adidas Consortium 3way Consortium Samba

The second wave of the adidas 3Way project sees some reliable collaborative types, based in the US and Canada (the country that seems to have stepped up music, design and style wise while the rest of the planet was resting on its laurels) playing with the five core 3-Striped, though in this pack, that iconic branding has been trimmed down, silhouettes utilised in the first drop in the shape of the Superstar, Samba, Stan Smith, Nizza Hi and Forum Mid. New York's DQM, San Francisco's Huf, LA's Undefeated and Toronto's (among other locations) Goodfoot worked collectively rather than four individual approaches and a single group shoe. The brainchildren of a weekend in Vegas, these makeups are, for the most part, the opposite of the Nevada-based totem to all things tasteless, all remarkably muted given the hard partying reputation of the designers. For the most part it's very minimal indeed.

The Samba has been shorn of its Stripes too - an all-black canvas one-piece upper with tonal stitching rather than panelling makes it even more slimline and, as is the done thing these days, sitting in line with Dave and Keith's love of pedal transport, bike-friendly. Like all Consortium releases, these are super-limited - don't sleep.