Anyone Else Noticing the Quiet Luxurification of adidas' Finest, Flattest Sneakers?
adidas's flat shoes are currently dominating the sneaker discourse like nothing else. It's really all about the adidas SL 72 and Gazelle right now and not for no good reason, either. These are handsome shoes!
But with the sudden yen for flattened football-ish footwear, especially of the adidas variety, I'm not a little surprised that there hasn't been much (or really any) discourse around adidas' own quietly luxurified flat shoes.
Sure, they're a little pricey, especially compared to the original adidas Country or Samba models. Sure, they're offered by adidas Y-3, a comparably niche football-focused sub-label aligned with Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto.
But these are top-tier shoes, no matter how ya slice it. And it sure is nice seeing these classic silhouettes reinterpreted in sumptuous materials.
I'm probably most impressed by Y-3's take on the adidas Gazelle, though it isn't entirely new. Heck, none of these shoes are really new per se.
Nearly all of these Y-3 styles have been around for a while, though with new iterations and colorways rolling out for Fall/Winter 2024, it's time they received a little more fanfare.
Let's make a big deal about these big ol' redesigns.
Y-3's Gazelle is a real triumph here, transforming the classic terrace trainer into a chunktastic layered suede stomper barely recognizable as such, made especially exquisite by the desaturated shades that inform its tasteful upper.
The Y-3 Country, meanwhile, looks like a luxury label's spin on an old-school running shoe. It's sleek and sexy in the way that a sports car can be, nothing but clean curves and unaffected colorways.
And the Y-3 Japan is more of the same, really, going even lower like a proto-Samba.
And Y-3's Nizza Lo shoe keeps along the lines of the Gazelle, all imaginative tonal textiles stacked atop each other to affect a objectively handsome display.
Again, you're paying a bit more for these bad boys than the average adidas Samba or SL 72 sneakers but not a crazy amount more.
A normal SL 72, for instance, will run you about $100 on adidas' website whereas the Y-3 Country, a very similar low-profile running shoe, weighs in at $350. It ain't cheap but you're getting more substantial leather and a more considered design, making for a longer-lasting shoe.
Is three times the price that much more for a shoe that'll likely last three times as long?
Of course, for anyone content with SL 72's classic retro kitsch, not a big sell. But fashion folks looking to elevate their sneaker game beyond the pale without distancing themselves from timely silhouettes? This is money. Literally.
No matter how you slice it, it's a good time for adidas' finest, flattest footwear. So why not level up to something equally suave but doubly nice?
