Fashion’s favourite Three Stripes collaboration is back.
Embarking on a creative partnership with adidas in 2020, London label Wales Bonner has worked with adidas to update the sportswear brand’s archival styles with her astute, culturally informed lens. Bonner’s regular collaborative takes on the Samba have led to a surge in demand for the heritage style in recent years.
Born and raised in South London, Jamaican-British designer Grace Wales Bonner channels her upbringing, between Dulwich and Brixton, with regular trips to Jamaica, into her nostalgia-driven collections. This influence has extended into Bonner’s adidas collaboration, serving as a medium to explore the style tropes of the British-African diaspora of the 1970s and ‘80s.
In previous collections, Bonner has delved into the adidas archives to fuse the past and present to inform her clothing designs, including tailored tracksuits that bring her distinct approach to menswear into the co-branded offerings.
As the hype surrounding Wales Bonner and adidas was cemented by high resale prices on the secondary market, leaked images on social media gave fans a first glimpse of a sixth collaboration. Featuring two standout Sambas alongside the SL72 runner, rumours began circulating as fashion editors desperately tried to confirm a release date. The stars of the show are a pair of It-girl-approved Sambas in a standout silver colourway with a more muted Ecrtin Brown offering available for pared-back styling.
Bonner’s chromatic take on the football silhouette was first teased during the designer’s Fall Winter 2023 show, where the Samba was worn alongside classic menswear pieces. As part of her formal Paris Fashion Week debut earlier this year, the designer invited us to take part in her world-building experience, where sportswear is held in as high regard as boundary-pushing mens and womenswear.
Bonner continues to weave narratives into her designs, theoretically and physically with her latest Samba being no exception. Lace detailing forms Three Stripes branding, whilst a collaborative logo adorns a football tongue reflective of the shoe’s sporting roots.
Following the end of the Yeezy line in 2022, adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden confirmed the brand would look to its archives to move forward. According to Business Insider, fans should “look for the Samba, look for the Gazelle, and ironically, also the Spezial”. With successful Wales Bonner collaborations featuring heritage silhouettes, it appears the European sportswear brand is seeking more of the same for future partnerships.
Wales Bonner’s influence on sneakers is profound, encouraging the fashion crowd to hang up their uncomfortable shoes in exchange for a function-first sneaker and spearheading a retro Three Stripes revival. With another summer of Sambas ahead, Bonner’s sixth collection with adidas could not be released at a better time.
Wales Bonner and adidas’ sixth collaboration is set to drop on 9 June.