mentioning a change. 5) Inside - There was more padding along the sides around the ankle and on both sides inside the shoe further up towards the toe area. Thicker terrycloth too. It added a bit more insulating value on bitter cold days. The ankle padding used to provide more protection to the ankle-bone when sitting cross-legged on hard surfaces. For people with sweaty feet they probably like the thinner material. But I'd rather have the thicker back. The actual bottom paddind inside seems to be similarly padded to the older shoes. I have a couple brand new NPCII's (in the box) from the mid 00's, so I can compare side by side. 6) Versions - There used to be ...even like 10-12years ago (not THAT long ago), a number of versions or variations of this shoe like the Newport "Crest" versions with a nice 'Crest' embroidered on the side rather than the typical "Reebok" script. You could choose different colored crests too! That was fun. Also, you could get the standard "Reebok" embroidered logo in different colors and gray. That was fun too. I'm sure it was harder to stock different variations of shoes, but it was fun. Hopefully someone at Reebok will read this review and bring those simple but fun features back. Summary: These are a great shoe IMO despite some of the changes Reebok has made. I'm glad they still make them. Some of the changes have improved them. But if I had my wishlist (If you're reading this REEBOK), the MOST important change I'd like to see Reebok make would be to add in a little more rubber along the rear corner of the sole and ball-of-foot area. That would extend the life of the shoe maybe 20% w/o a loss of any or much traction and w/o much manufacturing cost. #2) I would love to see a return back to the vinyl/leather and more heavily padded tongue. It was just more comfortable. And #3) Please restore back more padding and thicker cloth on the sides (inside the shoe...further up to the toe area). That's about it. But mostly #'s 1&2. And maybe bring back the 'Crest' and color variations....perhaps as a PREMIUM shoe for a bit more money ...using the older premium leather of course! :) But either way, ...if you have a fairly normal width foot, these are worth a try for a good everyday shoe. Cheers!!! [MORE NEW SHOES - PURCHASE UPDATE - Nov 2025] Good news! Important Changes/Improvements!! I received a couple more pr of the NPC II's recently. These latest shoes the leather is a LOT softer than the pairs I received a few yrs ago. I don't know if Reebok was reading our comments and softened the leather, or the harder-leather shoes I received before (different shoe shipments) were just an anomaly. I would even say the leather on the recent shoes I recently received is 'softer' than the older Reebok's of the 2000's and up. The leather still has that waxy feel, but that might be to keep the leather softer longer. I still have some older Reebok's from like 2010's brand new in the box, and I took them out to compare against the new shoes. Yeah the most recent couple prs are even softer. Regardless, Kudo's and a big THANK YOU to Reebok for keeping the quality high. Now they just need to make the sole 1.5mm thicker to wear longer. WEAR UPDATE: More GOOD NEWS! The 'harder-leather' NPC's (original review at top) with the waxier leather, DID inn fact wear quite well. After a year of hard use as an everyday shoe (doing contsrtruction/welding/grinding/and a lot of walking ...The waxier coating seemed to keep the leather more supple after being exposed to wear/water and abuse for a year. If you wash the leather by hand every once in a while they come out pretty clean. More importantly, there have been NO tear-through's on the leather on the sides of the shoes by the toes. Previously the leather ALWAYS (every single time) tore at the front sides ...eventually (since the dawn of time). So it looks like the leather and other changes definitely solved that problem, which is a MAJOR improvement. Thank you Reebok!! Now if Reebok would kindly bring back the vinyl tongue (keeps water out), more ankle padding (feels better), and an embroidered "Reebok" tab on back of shoe ....the older shoes had these things, that would be nice. Maybe put all those higher end features on a premium *Crest Edition* with different color crests available (like they used to do). Oh, and since I have a 'wish-list', add 1.5mm tread-depth to the shoes for longer wear. :) I will update how the most recent NPC's with the softer leather wear ...in about 10 months or so. Cheers. But overall these shoes are the most comfortable ever.....!!

Excelente.

Fits perfectly ok. A little bit bigger than my son's feet but the space is just perfect for his growth

great look and fix well

One of the best Reebok products that has been in the market for years and still popular. I love it.

Super recomendados

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Perfectos en todo sentido!