You don't have to be a sneakerhead to appreciate the adidas Stan Smith. In recent years, the silhouette has been embraced by everyone from high-end fashion houses and designers to chart-topping rappers, and now one of the key players in the sneaker's resurgence is explaining how it happened.
Jon Wexler, adidas Global Director of Entertainment and Influencer Marketing, recently spoke at Shopify's Open panel in Portland to break down the challenges that come along with relaunching an icon.
According to Wexler, the process started more than three years ago by removing the Stan Smith from the market altogether — no special colorways, no collaborations, nothing. From there, adidas laced Céline creative director Phoebe Philo in a pair for Paris Fashion Week in 2010, which Wexler says did wonders to heighten the sneaker's appeal amongst females.
Months later, adidas made personalized pairs of Stan Smiths with tongue logos depicting celebrities like A$AP Rocky and Jeremy Scott, which were only gifted to the celebs themselves. With interest beginning to peak, the usual seeding started to take place, as more and more influencers started popping up with the sneakers.
Before long, the Stan Smith was the sneaker to have in your rotation, and thanks to ongoing collaborations with the likes of Raf Simons, it's still very much relevant today. Hit play on the clip above for the full rundown from Wexler himself.
