In living color

For me, Adidas is a trend that keeps coming back again and again.

I remember in the late, late ’80s, my friend came back from Europe saying Adidas was the hottest thing on the club scene, along with house music.

At first it seemed a little strange that a label associated with sports could be a fashion thing. Eventually, we all got into it, wearing track suits, trainers and backpacks to the clubs.

In the mid ’90s, we bought dead-stock Adidas track jackets from a store in Quiapo and resold them at five times the cost.

Even Yohji Yamamoto got into it. He approached Adidas to come up with Y-3 in 2002.

"In Japan, you can see the triple stripe everywhere, on trains and on the streets. High school kids and college students all wear Adidas. I asked myself, ‘How can I continue my creative life without this?’ So I asked my assistant to call Adidas," said Yohji.

In 2003, a collaboration between Adidas and Nigo of Japanese streetwear label A Bathing Ape resulted in the limited-edition Adidas Super Bape Star shoes, sold for as high as US$800.

And in 2005, Stella McCartney’s collection for Adidas went on sale in London and practically flew out of the shops, while her collection at Bloomingdale’s in the US sold 95 percent within 24 hours.

This year, Adidas teams up with more partners to come up with a diverse range of limited-edition shoes and track suits under the Adicolor concept.

Adicolor began in 1983 at the Ispo Fair in Munich, when they came up with pure white blank shoes and quick-drying weatherproof pens, allowing people to customize their own pair of sneakers. The product was a success and the shoes from the original launch have achieved cult status.

Now, 23 years later, Adicolor brings back the White Series with more sophisticated customization tools, ranging from felt-tip pens to spray paint and more.

It also gets more interesting with the Colour Series, featuring a number of collaborations with some of the world’s best-known and highly regarded creatives – all icons from the worlds of art and fashion.

Some of the 20-plus partners involved are: "prince of prints" Emilio Pucci, Jeremy Scott for Keith Haring, French graffiti artist Fafi, Claude Closky for Colette, graphic designer Peter Saville, and more. (A complete list of Adicolor partners can be found at the Adidas/Adicolor website.)

Adidas gave each partner a simple brief: to re-interpret the original White Series models and to create products based loosely on a specific color from the palette, which includes the Red series, Blue series, Yellow series, Green series, Pink series, and Black series.

The result is a strikingly rich collection of totally unique items encapsulating the Adicolor concept.

I’ve heard that Adicolor sold out quickly in the UK and had a very successful launch in Berlin. The line proved to be the biggest success in Japan where the Fafi line is so popular that Adidas is supposedly giving the French artist her own line next year.

Adicolor was recently launched at a press preview at Café SaGuijo in Makati and at the Terno Au Go Go event at Adidas Sports Camp at The Fort.

Locally, Adicolor products will be rolled out over the course of three months in batches, beginning March 20 at Shoe Salon stores and Adidas Originals concept shops in Shangri-La Mall, Robinsons Galleria, and Robinsons Ermita.

But not everything will be available locally. Some of the shoes are exclusive to certain shops, like Claude Closky for Colette and Twist for Huf. Only palettes 2 to 5 of each color will be available here.

The shoes are typically priced between P 4,995 and P5,995, while the collector’s items at P 9,995 will be available in only 10 pairs per style.

For more info on Adidas and the Adicolor line, see their website at www.adidas.com or e-mail: originals.ph@adidas.com.hk.