Most of the time, people with the cultural reach of NIGO have spent a lot of their lives in the public spotlight. Somehow, NIGO has managed to rack up one of the most impressive creative CVs in modern history while remaining mostly a mystery. The launch of A Bathing Ape in 1993 marked the beginning of an iconic journey into fashion, music, and art for NIGO. Since then, he's been the DJ for Japanese group Terriyaki Boyz, collaborated extensively with the likes of Pharrell and Kanye, and, more recently, launched his second label named Human Made.
At the beginning of August, Human Made collaborated with adidas Originals to give three of the brand’s most-loved silhouettes — the Stan Smith, Campus, and Rivalry Low — a colorful update. With fall around the corner, we thought it was high time to round up our favorite pieces from the collaboration to give your footwear rotation a splash of color to bring some brightness to the season.
Browse our favorite Human Made x adidas Originals sneakers below.
Human Made x adidas Originals Stan Smith
The adidas Stan Smith was originally released in the early 1960s as the first adidas tennis shoe. It was only in the 1970s that the shoe began to carry the name of American tennis player Stan Smith. Apart from technical developments, the Stan Smith has barely changed since its inception, the most significant change coming in 1967 when the unmistakable green heel tab was added to the plain white design.
Human Made redesigned three iterations of the Stan Smith. One retains the iconic green tabs while the other two keep the design simple with pared-back color palettes. The only addition is a red leather heart to the lateral side of the silhouette.
Human Made x adidas Originals Superstar
First released in 1969, the adidas Originals Superstar is arguably the brand's best-known sneaker and certainly up there with history's all-time classics. The shell-toe construction of the Superstar has never really been recreated and stands as a defining feature of the signature shoe. Popularized by legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Run DMC, the adidas Superstar is woven deep into the fabric of modern sneaker culture.
You can sense NIGO's reverence of the Superstar in how little changed for the Human Made take, and that's what we loved so much about this part of the collaboration. Offering two styles in classic white and black outfits, the only changes come in the form of text to the three-stripe motif and a Human Made heart to the heel tab.
Human Made x adidas Originals Campus
Beginning life in the '70s as a low-top basketball shoe, the adidas Campus was originally known as the adidas Tournament. It was only in 1980 that the understated silhouette was renamed the adidas Campus. The style transitioned from basketball to skateboarding naturally but production was stopped in 1987. Luckily, the Campus made a return in the mid-1990s and has been a central part of the adidas Originals collection ever since.
Since this silhouette isn't as heavily associated with a single colorway as the Stan Smith or Superstar, Human Made took a stronger stance on the update. Releasing in subtle grey, signature adidas green, or a calm, pastel blue, these collaborations prove the versatility of the underrated Campus.
Human Made x adidas Originals Rivalry
When Nike had Michael Jordan, adidas had Patrick Ewing and his shoe of choice for a long time was the adidas Rivalry Trainer. Introduced in 1986, just a year after the Jordan 1 — coincidence? — the Rivalry High came in blue, white, and orange in honor of Ewing's New York Knicks. Like most adidas sneakers, the Rivalry was so attractively designed that it soon made the seamless switch to a lifestyle trainer.
Noticeably more bright than any of the other reworkings, the Human Made x adidas Originals Rivalry came in three multi-colored looks. But these aren't colors for the sake of colors, each colorway is carefully curated, and we loved the cream, pink, and brown iteration from the moment it dropped.
