Feature: adidas Originals by Alexander Wang
It was announced by ambush. At the end of Alexander Wang's spring summer 2017 show in New York, a video went up and the models came out in pieces nobody had seen, wearing an adidas Trefoil turned upside down. That flipped logo became the mark of the whole thing. Six collections later, in December 2019, it was over.
We stocked and photographed several of those seasons as they came out. This is what we ran at the time, gathered in one place.
Season 3, spring summer 2018: factory mishaps
The idea was manufacturing errors. Graphics printed in the wrong place, deliberate creasing, fabrics that looked as though something had gone wrong on the line. Six pieces, including a poncho in TPU film that was more practical than it had any right to be.
The campaign matched it. Wang put a group of models in an RV and drove to Coachella, with Brianna Capozzi photographing at petrol stations and car washes along the way. Binx Walton, Lexi Boling, Issa Lish, Cat McNeil and Hanne Gaby Odiele were in it. The pictures went out on Instagram rather than in a magazine, which at the time still felt like a decision.
The second drop: the Reissue Run
The shoe that came with the second drop was the Reissue Run. Mesh and suede layered over nylon, with a lace pull at the heel rather than a conventional collar. It's the one people still ask us about.
The third drop: the laundromat
Released on 23 June 2018, and the campaign moved from the roadside to an industrial laundromat, which kept the factory-error idea going. The clothes came permanently creased with ribbed trims.
Two shoes. The Turnout Trainer, with a running-derived nylon upper, suede overlays and a foam tongue that looked like packing material. And the Adilette, redone in an all-over rubbery white — a slide, in June, which was reasonable timing.
Season 5, spring summer 2019: clubbing as a sport
Wang's framing for this one was that going out is athletic, and the collection took its cues from eighties fitness wear. Johnny Dufort shot the campaign on what looked like a backstage dance set.
The Wangbody Run arrived here, with an outsole that borrowed from the Marathon TR — a nineties shape in leather, with neutral suede and mesh over the top and a purple lace cage. The Bball Soccer came back in chalk white and soft pearl.
The second drop brought the Futureshell: a polished, shiny upper with the three stripes debossed rather than applied, a chunky midsole, Wang's name on the tongue and the Trefoil upside down on the sides. Core black and platinum metallic.
How it ended
Season six, autumn winter 2019, was the last. The theme was internet hacker culture and the campaign was rendered in 3D rather than photographed. Wang and adidas launched it at a hackathon in New York on 10 December, with the details sent out by AirDrop to whoever happened to be nearby instead of by invitation, and gave away deadstock from the first five seasons on the night. It went on sale four days later, and that was the end of it.
Three years, six collections, and a logo that spent the whole time the wrong way up.
One honest note
We don't stock this. The collaboration finished in 2019 and everything from it has long gone, so if you've landed here looking to buy a pair, we're not the answer. The pictures are worth keeping though, and we'd rather leave them up than pretend the whole thing didn't happen.
What we do have is in our women's footwear.