High-top

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The high-top is a shoe, especially an athletic shoe, that extends significantly over the wearer's ankle. It is sometimes confused with the mid-top. Examples of shoes more frequently seen as high-tops are the Reebok Freestyle and Chuck Taylor All-Stars.

[edit] Description

What constitutes a true high-top is somewhat arbitrary. Shoes marketed as "3/4" or even "5/8" are considered by some to be high-tops. Others disagree. Athletic shoe historian Charles Perrin notes a military design for high-tops, which specifies that a size eight pair be at least five inches from the top of the insole to the top of the shoe.[1]

Perrin also describes four different kinds of hightop "tops": The "Peg-Top" rises to a peak at the back. Chuck Taylor All-Stars are examples. The "Flat-Top" as seen in Pro-Keds goes straight from front to back, neither sloping downward or upward towards the heel. Shoes such as the Reebok BB4600 basketball shoe rise to a peak at the front and slope downward to the heel. Converse and Nike were notable for their notched heel tops. [2]