adidas
adidas, also known as The Three Stripes Brand, is a German sportswear company founded in 1949 by Adolf “Adi” Dassler. With roots in track and football, it has become a global player within the sneaker industry over the past 70 years.
With influence spanning football, basketball, tennis, skateboarding, fencing, and other sports, the company’s first performance-related breakthrough occurred in 1936 within the running space. Jesse Owens famously wore Dassler’s revolutionary canvas and rubber spiked running shoe in the Summer Olympics held in Germany that year. And while Owens’ record-breaking performance at the global competition brought adidas attention, the brand hadn’t yet found its identity; the spikes didn’t feature the brand’s now-signature 3-Stripes logo. (adidas acquired this branding from Finland’s Karhu in 1952.)
The German company achieved similar attention in subsequent decades within both the basketball and tennis spaces thanks to the Superstar (1969) and Stan Smith (1973), respectively. Other made-for-sports models like the adidas Top Ten (1979) and adidas Forum (1984) similarly became lifestyle staples in New York, Boston, Chicago, and other cities. adidas’ Superstar became the unofficial shoe of hip-hop in the 1980s largely due to RUN DMC’s superstardom. (The shell-toe was the best-selling sneaker in North America in 2016.) While less popular stateside, running silhouettes like the SL 72 (1972) and ZX 500 (1984) boast devoted fans of trainers across Europe and Asia. These silhouettes have experienced resurgences throughout the decades, and are now offered under the adidas Originals banner.
Recent years have seen 3-Stripes-branded sneakers soar in popularity, in large part because of the Kanye West led Yeezy sub-label and UltraBOOST, as well as BOOST and adidas 4D cushioning. The German company has also pioneered high-fashion collaborations, hosting Yohji Yamamoto’s Y-3 imprint since 2003. In 2020, classic silhouettes were reimagined by Prada and Craig Green. Elsewhere, partnerships with Beyoncé’s IVY PARK, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, Jonah Hill, Pharrell and others ensured adidas remained the global behemoth it has been for decades.
Throughout 2024, the Three Stripes will surely continue its run as a proponent of the mix between sportswear and fashion. On this end, the brand signed FEAR OF GOD‘s Jerry Lorenzo to drive the creative and business strategy of its basketball category, culminating in the release of the Fear of God Athletics adidas Basketball 1, a shoe set for plenty of releases as the year draws on. It’s also been a banner year for adidas Basketball in terms of their signature athletes, with the German giant releasing Anthony Edwards’ AE1 & James Harden Vol. 8, while continuing a push for the Trae Young 3 and D.O.N. Issue #5.
Scroll below for the latest release dates and information on what adidas has in store for this year.
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adidas
adidas Expands On The Slip-On Trend With The adiFOM Superstar
Slip-on silhouettes have been all the rage throughout 2022, with seemingly every footwear brand reconfiguring the popularity set by the Yeezy Slide and adidas Foam...
The adidas Crazy 97 Indulges In A Contrasting “Core White/Black” Effort
Before signing with The Swoosh and proffering one of the most heralded signature series of all time, Kobe Bryant and his iconic low-cut afro were...
The Sean Wotherspoon x Adidas Orketro Releases January 19
Sean Wotherspoon is never not working. In addition to his retail and consulting endeavors, the Virginia-native has been modifying his next set of adidas collaborations...
adidas Y-3’s Take On The Gazelle Features Premium Suede In Off-White And Black Tones
It’s no secret that the Three Stripes is pushing the adidas Gazelle model well into 2023. In addition to its own reworked versions of the...
Another adidas UltraBOOST 1.0 Retro Takes On A Greyscale Outfit
The adidas UltraBOOST 1.0 debuted in 2015, but it still forms an important part of the brand’s roster of products. Previously touted as the “DNA,”...
The adidas Response CL Enacts A Near Triple-White Ensemble
The Three Stripes capitalization on the revitalized wave of dad shoes has garnered an extremely selective schedule of releases following the Response CL’s cohabitation with...
The adidas Gazelle Enacts A Clad “Wheat” Composition
From the pitch to skateboards to the floors of general admission rock concerts, the adidas Gazelle has spanned a multitude of cultural spaces and avenues....
The adidas UltraBOOST 1.0 “Gum Pack” Lands In Men’s And Women’s Sizes
To this day, many still favor the UltraBOOST‘s original version, often lamenting the fact that adidas made it obsolete with subsequent updates. But now —...
This Women’s adidas AlphaBOOST Features “Wonder Quartz” Accents
The adidas AlphaBOOST may be a newer proposition from the brand, but it combined years of innovation onto one silhouette. Recently, the BOOST, BOUNCE, and...