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Adidas’s Best-Selling Shoe Ever Just Got Really Cheap

No, it’s not the Samba.

adidas stan smith white sneakerAdidas

By Jack Seemer

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The Samba may be Adidas’s sneaker a la mode but it’s actually not the brand’s best-selling shoe. That honor famously falls to another model from the German sportswear giant’s back catalog: the Stan Smith, which is as popular as ever and just dropped to a low price of $75 ahead of Black Friday.

The first leather tennis shoe

Named after the former tennis star, the Stan Smith has something of a long and winding backstory, with countless riffs, collabs and even names to its pedigree.

The shape and style go back to the 1960s and marked not only Adidas’s first foray into tennis but the sport’s first leather shoe. Only it wasn’t called the Stan Smith but the Robert Haillet, taking after a prominent French player at the time.

adidas stan smith white sneaker
Though Stan Smith’s name has long adorned the style, this shoe used to be called the “Robert Haillet.”
Adidas

After Haillet retired, Adidas rebranded the shoe around the American player Stan Smith, who helped popularize it within the US. Within ten years, Adidas sold over 22 million pairs of the white and green sneaker. Today, the figure is likely closer to the 100 million.

Minimalist design

Though it’s been decades since the shoe has seen competitive game time at the top of tennis, it remains a perennial best-seller transcending both trends and demographics.

adidas stan smith white sneaker
Perforated dots replace the leather stripes found on many Adidas classics.
Adidas

Part of its appeal undoubtedly comes down to the Stan Smith’s overall simplicity: white-leather upper, perforated holes in lieu of overlays for Adidas’s signature stripes and a cheeky green heel tab for a subtle pop of color.

As such, the shoe retains a timeless quality about it, despite the ebbs and flows in fashion — and the fact it goes back nearly 60 years. It’s also versatile in the sense that it can dress up with a suit or down with a pair of chinos.

adidas stan smith white sneaker
Simple. Versatile. Timeless … despite its age.
Adidas

A rare sale

Unlike limited-edition one-offs that never make it past Adidas’s Confirmed app, the omnipresent Stan Smith is available at most major retailers with a sticker price of $100.

However, Adidas just slashed the price to $65 — a 35 percent discount — on its official website as part of its broader Black Friday promotions.

The only hurdle? You need to be an AdiClub member to unlock the deal. The good news is that becoming one takes seconds and is completely free.

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