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Adidas Just Gave Its Legendary Lifestyle Sneaker a Retro Refresh for the Ages

These days, the Samba serves as a legendary lifestyle sneaker. But it wasn’t always that way.

Adidas Samba JP sneakersAdidas

By Jack Seemer

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The Samba is one of the hottest everyday sneakers in the world but it wasn’t always that way. Adidas’s perennial stalwart goes back to over 75 years, when it began its journey as an outdoor soccer shoe designs to tackle hard, icy pitches.

Since then, the Samba has ebbed and flowed with the times. Adidas has given the Samba more than one full-on redesigns, with the design we know today only arriving in the early ’70s.

The latest evolution stays true to that reimagined form. However, it retools some of the Samba’s various components to take it back to its early days as shoe born from the world’s most popular sport.

Adidas Samba JP sneakers
The Adidas Samba JP, available now, trades the OG’s suede overlays for stitching borrowed from the brand’s retro soccer cleats.
Adidas

Pitch perfect

From afar, the Samba JP may look like your typical Samba: it has a simple leather upper, three contrasting stripes, and a flat rubber sole that even features Adidas’s signature 3-zone profile design underfoot.

Adidas Samba JP sneakers
Don’t trust the gold foil branding. This is not your typical Samba.
Adidas
Adidas Samba JP sneakers
Underfoot, the Samba JP keeps the 3-zone profile outsole intact.
Adidas

But a closer look reveals a pair of retro updates that give the shoe some retro curb appeal.

For starters, gone is the Samba OG’s typical suede paneling near the toebox. Here, Adidas replaced it with reinforced stitching akin to the brand’s Copa Mundial soccer cleats first released in the 1970s.

Though practical in nature — they improve grip and ball control, with the added benefit of increased durability during play — the quilt-like pattern gives the Samba JP an aesthetic point of difference, namely by repurposing a decades-old motif from Adidas’s performance line.

Adidas soccer cleats
The reinforced toebox on the Copa Mundial (pictured) enhances grip and ball control.
Adidas
Adidas Samba JP sneakers
With the Samba JP (pictured), the stitching repurposes the decades-old motif as a visual element.
Adidas

While most Samba variants today (including the Samba OG) feature a shortened tongue, a trait no doubt optimized for daily wear, the Samba JP adopts the longer tongue of the indoor-soccer version.

Historically, the feature is one used to cover either the laces or ankle, giving the wearer a cleaner strike zone. Even if the Samba JP never makes it onto turf or grass, though, the longer tongue still serves a purpose: a platform to showcase the brand’s iconic trefoil logo from yesteryear.

Adidas Samba JP sneakers
The longer tongue on the Samba JP serves as a platform from the iconic trefoil logo, replaced in the 1990s but still utilized across Adidas’s Original line.
Adidas

Availability and pricing

The Samba JP is available now from the official Adidas website. It costs $100 and comes in two colorways: gray and white.

The former has black and blue accents, while the latter turns to green and black. The soles are colored carbon gray on both models.

About the Author:

Jack Seemer is the executive editor at Gear Patrol, with over a decade of experience in product journalism. He currently reports on a wide range of topics, including footwear, watches, EDC, cookware and more.

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