crooked tongues magazine News Features

The adidas 1609er isn't a new shoe, even if the name says otherwise. The adidas 1609er is actually a retro of the adidas Miler. Unlike the Nike MS78 showcased here the other day, it isn't some hybrid of adidas running classicism, and seeing as the adidas TRX (were they McVicar's "Alright, who's got me trainers?" model?) has been doing swift business in the Crooked Tongues store lately, it figured that the archives would get raided a little more for mesh and suede runners with a certain sleekness that doesn't degenerate into some contrived Euro-slimline unpleasantries. This is stealthy footwear that performed back in the day. Experiments in stripped-down athletic performance have been the shoes that have aged with the greatest dignity as far as we're concerned. That quest continues across all brands, and these encapsulate an aesthetic that's distinctly local, and one that can have our American brethren scratching their heads. We like it that way. Some of the moonboots we've seen folk queuing for across the Atlantic have left us similarly baffled.

Why the late '70s Miler had to have a name change is a mystery - presumably someone nabbed it and trademarked it, but rather than rebrand it something dumb, they picked the amount of metres in a mile. It's a good replacement. The braniacs at Wikipedia actually make it a less snappy 1609.344 miles, but the adidas 1609.344er doesn't reel off the tongue with the same ease. We had enough trouble when we kept asking if someone could pass the adidas 69er sample. We've never been massively familiar with the Miler so it was never as tough a call as the Grand Slam/G.S. alteration. This white makeup here's good, but the Dublin-style blue and orange is a killer. These are set to drop in July in the Crooked store alongside our current roster of strong adidas releases across Originals, Performance, Consortium and ObyO, all available here.