We’ve touched on this blog about how sportswear is very relevant on the streets of Paris. But now I’m going to feature a specific pair of “kicks” that have taken over the district of the Marais, as well as the left bank, and beyond.
Stan Smith, a tennis player who was prevalent from the late 1960s to the early 1980s was commissioned to endorse the shoe in 1971.
“The shoe, usually made with a white leather upper and laces, has a simple design. Unlike most Adidas shoes, it does not have the external three stripes. Instead there are three rows of perforations (or punched ventilation holes) on both sides of each shoe’s leather upper in the same pattern that should symbolize the three ordinary stripes. There is sometimes a sketched picture of Stan Smith on the tongue of the shoe. In some sense, the Adidas branding is minimal on the shoe. The design and form of the shoe has basically stayed the same since it was introduced, but several new versions and colorways have appeared during the years.”
The shoe was just recently re-created with slightly altering fabrics for manufacturing in the United States, and are called the “Stan Smith II”, or the Stan Smith “two’s”. Adidas offers multi-dimensional styles for both men and women, and this rings true with this shoe as well.
In fact, I picked up a pair myself!
m.b. Soles 