Humanrace Samba Tones By Pharrell | adidas US
The Samba, Gazelle and other styles by adidas have seen a resurgence in interest due to social media trends. It’s an important moment for adidas as they adjust to life post Kanye. While Yeezy’s removal from the adi ecosystem is more important to the North American market, Glitch and Terrace culture is where adidas lives and thrives. The growth in those segments can help to soften the financial blow from Yeezy finally being purged. These soccer movements tend to be organic. Glitch is relatively new and takes advantage of how young athletes have meetups to compete in games on makeshift pitches. This trend never really caught on in the U.S. although adidas began building pitches in New York and Los Angeles for a time. Terrace culture, like Glitch, happens among the fans. The terrace is where the least expensive “seats” are for soccer matches. The fashion consisted of inxepensive sneakers like the Samba, but with the Humanrace Samba Tones adidas ignores the why behind the movement and buys into an elevated design that places the Samba at twice the price of its original SRP. This has led to hardly any broken sizes on this collection and might speak to a misunderstanding of the influence and reach of Pharrell. While the iconic entertainer is the head of Louis Vuitton and collections in the past performed well, since the TennisHU release Pharrell’s collections with adidas have trended downward.
Delivering a 200 dollar Samba when the 100 dollar option is selling through quickly and gaining traction isn’t the best move. When adidas is focused on culture and heritage they have moments that standout. In the recent celebration of Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary in Yankee Stadium countless artists showed their love for the Three Stripes, but the Run-DMC set stood out as one of the best brand ambassador moments of the night. The other was an unintentional connection of Timberland and Nas which hasn’t been acted upon by the brand and is a missed opportunity. Run-DMC’s set was a standout and even unexpected star turn by Slick Rick in a custom adidas was equally as vivid. While this release probably won’t slow down the interest in the Gazelle and Samba, adidas has to be looking at its relationships closely and take into account the power of the people when it comes to branding and attachment.
