The Adidas Trainers That Might Just Outsell Sambas In 2024

“I issue a fulsome apology to the Samba community,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, after his decision to wear the trainers with a suit during an interview in Downing Street sparked a tidal wave of comment pieces and social media commentary. Some declared this the death knell of the cult shoe, while others stood up in defence of the Samba. “I think Sambas are a classic,” British Vogue’s Chioma Nnadi said to BBC Woman’s Hour on the matter. “I don’t subscribe to a trend living and dying.”

Whether you are personally experiencing Samba fatigue or not, there is no denying that the shoe remains one of Adidas’s best-sellers, and after seven decades of cultural relevance, this is unlikely to change any time soon. “Adidas remains a global powerhouse on StockX, and is currently ranked as the third most traded sneaker brand on the platform,” Drew Haines, director of merchandising at the online marketplace StockX, tells Vogue. “In 2023, we saw a 51 per cent increase in trades year-on-year, which is a testament to the brand’s growing relevance.” He notes that the three current standout silhouettes on the platform, the Samba, Campus 00s and Handball Spezial, all pay homage to retro, heritage designs: “There’s a notable sleek shape and soccer influence behind both the Spezials and the Sambas, while the Campus 00s embodies an early 2000s oversized vibe.”

Strategic brand partnerships have been key to Adidas’s recent domination, with capsules from Gucci, Khaite and Wales Bonner all playing a significant role in building hype for forgotten silhouettes. “Last year, Adidas partnered with Wales Bonner to produce the now iconic pony hair iteration of the Samba, and since its release, the sneaker has had an average price premium of 547 per cent and nearly 3,000 trades on StockX,” explains Haines. Over the past four years the demand for Wales Bonner’s Adidas trainers hasn’t wavered, with limited production and distinctive designs turning these into a street-style mainstay. Chioma Nnadi wore the cult silver Sambas from the latest collaboration throughout her first fashion month as British Vogue’s head of editorial content.

Grace Wales Bonner has a strong track record of reigniting our love of archive Adidas styles, from Sambas to the Gazelle. Her collections are, therefore, a strong indication of which archival sneakers are poised to compete with the Samba. Although there is no confirmed date for her upcoming collections, we do know that spring/summer 2024 includes a replica of the Adidas Neftegna, worn by Haile Gebrselassie when he won the Berlin Marathon in 2008, and autumn/winter 2024 will introduce a croc-embossed pair of Superstars.

An Edited data report entitled “what will be the next Samba?” notes that the Spezial is the best-performing style in 2024 so far, with full sellouts tracking at 30 per cent. It specifies that the bright colourways, such as reds, greens and blues, are the most in-demand with 75 per cent sellouts. In 2023 football silhouettes dominated, however Haines reveals that there has been a 35 per cent year-over-year increase in trades on tennis shoes, and he believes the release of Challengers and the subsequent chatter around Tenniscore will see a renewed interest in Stan Smiths.

Keep reading for your guide to the Adidas trainers that might potentially outsell Sambas in 2024 and beyond.

Adidas SL72s

There has been a lot of talk about SL72s dethroning Sambas, as this is one of the latest archive styles to receive design (and marketing) attention from team Adidas. This running shoe launched in 1972 for the Olympics and in 2024 has been sported by a number of It-girls – the brown iteration Bella Hadid wore in February sold out within two weeks of it launching on the US site. For those curious about the name, SL is an acronym for “super light”, in a nod to the weightless construction. Wales Bonner included this silhouette in her first collection for Adidas in 2020, which explored how British-Jamaicans wore sportswear in the ’70s and ’80s. Her reworked SL72s used a colour palette directly inspired by Bob Marley’s style archive, as he used to wear these sneakers in the ’70s.

Adidas Samba

The Samba was initially designed by the founder Adi Dassler to give footballers a grip for training on icy, frozen pitches and it was named the Samba to be aligned with the 1950 World Cup, which was hosted in Brazil. In the ’70s the runner became an emblem of football terrace culture and two decades later the Gallagher brothers made them part of the Britpop look. While they remain a popular football shoe, the Samba has found even more popularity off the pitch thanks to endorsement from every It-girl we can think of, including Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Kaia Gerber.

Despite all the chatter about Sambas fatigue, they remain a best-seller, as according to the Edited report the average sell out rate in Q1 2024 was +420 per cent versus Q1 in 2013. However there has been a huge increase in colourways and quantities of Sambas, which is thought to be slowing down the sell out rates – this year 36 per cent of styles have a majority sell out compared to 53 per cent in March last year.

Adidas Gazelle

The Gazelle, which was first released in 1966 and has a simple, plimsole-like shape, was re-released in 2016 following the huge success of the Stan Smith. The Gazelle has a storied history with many different style movements and cultures and has been a symbol of grunge, reggae, hip hop and Britpop. They are also closely aligned with ’90s minimalism – Gazelles were Kate Moss’s go-to shoe in her Corinne Day-era, and Gwyneth Paltrow even wore them with a black vest to the 1997 premiere of Boogie Nights. Adidas capitalised on the growing nostalgia for the ’90s with the re-release of the Gazelle – instead of a new campaign image, it chose a picture of a young Kate from 1993 sat cross-legged in burgundy suede pumps. They are the perfect accompaniment to your clean-line tailoring and straight-leg jeans.

Adidas Handball Spezial

The Handball Spezials are shaping up to be the cult shoe of 2024, with endorsement from the likes of Bella Hadid and Dakota Johnson. They were first launched in 1979 as a functional shoe for handball players with a flat sole and simple silhouette, which makes them have a similar aesthetic to the Gazelles. According to Edited, bright blues, greens and reds are the current best-sellers, however we also love the ’70s colour combinations that the Adidas design team is currently favouring, with a focus on mustard yellow, browns and indigo blue.

Adidas Country OG

The Country OG is a style which has been steadily on the rise – although there aren’t currently many recent street-style or celebrity images, believe us that this won’t be the case for long. According to the Edited report, the brand has launched four new colourways within the last month following the success of three metallic styles, which were released at the end of 2023 and sold out quickly. The silver and green iteration was the only trainer to make it onto Lyst’s hottest products list for Q4 2023, coming in the fourth position. Inspired by running styles from the ’70s, it has a retro, collegiate aesthetic that makes it feel particularly relevant in a time when we are revisiting all things preppy.

Adidas Campus 00s

Campus 00s are one of the three stand-out silhouettes being traded on StockX this year, with demand being driven by TikTok where the term “Adidas Campus 00s” has a staggering 149.2 million posts. In 2022 Adidas revisited the Campus 80s, that were popular with skateboarders in the early ’00s, to capitalise on the wider Y2K boom. The chunky, wide silhouette gives these a very different look to other current trending styles, like the Sambas and Gazelles.