as soon as the concierge greeted us in reception and looked at our sneakers in disgust we didnt have high hopes. every morning he would ask us if we were going for another jog. he couldnt get is head around that we wore sneakers casually.
another hint was we were not allowed into 'Lokanta" a so called 'young, hip' restaurant/bar because we were wearing sneakers. little did the doorman know my sneakers could have fed his family for a year. *sigh*

so the hunt. all we came across were sad pathetic fakes that were frankenstien babies mixmatched hybrids of total90's with puma soles or ugly converse with nike swooshes sewn on. (i'll load some pics soon, they're hilarious) anyways, over to Beyolu to the nike and adidas stores. performance shoes are king here and thats really about it. nothing special nothing unusual, nothing.

even a few little "lifestyle streetwear" stores stocked the most boring NB1500's and stock standard Free's.

so...if you are planning to go to Istanbul, go for the history, not the sneakers.