Jeremy Allen White is quite literally an on-the-record fan of the Nike Cortez. In a 2022 interview with GQ, the actor professed his love for the canonical Swoosh sneaker, specifically in pristine all-white. “They just stopped making white-on-white,” he lamented then. “It’s really crazy. I feel like it’s a popular shoe, not just in my house, but, you know, all over the place.”
So imagine our delight when we spotted a pair during the first few seconds of episode 5 in the latest season of The Bear. Carmy is in an Al-Anon meeting, and the camera pans over his golden curls, his hand tats, and, finally, his sneakers. Blink and you’ll miss ’em—but pause the TV for a moment, and there’s no mistaking the Cortez’s now-iconic silhouette.
If we had to guess, we’d say Carmy is wearing the new-and-improved Cortez released not long ago, which boasts a widened toe box—the better to handle the tricky turns of a cramped kitchen—and comes done up in premium leather with a foam wedge sole for extra comfort.
Sure, Jeremy Allen White owns other, more rarified sneakers, like the elusive Bode x Nike Astro Grabber. But we have a nagging suspicion he’ll always be a Cortez guy at heart—off-screen and on it. For $90, you can be, too.
This story originally appeared on British GQ.
