The footwear world changed forever on August 18th, 1949, when Adi Dassler trademarked his newly independent operation under the name adidas. Cut to the modern day, and they’re amid a new reinassance, helped in no small part by a run of street-level dominance by their lifestyle offerings. The Three Stripes is utilizing those shoes’ current popularity for their 75h anniversary, set to roll out special editions of the Samba, Gazelle & Handball Spezial.
The narrative ties for the colorways untap hard to untangle at the time of writing, likely to become clearer as adidas issues official word. However, each capitalizes on relatively simplistic looks- the Gazelle wears black-on-yellow atop an off-white sole, the Samba goes white-on-black, inverting its typical look, and the Spezial flips one of its OG colorways, going white-on-blue atop a timeless gum sole.
Product shots of the latter showcase special edition insoles with Japanese lettering, introducing the possibility that these shoes are geographic exclusives, though that’s not confirmed just yet. Each shoe closes out with gilded detailing on the heel and interior collar, celebrating “adidas 75” across either shoe with that seminal date emblazoned inside: 08.18.24.
Importantly, each of those silhouettes entered during a different adidas era; the Samba debuting in 1952, the Gazelle in 1966 and the Handball Spezial in 1979. Despite the age gap between all three, they’ve converged in a retro 2024 environment as some of the brand’s hottest commodities, so their inclusion makes a ton of narrative sense for how far the brand has come on the back of its heritage styles.
The adidas 75th Anniversary Collection, including the Samba, Gazelle & Handball Spezial featured here, drops a bit early on August 16th in Japan, checking it at their typical 15,540¥ price point. It’s not yet confirmed whether global and stateside launches will align with that date or the 18th, but expect usual pricing if/when these pairs do emerge, likely clocking in at $100 here in the US.
