The Adidas Adistar is a psyop

What the hell is an Adistar

I love talking about the sneakers I like or that I find interesting; what I don't usually do is talk about sneakers I don't like. Thankfully, Adidas and Pharrell (yes, that Pharrell) gave me a good opportunity to do so. The Adidas Adistar Virginia Jellyfish by Pharrell, a super hot release by the three-stripes brand in a collaboration with that guy that made that horrible and insufferable song back in 2014, had its drop this Saturday, February 21st, and of course it was a hit, why wouldn't it be? Well, because it's ugly, and to those Instagram accounts: not ugly-cool, just ugly.

The current trend in sneakers is what we usually call Y2K runners, or technical runners. Picture a pair of sneakers. These are exactly what you pictured. Adidas loves those with their Adistar and Megaride lines, New Balance essentially makes just that nowadays, the 9060 is the best example, and while Nike isn't that deep, the Vomero line exists and it's growing into the niche. While this Adistar in particular is the current villain of this blog post and a particularly egregious example, don't be mistaken: I dislike them all, some more than others, but it is all of them (Okay, I'm willing to give a pass to the Vomero Premium, but not that much).

Adistar is a huge line of chunky, exaggerated sneakers Adidas makes, it has a lot of models, but this one had the hands of Pharrell, portrayed as sneakers so fashionable they belong both on the runways and on the street. Ugly-cool is the term being thrown around, which is a choice of words, none of other classic sneakers are ugly-cool, they are just cool. For this ugly mess? 300 dollars. Limited drop on the Confirmed app. Boutiques here had lines and draws for this, it was a huge deal.

Why a psyop

I call this a psyop because it is, honestly, ugly, so ugly I cannot believe people genuinely like these, it's like the industry plant of sneaker culture. Maybe this is a regional thing, but here, runners are the default sneakers for most people, sure these have extra flare, but in general they are that straight-guy-going-to-the-gym core. I frankly struggle to believe people like these in a non-ironic way. Design is a delicate thing, you can't do too much nor too little, and these have shot so high into "too much" that my thoughts are how annoying it must be to clean these.

I can actually blame someone for this. Kanye West if you can believe it. The Yeezy line (with Adidas!) shot the "dad shoe" trend up in the skies, and well, they had his face, he was the designer (kind of). So they had this "cool ironic" vibe that was actually bad, but because everyone was doing it, people fell for it, and they continue to do so. Those sneakers have little to no personality, they usually look alike, and as you can see, they are insanely priced for what they are. They cost 100 dollars more than a pair of Air Jordan 11s! Though, points to Adidas, here they actually cost the same, so Nike is the pricey one.

But the similarities don't end there, as you know, Kanye had the biggest fallout ever, it killed Yeezy overnight, and Adidas has never really recovered from it, they are still struggling to find an identity when it comes to sneakers. So they do the same thing again and ask a celebrity with hands on fashion to make sneakers. Truth be told, Pharrell and Adidas were working together before the Yeezy disaster, but it is, roughly, the same idea.

This line of liking things ironically has reached full circle, no one really knows why they like the thing, they like because the marketing says it's cool, the sneaker magazines and accounts say it's cool, and the line on resale goes up. I am sure Adidas and Pharrell are very happy with this monstrosity.

Hype and the end of taste

Sneaker culture is, specially nowadays, all about hype. What makes a pair of sneakers good isn't the design, it isn't the technology, it isn't the history, it's how much hype the company behind it can create. Resale prices, draws and Instagram posts about how they are the coolest thing since sliced bread. It could be worth millions! This is, honestly, depressing and pathetic. How can you say you love a thing when you only care about what makes the headlines? We have lost our ways, the profits dictate everything, and the scene is dominated by speculators pretending this is crypto, something they "invest on", hoping that in the future can sell for a profit. I will, however, keep enjoying my hobby with my "flopped" sneakers, the ones I like, not the ones that necessarily sell for more. And if you ask me, they look much better.