adidas Originals and Porter: as unique as it should be
It seems like we’ll never stop talking about adidas and their many successful collaborations. This isn’t without fair reason, evidenced by the work that has been produced via adidas Originals and Porter.
The Three Stripes brand has been lending classic silhouettes and a sense of flair – or restraint – to a vast number of collabs. With that being said, the latest project with Porter shows that this partnership has been fairly unique.
Interestingly enough, the combination of a luggage company and a footwear designer has shown a solid understanding of each brand’s intricacies. This latest release from adidas and Porter puts an informed spin on an often unheralded Three Stripes model, the Campus.
For the uninitiated, this drop may just come across as yet another addition to the collab hype machine. Far from it, these two partners have been getting together on designs and releases for a long while.
adidas Originals x Porter: Since 2009
That timeline has resulted in each brand continuing to work with the other as they both grew. Porter’s aesthetic and design approach stays largely the same for this duration, but the brand sees a cultural growth.
Meanwhile, adidas skyrockets to a place in the footwear lexicon that feels unmatched. And yet, as far as this relationship goes, it all starts back in 2009.
In the middle of that year, the collaborators let loose a few preview images of their first partnered release, featuring a special interpretation of the adidas Nizza High. To this point in the shoe game, not many luggage companies have opted for working on an athletic shoe, but the folks at Porter were excited.
adidas Originals x Porter Nizza HiThey’d originally been approached by the Three Stripes Brand about a year before, back in 2008. The Porter crew immediately started feverishly working on a concept and spent a full year putting the shoe together.
The resulting look for the Nizza High would be a good predictor of future collab projects. Porter’s functional Black nylon padding and tooling were adopted eloquently on that first shoe.
We even saw special inner linings and a zipper added to the design. It worked well enough that the release eventually included another colorway.
The reception was largely positive, at least part of which was owed to the novelty of a luggage company working with a footwear brand. But, that doesn’t imply that consumers didn’t love the product.
Leaving the early 2000s, sneakerheads were starting to notice a dip in the overall material quality of sneaker releases from major brands. This collab represented a hopeful sign that shoes were still going to be a pleasure to both wear and hold in hand.
The next project from the partners would be another key marker of progress. Porter was celebrating their 75th anniversary following the release of the Nizza High and would follow that up with their take on another classic Three Stripes model: the Superstar.
adidas Originals Supertar 80s x PorterReleased in 2011, fans got more of the same high quality builds and functional tooling, highlighted by more zippers and gorgeous inner lining.
The pattern of design with Porter’s adidas work comes from the actual luggage inspiration. Sure, it’s difficult, even now, to see the connection between a footwear brand and custom luggage. But, the inspiration is easy to see.
On the aforementioned 2011 release, the Superstar’s material was a direct shoutout to Porter’s iconic MA-1 Jacket. This garment was more than a fashion accessory and was, in fact, a favorite of aviators and military veterans in the United States.
For the remainder of the build, we see plenty of Porter’s custom polyester build, famous for its durability and functionality as the basis of a suitcase or cabin bag. The next piece from this brilliant collection comes to us about four years later, marking yet another special occasion.
This time around, Porter comes together with adidas to celebrate the luggage company’s 80th anniversary. It’s a worthy occasion to note and the coinciding release would exemplify that.
For this release, the collaborators would set their distinctive sights on the Stan Smith. It’s an interesting choice for a few reasons. More than anything else, the peculiarity of that choice is based on just how iconic the Stan Smith.
adidas Originals Stan Smith x PorterIn short, how do you change and improve a shoe that so many people see as perfect? Well, Porter and adidas managed to do just that when they released two different looks for the shoe.
The pack would eventually include a Black and Navy iteration. The Black version is decked out in a classic scheme based on the shoe’s OG leather build. Meanwhile, the Navy colorway is done up in a smooth suede construction.
Each of the shoes comes with Porter standards, highlighted by Orange inner linings and branding on a nylon tongue. This brings us to the latest drop, which we discussed above.
From even a cursory glance, you can see the consistency that these partners have come to signify as a central theme in their collections. There’s an almost effortless fluency that each brand shows when it comes to the other’s industry.
In particular, the materials that Porter chooses display an understanding of what works well in footwear design. One can’t help but wonder how this understanding becomes mutual?
How did a luggage company come to such a sound understanding a footwear giant’s design philosophy? For one, the folks over at Porter saw it as something they’d like to try. That’s really about it.
At its very core, Porter takes on work with adidas because a luggage company coming together with a footwear brand just sounds like some good fun. In addition to that, each brand understands what it’s like to start from a place of humility and claw your way to something of a dominant position within an industry.
We all know the Three Stripes story, and Porter’s background is hardly different – the company started back in 1962 as a subsidiary of Japan’s largest luggage designer. Both were once small and grew to titan heights. They have an understanding.
