The Adidas classic Samba, first introduced in the ’50s, now comes atop rather ’60s platform soles for girls who need a little help with height

By Shu Xie

I almost could not recognise this shoe until I saw the familiar gold emboss. Could this really be the Samba, a shoe my brothers used to love and I not, but for nostalgic reasons now found myself liking it? This was a football kick for off-the-field, but now it looks like the Samba was, gasp, forced into marriage with creepers!

That the Samba is re-introduced now—during the World Cup season—is understandable, but the new version for women, called Samba Rose, comes with a football-unfriendly mid-sole the height of a stack of toasts. If you want to remember the shoe as it was, you’d have to look at it from the top. From the sides, and I risk repeating myself, the upper seems to be going through the princess and the pea test.

Strangely, the Samba of 2018 has a for-men companion that looks like the shoe, as recognisable as another Adidas classic, the Stan Smith. Why the Samba Rose needs the extra height is anyone’s guess. Mine goes something like this: in the world of declining heel sales, women are eager to adopt sneakers as their shoe of choice, but are not quite yet willing to give up walking with some elevation, especially in a dress.

Adidas to the rescue. Will it be Stan Smith Rose next?

Adidas Samba Rose, SGD170, is available at Adidas Originals stores island wide. Photo: Adidas