crooked tongues magazine News Features

This adidas Forum Mid is actually part of a trio, but it stands head and shoulders over its Samba and Nizza siblings. Why? because when it's at its best, adidas basketball is heavy on the flossiness quota. Who the hell could afford Forums to play basketball in on their introduction? The Toronto, Cityline and Instinct were crazy too. Snake effects have been rinsed of late by adidas Originals. What was once exciting had turned into 'Anaconda 3: Offspring' —heard of that sequel? No? Exactly. Reptile overkill. But years ago, the reptile effect on a pair of Concords was very powerful indeed. That shoe in the right scaly execution is a top five adidas shoe of all time, and just when those wildlife effects had us pretty much alienated, along comes this makeup. That texture fits into the dopeman appeal of costly shoes like this.

The Forum has always felt expensive—the heel counter, Dellinger webbing and Velcro had a top-of-the-line aesthetic. This just accentuates that. We liked the brace of Americanas back in 2006 on a similar tip, with one colourway sharing a few materials with this shoe, and the uniquely adidas shade of blue is the right choice to contrast with the white sole and 3-Stripes. If you're going to get experimental on the uppers of established favourites, you could do a lot worse than execute them in this fashion. Definitely one of the best Forums of the year (unless Winter's got some treats in the mix) and a good start to the year for fans of this model.