Indoor soccer shoes being worn as “trendy” sneakers was not on my 2023 fashion bingo card. In the last month, I have noticed the odd trend of women wearing adidas Sambas for fashion in nice outfits. And naturally, as a former soccer girly growing up, I am just shocked by this. First off, why? What makes this shoe any more attractive than a typical sneaker? Secondly, they really are not comfortable – they are a very flat sneaker made for playing soccer indoors. And third, like just literally why, they are specifically designed for indoor soccer players.
Intrigued by this trend, I went to the adidas website. The last pair of Sambas I owned was a classic black pair for playing soccer inside during the winter of my middle school soccer seasons. The adidas website describes their shoe in this way:
“After adidas’ Samba shoes made their name in sports they went on to find a place among the fashion-forward in numerous subcultures. These updated shoes take minimalist design cues from the classic silhouette and push even further with subtle accents and barely-there 3-Stripes. Lace-up and let history repeat itself looking as fresh as ever.”
Vogue even published an article on the trend in October, showing a picture of Hailey Bieber rocking red Adidas Sambas. Is Hailey Bieber alone to blame for this trend? I mean, her “latte makeup” last fall had nearly everyone on TikTok in a chokehold. Is it sustainable for young women to keep adopting microtrends perpetuated by social media through influencers and celebrities?
With the rise of athleisure fashion, was this a natural shift in customer focus for the brand? Grassroot trends like this seem almost too good to be true, since I doubt adidas ever dreamed of the fashion cultural dominance their shoe has grown into. Do Sambas have a place to stay in minimalist fashion? Or will this trend stay in 2023 and not follow us into the New Year? For me, it’s a no. What do you think?