Trends are funny things, aren’t they? If you’d shown me an image of adidas’ Predator Mundial sneaker even four years ago, I’d have laughed in your face. Because back then nobody in their right mind would’ve wanted to wear an everyday version of an on-pitch boot.
These days, though, thanks to a little thing I call the Wales Bonner Effect, cleat-like shoes, some with flappy fold-over tongues, are very much a thing, to a point where they’re almost unavoidable (in East London anyway).
adidas’ Predator Mundial sneaker is a fusion of two famed on-pitch boots: the Copa Mundial, which bears the same leather upper and stitching, and the Predator Boot, which has identical and slightly warped three stripes.
This adidas Predator Mundial, designed especially for Japanese retailer Atmos (and releasing on April 27), also features a sky blue color scheme that is inspired by adidas’ 1980s archives.
Earlier this year, adidas also released a Samba-like take on its Predator as a part of the boot’s thirtieth anniversary celebrations.
Bearing the same gum midsole and the same T-toe design as the Samba, the Predator version, has since become the unofficial uniform for almost everyone I walk past in East London of late, such is its popularity.
But adidas’ Predator Mundial sneakers are, for now, a Japan-only release. Although with the Wales Bonner Effect still in full swing (and a summer of sport beckoning), I wouldn’t be surprised to see the shoe start making its way west some time in the near future.
