There’s a New “It” Sneaker and It’s Not the Adidas Samba

It may be hot out there but Samba Summer is officially over. A new Lyst Index just broke cover and the iconic indoor soccer shoe — which topped the charts in 2022 and steamrolled through 2023 — is nowhere to be found.

Surely, Rishi Sunak must assume some responsibility. Britain’s former Prime Minister wore the Sambas in a recent interview, inspiring British GQ‘s Senior Style Editor to claim that “Sunak took an eternally cool sneaker, and ruined it for everyone.” But all trends must pass.

A collab takes the cake

Instead, a pair of other sneakers took the Samba’s place, clocking in at No. 1 and 2 on the most recent Lyst Index.

To determine the quarterly list of the hottest brands and products, Lyst “filters more than eight million items by volume of social media mentions alongside searches, page views, interactions and sales in the Lyst app,” it says.

First up is the Cloudtilt 2.0, a collab between On and Spanish fashion label Loewe that retails for $550. Despite its high price tag, the shoe is effectively sold out online except for the odd size in one of eight colorways.

On

On Cloudtilt Loewe 2

• $550 at On

Both On and Loewe are having their own moments: Loewe is the single hottest brand on the Lyst Index, while On is the fastest rising company outside the Top 20.

Online searches for On jumped 308 percent following the release of the Cloudtilt 2.0, according to the report, while the company’s new partnership with Zendaya helped to keep engagement high.

Ahead of the Olympics, On also released a new flagship running shoe, as well as a variant with an innovative spray-on upper. Hellen Obiri wore the latter when she won the Boston Marathon for the second year in a row.

On

Adidas still makes the podium

It’s not all bad news for Adidas. One of the company’s other sneakers didn’t just break the top 10 hottest products but made the podium at No. 2.

That shoe is the SL 72, a lightweight running shoe that first debuted ahead of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and later made its way onto the feet of Bob Marley. It was one of the first silhouettes to carry Adidas’s old Trefoil logo.

Adidas

The SL 72 has been the subject of a slow and steady glow-up, thanks to models like Emily Ratajkowski and collaborations with the designer Grace Wales Bonner.

Though the OG variant of the shoe only comes in women’s sizing, Adidas makes the SL 72 RS for men. It features a slightly wider toebox, as well as an EVA midsole. The SL 72 RS is readily available in a handful of colorways on Adidas’s website.

Adidas

Adidas SL 72 RS

• $100 at Adidas

Follow this link to browse the rest of the Lyst Index, which also includes a knit Casablanca shirt worn by Justin Bieber and Lewis Hamilton.

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