If there's one thing that can single-handedly kill a genuinely stylish sneaker trend, it's a politician wearing them.
This is exactly what happened a little over a week ago, when Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, ruined the adidas Samba for everyone in existence.
It was always going to take something special/peculiar to end the adidas sneaker's reign, which was sat at the summit of popular lifestyle sneakers for the last couple of years.
While the Samba’s undoing was going to end sooner or later, such is merry-go-round way of footwear trends these days, I propose that no one expected that it would be at the hands (or feet) of a 43-year-old millionaire politician who doesn’t know how to use a contactless debit card.
But when Sunak posted a video of him wearing a clearly box-fresh pair of adidas Sambas during an interview about tax inside Downing Street last week (a real "How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?" moment), he unknowingly killed a seemingly unflappable sneaker, and ruined it for absolutely everyone.
In the days following said fatal post (and in the wake of a strong social media backlash from the Samba community), Sunak issued an apology on London radio station LBC, but not before also claiming that he’d been wearing Sambas “for many, many years.”
"I issue a fulsome apology to the Samba community," he said. "But, in my defense, I would say I have been wearing adidas trainers including Sambas - and others, in fact - for many, many years.
"The first pair my brother got for me many, many years ago - my first pair of fun adidas trainers as a Christmas present. I haven't looked back since. So I've been a longtime devotee."
While I’m not entirely sure what “fun adidas trainers” he’s referring to (those Kermit the Frog Stan Smiths, perhaps?), I’m sure I speak on behalf of the entire Samba community when I ask, no, I beg, Rishi Sunak to stop wearing Sambas. For everyone’s sake.
