photo credits: Adiddas
Iconic three striped, with those glorious three small leaves, Adidas
are this year celebrating 50 years of their most popular collaboration; the Stan Smith shoe. Adidas are celebrating by releasing two
new Stan collections; the skate smith, they opened up their own pop
up store shaped like a shoe box, in East London’s Truman Brewery.
Little bit vintage, the little green face of Mr. Smith appeared on the
tongue in the early 70’s. Now after many adaptations in colours of
pinks, red and black, and colabs with COMME des GARCONS and
Dover Street Market in NY, its here again to sit beautiful on the end
of your foot.
Stan Smith is a tennis player, in 1971 he was ranked no.1 in the
world, in that same year Adidas renamed their “Adidas Robert Haillet” to the “Adidas Stan Smith.” Not only former world no.1, but also
two time grand slam singles champion, Smith was signed by Adidas
in 1973 – apparently one of the 50 most influential sneaker sponsorships in sports history.
Adidas are famed for their highly anticipated collaborations, and this
year also celebrates their 10 year partnership with Jeremy Scott, designing greats like the Gorilla Original, the Teddy Bear sneaker and
the Penguin sneaker. Spring/Summer for Jeremy came in the form
of neon greens with wings, metallic and tiger print. Very tropical
thunder.
Most iconic for their green in colour (and obviously his face on the
sponge tongue), with the traditional three Adidas lines taken away
and replaced with three rows of ventilation holes. The Stan Smith
will be around for many years to come with its now corrected fuzzy
moustache, even if not many actually know who the guy is. Expect
many a variation, and accept no imitation.
the
Stan
Smith
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