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HELLO, HOW ARE YOU? - 14/12/21
With the end of the year fast approaching, and as if by chance, wearing Patricia shoes, I had to tell you that this collection, which you've been raving about, is the best I've ever created.
I wanted to set the record straight so that you can treat yourself to a nice pair in case Father Christmas has eaten too much kebab before his round of chimneys.
So what happened on December 14th, apart from the cold and the snow? Well, in 1946 Stan Smith was born. And what did Stan Smith do before he became a pair of shoes? Well, he was a great tennis player in the 70s, he's listed in a ranking of the 40 best players of all time and apparently he was very nice, courteous, etc.... That's why Adidas approached the champion, fresh from a US Open title, because the company wanted to invade American territory.
The gentleman champion was too good an opportunity and the two parties came to an agreement. The tennis shoe was renamed Adidas Stan Smith in 1978. The tennis shoe was originally named after another tennis player, a Frenchman by the name of Robert Haillet, who innovated by proposing a leather tennis shoe with three rows of ventilation points instead of the three stripes of the famous brand.
After that, the story goes, there were Stan Smiths on every shop shelf, in every video clip, in every film, on every foot. It was as if this was the only model left. The coup de grâce came in 2011 when Adidas decided to stop manufacturing and selling their flagship model because, according to them, it was only being sold in France.
A popular movement took hold, the internet rumbled, and after a 3-year absence the Stan Smith made a triumphant return, taking between €10 and €20 of inflation out of our wallets in the process.
If I'm telling you about the Stan Smith it's not to confuse the issue, because clearly, despite having sold over 70 million units, the Stan Smith will never surpass a pair of Patricia's, and we'll never rename one of our models after someone famous unless that person begs us to, or unless that person is Drew Barrymore. On that note, I love you all very much.
It's the stuff of sweet dreams:
