Nike wants you to wear sneakers all winter long - here's why you shouldn't

It goes like this: sneakers are for spring, summer, and fall, while boots are for fall, winter, and spring. Those are the rules. Don't look at me - I didn't make them up!

Now, sports apparel companies like Nike and Adidas are turning that conventional wisdom on its head.

They've come up with what they're calling "sneakerboots," which are basically winterized, waterproof, grippy shoes based on the sporty silhouettes you know and love, including Nike's Air Force 1 and Adidas' clamshell Superstar.

This isn't the first year they've been making these hybrids, but there now seems to be an especially strong push to market them as viable options for combating the imminent slush.

You may have already come to this conclusion, but the shoes are pretty much a disaster. Not only are they expensive - the price can reach as high as $200 (about as expensive as a pair of nice leather boots with a grippy sole) - but they're hideous.

Hybrids are almost never better than the original. Like sporks before them, sneakerboots will likely never catch on. They're awkward and silly-looking, too far from boots to be considered rugged and too rugged to be considered sneakers.

You can't even make the case that they're more versatile, as the rugged versions of the sneakers you know and love look positively out of place when there's no wintry flakes on the ground.

The sneakerboots are great if you want to play basketball in the snow. If not, it's best to just get a pair of versatile, nondescript regular boots. We all have to grow up some time.