THE JOURNAL
Lovers of colourful retro kicks are in luck this October as adidas returns to its long-running City Series with the reissue of one of its most sought-after models – the Triest. Named after the northern Italian city of Trieste, the brown-on-beige colourway makes for one of the more understated entries in the City Series, but look a little closer and you’ll spot a couple of clever design details that pay tribute to the 1978 original.
First is the colour of the Triest logo, a copper-oxide green that echoes vintage models, whose metallic stamped lettering had a habit of developing a patina over time – a detail that’s highly prized by collectors. Next is the upper, a recreation of Cangoran, a synthetic alternative to kangaroo leather that was used in the West-German factory that produced the original.
Subtle details like these have long defined the City Series, whose sneakers share a similar, low-profile silhouette but set themselves apart largely through colour and material choice. Enthusiasts have been known to fuss over tiny variations in vintage models – a new sole unit, toe cap, or upper finish – that might reflect a change in manufacturing location.
But if the infinitely complex and highly collectible nature of adidas’ City Series set the mould for today’s hype-driven sneaker market, it’s not the only reason why this ongoing collection remains relevant some 63 years after it first arrived on the scene.
A sprawling family of shoes named after and inspired by cities around the world, the City Series started in 1959 with the Rom, a blue-and-white sneaker released ahead of the 1960 Olympic Games in Italy, and has been on a whiste-stop tour of the world ever since. Along with the great European capitals of Vienna, London, Paris, Dublin and many more, it has alighted at lesser-known locations, such as Tobacco Caye, a tiny island in Belize, which gave its name to the Tobacco model.
Each new shoe came with its own livery, from the waspy yellow on black of Oslo to the caramel and chocolate tones of Amsterdam or the green and gold of Liverpool. Not only did these colour combinations help the City Series establish a local fanbase in each location it visited, but it also made for an incredibly vibrant range of shoes when taken as a whole.
These are sneakers that encourage you to dress from the ground up and reward a bold attitude to personal style. This is especially true of the brighter and more vibrant entries in the City Series – hello, Stockholm – but also applies to low-key colourways such as the Triest, too, whose brown leather details and beige uppers work well in combination with other muted, autumnal tones.
Grab a pair while you still can – and we’ll see you on the next leg of the City Series world tour.