Somewhere between Yeezy’s collab, Pharrell’s Superstar sneakers and Gosha Rubchinskiy’s new designer tie-in, Adidas became the most important sportswear brand of the moment. Harnessing the growing athleisure market and tapping pertinent celebrities has found the brand a niche that is desirably edgy and unapologetically accessible.
Yesterday the menswear press made a new stop on their current global fashion week tour in Kaliningrad, Russia. There, on a snowy day, Gosha Rubchinskiy showed his new collection in collaboration with Adidas Football.
As a designer, Gosha has emerged from an underground streetwear scene to become an unlikely favourite of Kim Kardashian’s and a mainstay for street style influencers. Arguably, he’s made hammers and sickles hot and Cyrillic the coolest font for slogan tops.
Much of the buzz around Adidas x Gosha Rubchinsky centres on its primary coloured tracksuits and sweaters channelling Russian artists Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. His collection has both instant street cred and smart fashion kudos and is likely to be a rainmaker for the sports brand.
But, it’s not just Gosha Rubchinsky lending his covetable design chops to the brand. Adidas has been busy fostering lucrative relationships with Alexander Wang, Yohji Yamamoto, Raf Simons, Palace Skateboard, Stella McCartney, Jeremy Scott, Kanye and Pharrell Williams.
While Puma may have Rihanna and Nike has recently launched a campaign with FKA Twigs, Adidas has been working with its fair share of famous faces too. Celebrities like 2 Chainz, Rita Ora, Missy Elliot, Snoop Dogg and Teyana Taylor have filled Adidas’ roster of representatives and aided their cultural ascendancy.
Like most sports brands its main stream of income come from its shoes – in 2015 they reportedly reaped $15bill in sales fromfootwear. For anyone who watched the stratospheric rise of the relaunched Stan Smith and Superstar sneakers, this comes as no surprise. In fact, the technicolour Pharrell designs inspired more sales of Superstar sneakers than any other shoe in the labels range.
Interestingly this Portland, Oregan, based brand doesn’t need these power player names to make their three stripes sell. Recently, their technical shoes and clothing has outpaced competitors. And, Adidas’ Futurecraft design lab and new biodegradable sneaker concept has made headlines all on its own.
In a recent survey by Highsnobiety Adidas was named as one of the most relevant brands of 2016. Considering the lengths, the fashion press went to see their latest collaboration it shows those in the know are keenly watching the next steps of this sportswear brand.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.