After only a year or so after joining forces, Adidas and Donald Glover are parting ways. The classic shoe company and innovative artist produced only three sneakers together in the last year, including the Continental 80, Lacombe, and Nizza. They were beautiful shoes, as expected from Glover. The man has exceptional taste, and it shows in his already rich body of work. That’s why it’s a shame he’s no longer collaborating with Adidas.
Deal Over
No official reason was provided for why the partnership has ended so soon, but Glover is always a busy man. Maybe scheduling played a role in the split. In a statement, Adidas didn’t shed any light on what happened but they remain proud of the work they did together:
“The Adidas Originals by Donald Glover partnership has come to an end. Together Adidas and Glover set out to look beyond the confines of a traditional collaboration inspired by limitless creativity. Adidas continues to be inspired by Glover’s visionary creativity and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.”
The Deal
The sneakers cost between $80 to $100. Given Glover’s involvement, Adidas easily could’ve charged more, but thankfully, they remained affordable. Get’m while they last, because now that the deal is done, maybe they’ll become more valuable one day. Especially if Glover’s career continues to skyrocket. One time at Coachella the artist airdropped the beautiful sneakers out of the sky and into the hands of fortunate fans.
Shorts and Sneakers
Glover and Adidas released several videos to promote the sneakers. Being Glover, the videos were far more than promotion. The artist put his intensely pure creative energy into the sneakers and shorts. Sadly, we won’t get more sneakers or shorts from Glover and Adidas.
Originally, Glover set out to tell more stories with the sneakers:
“Rich is a concept. With this project, I wanted to encourage people to think about how their stories can be told on their feet. Value isn’t quantified by what you wear, rather the experiences from them. And you make the decision on what works for you, you live through your own lens. The partnership for me is about being able to exemplify what doing your own thing truly looks and feels like.”
With Glover, Adidas wanted Glover’s creativity and innovation to influence a new brand of sneaker. They wanted his voice and vision in the shoes. Adidas had high hopes for the partnership:
“Our partnerships are built on a foundation of creating moments of inspiration that we could not achieve alone,” explained Chris Law, Senior Design Director – adidas Originals. “As a visionary, we admire Glover’s capability to surpass ‘genres’ and uniquely tell a story. From a design perspective, we drove the aesthetic of this collection based on adidas’ rich history in classic sneakers and Glover’s philosophy of understated points of interest and appreciation for how shoes evolve with wear, expressing more personality over time. Between Glover’s artistic vision and our expertise, we will continue to evolve and look forward to where that takes us.”
Glover and Adidas took some unique approaches to their sneakers. There was uneven sticking and a customer 3-Stripe mark in a hand-painted style. Other touches, such as edges of the canvas on the sneakers not stitched down, were new. Even the box was different in the form of an inside out box. It was a new look for Adidas, and a cool look as well.
The Lost Album
This isn’t the only time in the last week Donald Glover has been in the news. The co-creator and star of FX’s Atlanta, of course, is most famous as musician Childish Gambino. He’s been performing and releasing albums under the name for years now, although he planned on retiring from touring as Gambino. If that ever happens, that’ll be unfortunate, because witnessing his artistry and dance moves live is an electric feeling.
Following the epic splash of Gambino’s single and music video for “This Is America,” fans were anticipating a new album or at least new music from him. Last week, he finally dropped new music on his website, but hours later, it was mysteriously removed. There was no explanation at all for its appearance and disappearance.
As for Glover’s Adidas deal, perhaps it ended due to his schedule. He’s an extremely busy man with music, writing, acting, and directing. He wears many hats with his many different talents. There’s a reason why we must always wait patiently for new seasons of FX’s Atlanta. Then again, new episodes of the unique dramedy or whatever Glover touches is always worth the wait.
