Saskia van Hofwegen and Dian Iskandar's Maha already came and conquered Vans with its wonderfully checkered take back in 2020. Now, the Amsterdam-based retailer is ready to take a spin at one of its current best-selling sneakers, the adidas Samba.
Maha has long stocked adidas' sneakers on its online and physical store shelves, but the brand designing its own adidas sneakers will mark the pair's first-ever collaboration.
For their debut link-up, Maha and adidas take on the Samba sneaker, adidas' ever-trendy shoe that's been worked on by buzzy brands like JJJJound and Wales Bonner (Maha now included).
Top-of-the-line leather meets sort of fuzzy suede moments on Maha's Samba sneaker, promising a charming aging journey as fans wear them over time. Maha's Sambas are then topped with flawless paint job consisting of jade green shades.
Some deliberately exposed stitching loops in and out around the heel tab. At the same time, the usual Samba branding gets debossed into the upper, while co-branding settles elsewhere subtly.
In contrast, the Maha x adidas Samoa — oh yeah, they're offering up a second sneaker — wears a smooth beige suede upper topped with jade green leather Three-Stripes. Like its companion, the Samba, the collaborative Samoa is complete with the exact contrast stitching on the heel.
Jade, a symbol of wisdom and strength in Asian culture, plays a significant role in Maha's collaboration with adidas. Each Maha x adidas sneaker — which drops at Maha on April 6 — is adorned with a tiny jade stone ring, a subtle nod to the Maha co-founder's Asian roots and a unique feature that sets these sneakers apart (the color palettes too).
"Jade has a guiding presence of prosperity and protection that weaves through our generations and those to come," reads Maha's press statement. "The Samba and Samoa are reimagined with a jade centerpiece to be loved by you and yours."
The relationship between sneaker stockists and sportswear brands goes way back, providing sneaker lovers with extra avenues to cop in-demand drops. Over the years, we've also seen retailers get into their design bag with pretty impressive sneaker collabs of their own, resulting in clever homage shoes by size? and DTLR's fiery New balances.
Maha's also part of the winning team of retailers with solid sneaker collabs, having previously dished out nice Vans and FILA shoes. But its gorgeous jade adidas sneakers might take the cake for Maha's best yet.
