How adidas, Today's King of Sneakers, Quietly Reigned Over Paris Fashion Week
adidas, currently the most dominant force in sneakerdom, could've stormed into Paris Fashion Week like a conquering king. Instead, adidas played it cool. The result was the same, though: adidas owned the Fall/Winter 2025 menswear season, but in a subdued kinda way.
It feels a little odd to say that any one brand "won" the week, really, because fashion week was rich with major footwear moments from nearly all of the big players.
PUMA was omnipresent, clawing for the throne from the feet of guests and a perpetually packed pop-up loaded with archival treats and forthcoming collabs alike. New Balance minded its own business, simply shodding one of the season's hottest brands. ASICS and Salomon hosted showrooms buzzing with adherents.
Still, with a wavering Nike only appearing alongside a couple stalwart partners, there really wasn't any heavyweight competition. adidas towered over them all.
Its low-top shoes remain the most ubiquitous daily drivers the world over, still popular even with Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2025' trend-wary guests. In terms of sheer visibility, you gotta give it to adidas.
But adidas also came correct culturally. Instead of crushing its rivals with overwhelming force, adidas focused its presence into potent moments that engendered a greater overall impact.
Its far reaching collaboration was unmissable at Willy Chavarria, for instance, aligning the Three Stripes with one of the week's most impactful shows and by far the biggest debut in Paris.
When Pharrell strode down the runway with NIGO for his post-Louis Vuitton bow, he was wearing his wild, Balenciaga-flavored adidas Jellyfish sneaker; Jerry Lorenzo used PFW FW25 as a launching pad for adidas-powered Fear of God Athletics gear; adidas Y-3 presented one of its strongest collections in years, rich with moto leathers and sleek sneaks to match.
All big stuff. But what really made adidas' output sing was how it made the most of relatively minor moments, quieter stuff that only amplified the louder tentpoles.
By quietly partnering with younger labels like Song for the Mute, Brain Dead, and Pièces Uniques, adidas weaved its way through the week with a series of killer collabs that became, in their own way, a bigger deal than several of the runway shows occurring simultaneously.
Such is the power of a great sneaker collaboration.
Speaking of, this was the season that adidas rejoined Samba queenmaker Wales Bonner for a sparkly shoe that was the talk of the town, though it hasn't been revealed outside of an appointment-only showroom (save for its runway debut last year).
For a most labels, fashion week is an opportunity to set the tone for next season. For adidas, it was a victory lap,
