A Retro Running Shoe as an Homage to Italian Football Excellence (EXCLUSIVE)
Diadora was at the forefront of Italian football's golden era. From the ‘80s to the early 2000s, the sportswear company outfitted everyone from referees to the Italian national team.
At the same time, Italy’s Serie A cemented itself as the strongest league in world football, home to a who’s who of all-time greats: Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio, and Zinedine Zidane being a few stand-outs.
And for a football-obsessed fashion label like Lack of Guidance, it was only natural to start reminiscing about these halcyon days for its debut Diadora sneaker collaboration.
“The goal with this shoe, and the whole campaign, was to tap into the spirit of the golden era of Italian football, a time when Diadora really played a pivotal role,” Akaar Amin, founder of Lack of Guidance, tells Highsnobiety. “Knowing its design language from that time, we knew the shoe had to feel bold. Minimalism wasn’t really a thing back then.”
In the modern game, many teams favor a more minimal kit design (sometimes without a sponsor, entirely monochrome, or with subtle iridescent motifs), but that wasn’t the case at the end of the 20th century. This was an era of wild-patterned, color-clashing kits.
The Lack of Guidance x Diadora Mythos 280 GB sneaker is an ode to this time of maximalist football gear.
The sneaker has a green mesh base, black patent leather overlays, and a hit of red-colored contrast on the Diadora logo. It's a trio of colors reminiscent of an SK Rapid Wien '90s warm-up jacket (which makes a cameo in the above photos), a very niche and strangely non-Italian reference.
As you’ve probably noticed by now, this shoe is not a classic football boot, it’s a running shoe from 2008 brought back from the archives as a stylish sneaker. And no, that isn't an oversight.
“Lifestyle collections often reference the shapes of classic football boots. We feel that’s a narrow representation of the monumental cultural relevance this sport has had on many generations and countries,” explains Antonio Gnocchini, chief marketing officer at Diadora.
“When you celebrate the lifestyle of a sport, you need to consider also what the athletes and the fans were wearing, and the influence they had on the street culture of the time. That’s why we chose this style [of shoe] for this particular story.”
Set to be released on April 11, both in-store and online at Lack of Guidance and Diadora, the shoe follows hot on the heels of Lack of Guidance's debut sneaker from earlier this year. And it follows the same blueprint as that ASICS shoe: Taking niche, vintage football kits and infusing them into sporty sneakers.
Lack of Guidance has long known how to make retro football equipment into stylish clothing, it's now doing the same for sneakers.
