Iconic East Coast skate brand Metropolitan USA teamed up with Adidas Skateboarding to release a limited-edition Superstar 80s that celebrates the two brands’ mutual history. Few sneakers are as quintessential as the Adidas Superstar: conceived as a pro basketball shoe in 1969, the “clamtoe,” as it’s sometimes called, became a staple of streetwear in the course of the late 20thcentury. Quickly making the transfer from the court to the street, the Superstar was widely worn in the hip hop subculture during the 1980s, most notably by Run DMC. Some B-Boys would wear the shoe with extra fat laces, a style choice that has been considered illegal ever since emos copied it in the early 2000s. The Superstar’s longevity, of course, is usually attributed to its timeless design – no fat lace fad ever changed that. Metropolitan USA, while lesser-known on a global scale, is nonetheless paradigmatic for the distinct urban style that emerged from the East Coast in the 1990s. The skate label had an impressive team roster stuffed with street skating idols, including Gino Iannucci, Mike Hernandez, and Keith Hufnagel; in fact, Hufnagel revived the defunct brand in 2017. Of course, skateboarding has always overlapped with other subcultures; as a result, it’s no surprise that skateboarders from the East Coast, where hip hop was particularly influential, gravitated towards the Adidas Superstar. It makes sense, then, that the Adidas Skateboarding x Metropolitan USA Superstar 80s draws on the design that many Metropolitan pros skated back then: the limited-edition thus comes with a white, full-grain leather upper, faux snakeskin Adidas stripes and heeltap, and leather lining. Also, the gum sole and gum toe shell establish a nice contrast. You can buy the Adidas Skateboarding x Metropolitan USA Superstar 80s now at our web shop and our store in Frankfurt.
