The Next Generation of adidas Talent Wants To Put You On
So a couple of grillz-makers, a chef, and a Bronx-born musician walk into a bar. Sounds like the setup to a very specific joke, but that’s actually a perfect introduction to adidas’s 2026 NYC Creative Class, which recognizes six New York-based talents whose practices span fashion, food, music, art, and design.
The latest class includes Anysia Kym, the musician and producer experimenting with hip-hop and breakbeats; BITTER000000, a Brooklyn-based duo making intricate, unconventional grillz; Chef Stikxz, a Jamaican chef bringing his heritage to your dinner table; Secret Riso Club, an artist-run print studio in Brooklyn; textile artist Cyle Warner; and knitwear designer Gabe Gordon. If you don’t recognize these names, that’s the whole point.
There’s something very adidas about this particular group of artists, in that the company knows how to identify who’s about to blow up long before everyone else clocks their ascent. It’s a strategy reminiscent of the better XXL Freshman Class magazine covers. For example, the 2009 feature included Kid Cudi and Wale, who were already known and beloved in the blog-era rap scene that was not yet reflected in the mainstream. adidas’s Creative Class brings that spirit into the present, trading a single genre fixation for exploring an entire city’s underground.
Of course, adidas is a multibillion-dollar company, not a neighborhood arts nonprofit. But its Creative Class suggests that brand-building can be more than a product seeding exercise or celebrity endorsement. The initiative is designed as an ongoing exchange, with programming and community events at the brand’s 135 Spring Street flagship, including a Chef Stikxz cookout, a BITTER000000 grillz pop-up, and a Secret Riso Club holiday market. As if to say: This season, why not let adidas put you on to something new?
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