For some time now, folks on nearly every end of the web have been trashing Hurricane Chris’ recent shoe collab with Fila—the Fila Helmsman. To say the very least, the shoe takes a huge “L” in the looks department. But what really has people buzzing, is the fact that the Helmsman bites the design of Prada’s Linea Rossa sneakers in a major way. Not a good look, but in all fairness, it’s also nothing new. Most of the hip-hop inspired/endorsed footwear that we’ve seen over the past few years have all borrowed (some more heavily than others) from previous shoe models. The main differences in this case however, seems to be the fact that 1.) the Helmsman is produced by Fila (a brand name that holds very little weight in today’s sneaker scene), 2.) it’s endorsed by Hurricane Chris (a little know rapper/ringtone artist), and 3.) there are very few modifications to its design that differentiate it from the Prada original (so you end up with what appear to be back alley Prada knock-offs). Maybe Fila should have gone in a differnet direction with these. At any rate, I’ve yet to see anyone rocking the Helmsman’s in the streets, but I have started to see this Fila tv spot quite a bit lately.