First Look: Wales Bonner Meets adidas Y-3
Wales Bonner is the reigning queen of the flat adidas sneaker. Her Samba shoes are so vital that one could easily argue that that Wales Bonner collaboration was singlehandedly responsible for kicking off the modern sleek sneaker boom.
For Spring/Summer 2026, Wales Bonner has conceived perhaps her most streamlined adidas sneakers to date, at least in terms of breathability. Oh, and she's partnering with adidas Y-3 for a titanic collaboration that brings together two of adidas' most powerful players.
For what it's worth, Wales Bonner has never ceased innovating.
The restlessly canny British designer has dabbled in alternative shoe shapes aplenty, from a soft leather Superstar to her very own adidas silhouette called the "Karintha."
As such, little surprise that Wales Bonner has mostly ceased creating Samba sneakers, leaving adidas to fill the void.
Instead, Wales Bonner is cooking up remixing of her own suave adidas sneakers, again swapping out conventional materials — your dark suede, your muted leather — for more statement stuff.
On one hand, Wales Bonner has designed a new sneaker in a glossy patent-style leather with a fold-over tongue, looking as though her adidas Karintha has gone bowling, though it was worn with side-zip adidas track pants instead of those little bowling shorts.
And on the other, Wales Bonner has devised a brilliant sandal-style sneaker that eschews conventional uppers entirely in favor of a loose-woven design that allows the shoe to function more like a sandal, with some of the models' bare feet all but visible on the runway.
Also worth noting is that Wales Bonner's collection included a sumptuous leather bowling bag emblazoned with "Y-3 WB," the first sign of her debut adidas Y-3 collaboration, of which there is much more to come. It's not clear, though, whether the adidas sneakers seen on the runway are part of the Wales Bonner Y-3 line.
adidas, Yohji Yamamoto, and Wales Bonner? Now that's a team-up.
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