Adidas launches Wales Bonner collab with 1970s twist

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 18, 2020

Adidas launches the Wales Bonner collaboration — that was previewed during London Fashion Week back in January — this Friday. It’s the sports giant’s first collab with the designer and has a retro edge.

Multi-award-winner Grace Wales Bonner is one of the rising stars of British fashion and her work uses multicultural influences that reflect her own background, especially her Jamaican heritage.

For this AW20 collection, she’s referencing literary and musical sources, blending it with “exceptional craftsmanship to produce a collection that explores 1970s subcultures from the perspective of Caribbean youth in London”.

She has reimagined Adidas’s sporting and lifestyle heritage to “blend timeless aesthetics with elegant sportswear aesthetics”.

The designer said: “It was amazing to get into the archive with adidas, and really study how it has been interpreted by different cultures across times. I was interested in elevating the familiar, and bringing an eveningwear and tailored sensibility to this essential collection”.

The collection comprises three “hybrid adidas tracksuits, each one rooted in the classic 3-Stripes trademark and reimagined with craft details such as crochet stripes and oversized ribbing”. There’s also a yellow long-sleeve football jersey and multicolour knit roll-neck that “serve as an ode to timeless 1970s style”. Rounding out the selection are two soft cotton tees with satin sleeves.

Of course, this being Adidas, footwear is also included and there are two Wales Bonner takes on the SL72 silhouette and two different versions of the Samba sneaker. The SL72 Wales Bonner “captures the spirit of the 1970s” with a corduroy upper matched with rich velvet and antique leather overlays, with a tricolour rubber outsole. It comes in trace pink/collegiate orange/maroon or hemp/maroon/forest green colourways. 

There’s also a core black/cream/white colourway for the classic Samba sneaker with crochet and hand-stitched details, as well as an elongated tongue that extends over the laces. And a cream white/brown colourway “reimagines the silhouette” with a raw cotton upper, handstitched details, velvet laces, and a translucent rubber outsole. 

The collection comes with a visual campaign shot by long-term collaborator Harley Weir, as well as a film by Durimel.