No One Ruins Classic Adidas Like Pharrell

Last fall, Pharrell came out with an Adidas line of “remixed” Stan Smiths. Now, for those unaware of the Stan Smith line, it’s one of the most iconic — and iconically simple — tennis shoe lines in history. Like its cousin, the mesh Rod Laver, t spans age and interest; they’re about as timeless as timeless gets for a leather sneaker.

Here’s what Pharrell did to them:

What I see Pharrell doing here is “Bape-ifying” the Stan Smith. In the early 2000s, Pharrell struck a partnership with the Japanese designer Nygo, whose Bape sneakers now represent the early era of hyper-exclusive sneaker culture. Even though a lot of the designs were wild and ugly, they were small-batch; instant collectors items whose value skyrocketed on the secondary market. Pharrell has taken a product that should have never been touched in the first place and Bape-ified them.

Uncontent with his destruction, Pharrell has launched a second line that fucks up a classic sneaker: the shell-toed Adidas. This is no way to spit on Fred Durst’s grave! At least with this product, he’s teamed up with architect Zaha Hadid; it’s easier to split the blame two ways.

But why pay less for a classic black or white shelltoe when you could pay more for a pair that have “SPACE” and “MATTER” molded into the plastic? Too bad I’m broke from buying his Uni Qlo line.