On Wednesday, November 29, A$AP Nast presented Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden with the "Shoe of the Year" award at the Footwear News Achievement awards.
Gulden had a very cheeky message to the people from Nike who were in attendance at the footwear industry awards show.
“To the Nike people in the room, watch out,” Gulden said. “We have a lot in the pipeline… not a joke.”
This award comes as Adidas' 75-year old indoor soccer shoe is having a "moment" in 2023.
I feel like it is a blessing and a curse to be fashion-forward and to take a hard handed interest in clothes. On one hand, I feel like I have a creative outlet to express different ideas, emotions, feelings and perspectives; even though most days, I tend to wear black on black.
But on the other hand, it gets exhausting, expensive and somewhat unfulfilling to chase this sort of visceral, clothing dragon in the race to find the ultimate “fit to end all fits.”
In my most truthful and honest opinion, the hardest thing to fathom and navigate in this landscape is the noise; what people speculate and say is cool or uncool based on the kind of people who wear a certain item, follow weird, obscure trends or forecast the next one like some sort of “cool-kid” Sam Champion.
the sambas’ little dance
This is where my grievances start with the Samba.
I feel that Adidas has the ability to create something so mainstream, yet so accessible that it becomes a problem for its own brand perception.
Do you remember the one year where every single pair of new sneakers worn in public by kids over 13-14 years old were Adidas Superstars, or the one year where they were Stan Smiths? Those years, they essentially become a de facto “sneaker of the year.”
The reason why they achieve such a seemingly high title is not because Adidas has come up with some new technology - these items are heritage models that they have been making since the 1940s and are sold at a price point low enough to be on the feet of virtually every man, woman and child whether they are dripless or not.
A short while before all the madness with the Sambas began, people were going crazy and paying insane resale prices for a peculiar shoe. It was not a rare colorway, or collaboration model of a specific numbered Jordan shoe, rather the black and white pair of low top Nike Dunks that kids called the Panda.
Though many mere mortals bit the bullet and paid way over MSRP for the shoe, it is very easy to explain why.
It’s a stylish black and white shoe - the most neutral colors in the universe. Any outfit with these sneakers on the feet would have these to as the center highlight.
Whats more is that a Dunk is a Dunk, everyone kind of knows the shape to be a stylish one that looks good on its own.
I have been tempted with the opportunity to own a pair at its $115 retail price, but I have been very reluctant to buy them because I simply own too many shoes.
The Sambas, however, are a bit of a mixed bag.
These Adidas are the fixture of a phenomenon known as "blokecore," where Americans incorporate the use of football club jerseys into their fits, but more simply, they have been widely adopted because its most basic variant comes in two colors: white and black.
my adidas (are wildly uncomfortable)
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Ubiquity is a noun meaning "presence everywhere or in many places especially simultaneously."
When certain things become ubiquitous in modern life, people who like to be the first at everything - i.e. trendsetters; tend to scoff them off as being the worst thing to happen.
But as much as I can complain and go on saying "oh, I hate Adidas Sambas because too many people wear them" and make myself look like a real piece-of-shit asshole, there are actual, more legitimate reasons as to why I don't like the Sambas and they both have to do with actually wearing the damn shoe.
First, my feet are a bit too wide for them. I have been getting used to shoes from companies like New Balance and Hoka One One, who make shoes with a lot of room in the toebox.
And in comparison to said shoes that I wear almost everyday, the Sambas are flat as fuck. They can get mad uncomfy if there is a lot of walking on a certain day, where even “comfort” versions of dress shoes can feel more comfortable than a pair of Sambas.
It is that much of a sacrifice. For those reasons, they sit on my shelf unworn.
an actual alternative
But from a pure style perspective, there are better, nicer "vintage looking" sneakers that are waiting in the rafters to have their moment.
One of those is a favorite of Reddit fashion boards called the Nike Killshot 2; a gumsoled, tennis-styled sneaker that looks good on lots of "elevated" casual, or semi-casual outfits. Better yet, they also have another advantage over the Adidas.
Sambas used to be $90, but at the current moment, they are $100; real sign of the times.
Killshots on the other hand, actually are $90, (but this doesn't mean checks over stripes entirely.)
At the moment, if I see them in public on someone, I sometimes make eye contact with the person wearing them and give the “redditor nod” because of the relative obscurity.
As someone whose advice comes wildly unsolicited, go with what you feel suits you - don’t go with a ‘dupe’ because I suggest one (a broader discussion about the “dupe” complex will come very soon.)
If you want the Sambas, pull up to the Adidas store, or Foot Locker or Dick’s Sporting Goods to try them on.
Buy them if you like them; I'm just offering a genuine suggestion.
Just be sure to actually wear the damn sneakers.
Ingat.