I recently headed back up to Manchester to document the Size? City Series adidas Manchester edition drop.
It was my first time trying to capture the event behind the camera, which was a fun change. I also captured via my old iPhone 4S, a phone that was hugely popular at the time of the 2011 Manchester release. You can expect a piece on that soon!
You can read about it here: https://thesolesupplier.co.uk/news/scarves-queues-spzl-clobber-manchester-sends-off-the-adidas-size-city-series/
EDIT: This was written pre-Yeezy scandal which saw adidas taking huge hits to its yearly predicted profits. That being said, the adidas Originals line-up was still fire, so a lot of this piece still stands.
Back in March 2021 I found myself having to paint the shed. This unfortunately seems to be a designated role of mine whenever I’m at home, which because the lockdowns, had not been the case for almost a year. Knowing I’d be spending the next hour or so repeatedly moving a brush back and forth, I decided to queue a favourite podcast of mine, The Complex Sneaker Podcast. The episode featured Jerry Lorenzo and Jason Mayden, two big names when talking the world of design and contributions to footwear culture. That episode, more than any other had left a huge impact on me and my understanding of the footwear scene. With Jerry Lorenzo having signed on as President to the newly founded Fear of God Athletics under the adidas Umbrella, and Jason Mayden now Managing Business and Creative Strategy Globally for adidas Basketball, the duo took to the pod in order to discuss their future plans.
“A lot of my personal memories of the brand are super iconic. There are so many revolutionary individuals that were championing the brand that were aspirational to me as a kid. The Sambas were some of the first shoes that I had in high school that I would wear with my Umbro shorts and Daisy Dukes. What I love about the brand is this juxtaposition in association with these high-level Revolutionaries like Kanye West, Mike Tyson, Mohammed Ali and David Beckham. The product has always taken a backseat and I love how the product allows individuals to shine. It’s always felt like when I put on a pair of adidas it allows for my own swag to take president. It feels like I’m wearing the shoes, not like the shoes are wearing me.”
-Jerry Larenzo
“My relationship with adidas was on the heels of the people who stood in front of adversity and challenges and authentically themselves. Flow Joe, Mohammed Ali, Run DMC these people crossed over and were a spine breaker. As a kid who grew up in Hip Hop culture you started to see the nuances of people who did not fit in, they made it okay to be other. So for me adidas represents more of an idea more so than a product and a company, that idea is individualism. That’s what I like about this opportunity is that we get a chance to paint a new narrative, where the protagonist is the hero, not the artifact. Not the product itself but the person. I think that’s important for the person in this generation because when they’re seeking authenticity, it’s really hard to be authentic when you’re chasing a trend but it’s easy to be authentic when we’re standing in our truth. adidas has always stood in its truth and I get a chance to extend that legacy into the future.”
– Jason Mayden
What stuck with me was both of their takes on adidas as a brand. I had personally never seen the company in that light before, only having warmed to it myself the past year or so. To me adidas had seemed a little lost after their complete takeover back in 2015/16. They had experienced a huge peak but had since become lost, the fog near the top of the mountain obscuring their view of the path upwards.
Since moving and working to Manchester however, the love for the brand was a lot more noticeable. Working in the Bristol store prior to the move meant I started to question the brands history more and more. The Trimm Trab and Kegler Supers sat on the shelf of the wall with a vast history that I wasn’t yet aware of. In fact at the time, I’d never even seen the shoes before having scanned them in during delivery. I’d been drip fed the Nike narrative for so long that I was getting schooled when it came to adidas. Thank goodness it wasn’t all Tubular’s Doom’s and Deerupts! (praying hands emoji).
I myself had started to notice the Samba gain traction slowly but surely back in the end of 2020, the nostalgic seeds for the model were once again planted by Sean Wotherspoon post his Nike contract ending. He ended up doing a few limited Round Two Samba pairs in 2021 made of recycled material scraps and were made in the special German factory too. You can now seem him start to wear what I assume to be his next set of releases that he is trying to stir up traction for. Here’s hoping they do better than the previous Hot Wheels release that has just dropped.
Of course adidas were retro-ing the shoes every year or so, similar their release strategy with Shelltoes and Superstars, however I can only imagine them doing regular numbers throughout this period. Along with the Sambas, the Rivalry’s were having a small moment in 2018 before adidas went all out on their marketing for the Forums and seemed to have reached success with the model.
A lot of traction also came from strong collaborations with the world’s most streamed musician Bad Bunny and rumoured to be Louie Vuitton’s next designer, Grace Wales Bonner. The Bonner shoes were massive online in terms of Instagram presence with all your cool influencers getting off solid fits in them. This undoubtedly had a trickle-down affect with those who either didn’t know about which particular adidas shoes they were or couldn’t find them online, leading them to spend their well-earned cash on the next best thing. You even had Harry Styles on stage in Wembley performing in a pair of red Gazelles. I only noticed this myself as I thought he was wearing a pair of Napoli’s, a shoe that just so happen to be my one of my favourites, as opposed to being a massive fan of his. Aha, Watermelon Sugar yes my dudes.
No doubt Lorenzo and Mayden had an affect across the campus at adidas with their ideas of the brand, igniting them to readopt their old ethos. You now see adidas being the biggest brand or at least following closely behind New Balance because of their new strategy. They have realised the strength of the crowd and letting them adopt retro silhouettes into their own wardrobe. Those who have an online following and a taste of their own are integrating these simple terraced shoes and making it their own. Granted, this sometimes comes through via a questionably tasteful 10 second video in which the person in shot will lift up their foot behind them and catch it with their hand, but that’s the future baby… or at least what has the biggest choke hold over the footwear market for the moment.
Gone are the days where Air Max is everything. I myself was getting a bit tired of the rhetoric behind the importance of Classic and more obvious older silhouettes. The Shoe Dog in me wanted a doc on obscure Nike’s and the lesser known designers who made crafted them. Tinker is almost a rockstar at this point so why can’t the Swoosh try and do the same for some of the other designers. This behind the scenes stuff is something true fans of product are always here for.
At this point, even coveted Air Max and Jordan 1 models are sitting which would have been unheard of a few years ago. I believe the brand experienced the peak of this love during and post lockdowns once Netflix’s The Last Dance had had its huge cultural impact. The documentary had showed everyone watching why these shoes were so important. We no longer needed OG Sneaker Heads with extensive Jordan collections to tell us why, from their first-hand experiences and memories, because now we had them too! People who had never had a chance to experience watching Jordan play had now seen the magic and alien abilities of the man almost first-hand. The Documentary did so well to remove the barrier of time which is normally experienced through old footage quality that ends up creating a gap between the viewer and the art.
I was working in retail during this period and the want for anything Jordan was relentless. Every day at least 40% of customers would come in asking where the Jordan section was, it was madness. This carried on throughout the rest 2020 and into the first half of 2021 too. Thankfully or not, depending on how you see it, the hype train has indeed slowed down with 2022 being the year for adidas and new balance.
The generation born in the 90s and 2000s experienced enough of depending on the past for its footwear and put its own spin on it. Of course, models such as the Gazelle and Samba are in fact shoes created back in the 60s, yet given this gap of over half a century, the cultural and historical markers are less defined or at least more obscure as they are with 90s releases. Unless your Grandpa or Grandma were running track or game for that matter, they would have unlikely come across such shoes. It was more likely that you’d see a picture of your Mum and Dad rocking now-evangelised Nike models from old family snaps, than you would of Grandpa Joe hitting a topspin forehand in his Stand Smith’s. Even if your Grandparents were the coolest of cats, they probably wouldn’t have had the photos to prove it, funny how that works. So a lot of this nostalgia is unfortunatley limited by format.
With the dawn of new technological formats, comes a much-needed shift in ideas, and one which luckily went in tandem with that of adidas product. The 10 second Reel or video relies on the fast and now, the old picture format which I would argue is still relevant today, unfortunately looks to the past all too much. You might see a picture of someone wearing a classic Jordan (peep @no.idea.is.original for what I mean) but you don’t have a 10 vid of them getting sturdy in some Jordan Aqua 8’s from when they originally released.
The cultural power has now been handed, for the most part to your smaller creators, ones who don’t seem to detatched from our own reality. If Rachel or John are running about their second-hand clothing business in a pair of adidas, then why can’t Wendy or Peter getting the bus to work feel the same way when they lace up their pair of three stipes? The power is in the people. Like Jason said, “the protagonist is the hero, not the artefact.”
It’s safe to say my college rotation wasn’t the best. Nor was it the worst by any means. Oh and when I say College I mean ‘high school’, the two years of education before University. Just in case we have any American Readers. Having only fully started getting into sneakers the summer before starting college, there was a lot of learning to do. I remember wearing my Vans Old Skools for a large portion of the first year. They were on the brink of being too small but because of the simple colourway, they were easy to wear.
I then moved finally gained the courage to wear my Reebok x Palace’s. I managed to get the last UK12 that summer off of END clothing. An extremely lucky find. These got a lot of complements throughout their use. A great shoe to this day. I really put the miles on them and eventually ended up having to retire them after X-Fest in summer 2016. A good 3 year run to the point where the Triferg logo started fading off the back of the heel.
Then onto second year. I found a love for Reebok after the Palaces gave me a good run and many a compliment. I found a cheap pair of black Ventilators off Buttery Store, a site which has now closed, I think they were £40 quid. They fit half a size big and upon reflection, was not the best Reebok shoe I could have chosen out of their line-up. Somehow, I ended up missing the Workouts, Revenges and even the Club C, a novice mistake. I think I was fond of the little window at the bottom of the shoe which let you see the Hexalite midsole technology. I did end up picking up another Reebok Ventilator after this stupidly. The Reebok x Major DC shoes, which had a detailed pink 3M toe box with an iced out sole that had a blossom tree underneath it. I was a huge fan of the blossom tree under foot however I haven’t worn them to this day. They have literally sat at the bottom of my cupboard since 2014. The Ventilator did end up going on to get some love with Kendrick Lamar doing his first collaboration project on that silhouette. A few years prior to that you had shoe stores like SNS and Hanon doing their own renditions through collaborations. So I guess my love for the model in hindsight was justified.
I actually ended up swapping these for the week with my mate at college. He was the only other UK12 I knew and had picked up a pair of Nike Trainerendors back when they had ACG on the tongue and not Nike SB. By that point he had mashed up his pair as well, so it was a relatively fair trade. I came out on top as the Nikes were a lot comfier than the Hexalite technology. Not to mention the mesh toe box on the Reeboks was pretty chewed up by that point. Come to think of it, I’m not sure why he did swap, probably because he thought he fancied some change in his life. It’s the little things in life as they say.
I managed to find a cheap pair of Adidas ZX Flux’s for sale on their website for something ridiculous, like £28. It was a UK12.5 and was made up of a single Tree-camo upper. This was back when adidas had a good thing going with their ZX line. I remember there being a lot of buzz for the iridescent pairs.
Adidas at the time were also doing at ‘create your own’ ZX section on their website where people could upload a photo for their upper. I remember people trying to get away with jokes designs and some pretty non-PG photos. Clearly, they’d found a loophole in the system. Kind of like how Barclays did those custom Bank cards. All I used to see on The Basement were people with Bape Camo cards, I was almost convinced to create one myself. Having been to a Flux Pavillion concert Shepards Bush a few years prior to having these, I did knickname them the Flux Pavillion’s … I don’t know what I was thinking. On a side note, what actually happened to the guy?
I have literally had my ZX Flux’s up on my Depop account since the summer of 2016 and no one has bought them. That’s a total of 6 years. They’re even up for £18 all in now and they still haven’t budged. I suppose that’s more of an indication on peoples view of how these aged.
The last edition to my college rotation was a pair of black Eric Koston 2’s with a gum bottom. These got equally as mashed as the Ventilators in the end and probably got more use than any shoes on the list. If I were to rank these, I would definitely place these as a close second to the Reebok x Palace’s. At the time the Koston Air Max’s were everywhere. I even had two of my mates arguing about “who got theirs first”. They had both got the Black pair with the white mid-sole colourway, the only difference was one has a mesh upper and the other was canvas. I remember them looking to me to ask which pair had come out first to which I just laughed. I couldn’t be bothered with the silly argument, sitting there feeling superior in my Koston 2’s. Whilst I don’t think the silhouette aged too well, I still think it’s a Nike shoe that garners respect.
Overall, my rotation definitely was not the best out there. It consisted mostly of General release shoes that had hit the sale racks. I knew of the Jordan 11s gamma blues that released in 2013 but at the time, shoes that price were just way too expensive for me. I did manage to get a pair of Columbia 11s though in my second year of college, but they never got worn. I wasn’t brave enough at the time and my jeans weren’t baggy enough to sit on them correctly, so they’d end up looking like boats. I did amass a decent collection but as far as the ones that got worn, well those you already know about. Looking back, my shoe knowledge and rotation has vastly improved but it’s all part of the experience. You just have to look back and smile!
Here’s a Nike shoe I’ve never seen before. Whilst browsing the eBay for “Eric Koston” shoes I came across a load of hip skate shoes. A lot of them were from his Es and Osiris period, however there were a few I’d never seen before. Below I have chosen a few cool ones that I came across and yes, they are in fact for sale. What a wonderful world we live in.
I have put the links to buy them after each description but depending on when you read this article, they may have unfortunately sold out.
These are a pair I have never seen before in all my years of browsing. It’s always an enjoyable moment when you come across a pair that are completely alien to you. I do think they’re an interesting looking shoe, reminding me of my Air Rejuven8 pair I wrote about in an earlier blog. The upper is comparable to the Nike Air Kukini’s with its melded rubber cage upper and mesh underneath. These were a far cry from your usual skate shoes that were releasing back in 2004, mainly because they were not being predominantly made up of a canvas upper. Yet the rubber-cage would have been able to withstand a lot of wear. The zoom units themselves are not located in the midsole like you would expect, but in fact embedded in the in-soles themselves. This was a useful feature because given that Zoom units do in fact pop after time, you as the customer would have been able to purchase another pair of insoles and the cushioning system would literally have been good-as-new. Another shoe that uses the cushioning technology in the in-sole rather than the midsole was the Nike Air Vis Propensity, which did in fact place the air unit itself (crazy right) in the in-sole, with a little viewing window at the bottom of the shoe.
I would not be surprised if the Kobe 6s took some inspiration from the Air Zoom E-Cue. Just to double check my intuition, I Googled who designed both shoes and in fact, it WAS the same designer! Eric Avar was responsible for designing the Kobe 6 in 2011 and the Nike Air Zoom E-Cue back in 2003/04. Not only was the silhouette very closely related but the idea of a heavily textured upper was too much of a coincidence. The use of Zoom technology in both shoes also confirmed my suspicions.
2. Poynter Skate Shoes
I have never heard of this Skate brand before, let alone seen this model. I am a fan though, from the Air Max 95 lacing system, the mudguard, and the gradient colourway, what’s not to like? The Midsole is a little questionable as it doesn’t look entirely functional for the activity it is built for. The narrow heel on the back does not bode well for landing on and looks a bit unstable. I see hints to the Adidas Training PT with the circular design integrated into the midsole. This particular gradient colourway reminds me of the rare Air Max BW/TN hybrid you occasionally see pop up on your Instagram feed from a real Nike Head.
3. Aeon Skate Shoes
I believe I may have come across this brand before, but I am not totally sure. Maybe I’m just getting confused with the saying “Eons Ago”. Who knows? I have definitely not seen these pair before though. I see influences from Osiris D3 in the vent like circles you can find on the mudguard and toe box. The little strap and top eyelet holder is also quite a cool feature. I’m unsure if these are pre-Nike Flywire so could have had a part in influencing that. I question the overall practicality of this feature, as in this case it does look a little gimmicky. How much extra pull or tightness around the upper can you really gain from one eyelet after all? The biggest comparison and first shoe that sprung to mind upon seeing this was the Jordan 14. Those ridges upon the white panel really draw closely on the iconic side profile of the 14. Overall, I’m not too enticed by the colourway, but I could 100% see myself rocking a pair of these. Some baggy denim or cargos sitting on top of pair like this would do very nicely.
4. Savier Staba Skate Shoes
The heel tab branding looks very similar to the Satta logo but apart from that nothing really sprung to mind at first. An interesting shoe to say the least, but I’m not sure that these would get much wear out of me. After a while I finally started seeing what era it was being inspired by. The eBay seller states that he thinks these came about in 2001 which would make a whole lot of sense. The chunky low top feel of this shoe initially reminded me of the Jordan 15. However, it was more closely linked to the designs of the Jordan 16 and 17. That use of hard plastic to create a techy component feel to this shoe was a large design movement in the early 2000s. You can see this throughout a lot of footwear at the time. The start of the new millennium had every designer focusing on “the future” and their take on whatever that would be. Another shoe that uses that tries to reach for that forward thinking feel was the Adidas Kobe 2. That was my best comparison I came up with and a very apt one at that in my opinion.
Check out this solid read on the History of Skate Shoes by Sneaker Freaker.
wear shoes, write poems 