A celebration is in the air as adidas reaches a massive milestone. For their 75th Anniversary, The Brand With Three Stripes will launch a collection of shoes dubbed the 75 Collection. On August 18, 1949, Adi Dassler submitted paperwork to register his company. The young Adi had teamed up with his brother, Ruda, and they started producing footwear from the back room of their mother's laundrette in 1924.
They had great success, with Olympic athletes wearing the brothers' performance-enhancing shoes in 1928, 1932, and 1936, respectively. Then, after the Second World War, the brothers fell out. Ruda went on to create and build his brand, now known as Puma. At 49 years old, Adi registered Adolf Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik and set out to make history with a small factory with less than 50 employees. Fast forward three-quarters of a century, and the storied success of adidas stands the test of time. Well documented, the brand has stood firm through the generations.
With this collection, adidas revisits some of its most popular models. An adidas Samba is front and center, with core black leather uppers. The lace stay, side stripes, and back heel tab come in cloud white nubuck. Gold foil branding to the side, denoting Samba, parallels the stripes. Core Black continues to the tongue and the toe area, which is finished in nubuck. All this sits atop a black rubber sole.
Next up is the adidas Handball Spezial. First launched in the late 70s, the indoor sports shoe has gained many fans. Its upper is enveloped in collegiate royal blue suede, and the stripes, heel, and lace stay are all constructed using cloud white leather. The moniker Spezial sits beside the stripes with a little Trefoil logo applied in gold foil. A gum rubber sole completes the look.
The adidas Gazelle makes an appearance, with the shoe having been a stalwart for adidas since it was first launched in 1968. Being released in one of its original color palettes, Mexicana, the upper consists of team college gold suede. Contrasting this, the stripes, heel, and lace stay are all built from core black leather. The fabric tongue comes in black with a blue adidas tongue tag—a cream-white sole finishes the design.
Last but not least, the adidas SL 72 completes the collection. As its name suggests, the shoe came to be in 1972, created for athletes to wear in between events at the Olympic Games held in Munich. Arriving as part of this ensemble constructed with footwear white nylon panels and alumnia suede hits to the heel, side, and toe area; the vibrant, better scarlet stripes and heel tab highlight the silhouette. The dimpled tongue is also white, with the scarlet and alumnia continuing for the midsole and a gum sole to finish.
All four pairs have debossed gold branding to the heels with Trefoil branding on one side and 75 on the other. All four pairs also feature the anniversary dates 18/08/49 and 18/08/24 debossed into the inner collars.
The adidas Originals 75th Anniversary Collection is set to release on August 18, 2024, through adidas, and select retailers in-store and online. Available in men's sizing, retail is $110 for the Samba, Gazelle, and SL 72, while the Handball Spezial is $120. Download the Sole Retriever mobile app to stay updated on the latest releases, raffles, news, and more in the sneaker and streetwear world.
Images via adidas
adidas Gazelle 75th Anniversary
adidas Samba OG 75th Anniversary
adidas Handball Spezial 75th Anniversary
adidas SL 72 OG 75th Anniversary
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Craig Bell happily talks about sneakers or as he calls them "trainers" every day of the year. An avid Bradford City fan, he's also a big supporter of the Philadelphia Eagles. He will forever profess that Cricket is better than Baseball and that Rugby League is better then Rugby Union. Among his many hot takes, he believes the adidas ZX range is the pinnacle of sneaker design.
