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This is a tough trio indeed. While the lack of Jabbar name on the last 'The Unforeseen' project left us confused but impressed at the sheer quality of the leather on those Non-Dyed numbers, that standard seems to leach into these three offbeat makeups too. The Campus, Spezial and Gazelle are sacred cows, and while we still don't understand what 'The Unforeseen' project is, we've started to associate it with colourways that bring to mind the best of the early Consortium rollout - the ones without the themed bells and whistles that just looked mean. A glowing upper, soft fabrics and roughneck ripstop all works well here - you don't want to piss off the Originals faithful - especially when adidas is on something of a roll when it comes to retro pieces, and these get the job done.

The Campus 80s is one of the best reintroductions of recent years - we're all disciples of the shoe here, and these are on some supernatural flex, visible in the dark - looking like a very different, and equally appealing colourway by night and just being pleasantly off-white and phantom-like by day, The Scotchlite stripes and heeltab seal the deal. Fortunately, the spooky treatment gives way to a white leather lining for a more premium finish. This could have gone wrong, and turned our favourite adidas silhouette into a gimmicky mess, but the end result is surprisingly clean. David Prowse, in full Green Cross Code mode would approve of this one - now that really would have been a crazy signature project.

Spezials are getting a good archive treatment too at present - for a second we thought adidas had paid tribute to oddball 'Masters of the Universe' character Moss Man, down to the pine fragrance. They hadn't, but these are still, despite the wool-effect feel, a very muted looking execution that sits in line with the model's heritage. Green with brown leather stripes and heeltab? That's some grown man colours. The brown sole unit fits in well too (as homaged on the Busenitz pro-model), and these are extremely strong. As old traditionalists who cower from overt wackiness on tried-and-tested pieces, these aren't as daft in the flesh as they might sound. Those archives are chock full of gloriously bizarre French, West German and Yugoslavian made pieces - these evoke those creations. Sort of.

The most conservative of these colourways is the Gazelle OGs. If in doubt, stick some tough nylon on that upper. The mix of navy and lurid but low key infrared detailing is effective. Suede heel and stripes, plus a gum midsole and off-white outsole looks great. While Consortium's '07 conceptual blitz was a little overwhelming, the line definitely seems to have found its mojo again lately without the need for an excess of name retail partnerships. These, and the 10.Deep dual-label Stan Smith Mid are on sale in the Crooked Tongues Store and other Consortium partner spots from this Saturday, the 10th of April. Consortium definitely got consistent in 2010...