All black classics.

Ok I’m gonna try and keep with the tennis theme until Wimbledon is over in a few days. Here we have the Stan Smith II all black everything. The Stan Smith shoe was originally the Adidas Robert Haillet after the French tennis player but when Haillet retired in the late 1960’s the Adidas camp needed another player to endorse the shoe and Stan Smith was that player. Adidas put Stan’s now classic portrait on the tongue but Haillet’s name remained with it until 1978 when the shoe officially became the Stan Smith, portrait name and everything, the whole nine.

Now the Adidas Stan Smith is without a doubt a huge part of sneaker history and Stan Smith’s endorsement deal with Adidas one of the most famous sneaker deals ever. And this shoe moved numbers, serious numbers and by 1988 had sold a staggering 22 million pairs – DAMN – and made it into the Guinness book of records for the sheer  numbers sold.

At the turn of the Millenium the Stan Smith II was born but little had changed on the shoe bar the tongue. These ones above I bought in France when I was living there and at a time when every lascar in Paris or Marseille had a pair on with a Lacoste tracksuit and cap. As you can see I loved these from the way they are beaten to death but luckily from way back when I was living out there I got another pair to put on ice.

This shoe is one of the all time great tennis shoes and a street classic.

Pair 18 of 365, Adidas Stan Smith II Black