adidas and Rick Owens Announce Sneaker Collaboration

“I work out like a fiend but I hate, hate, hate cardio. I realized I’m in my fifties now and I need to do something for my heart and lungs. So, I’ve got to start running.” Speaking with WWD over the phone from a a beach in Venice Lido, Rick Owens recently opened up about a forthcoming running footwear line that the celebrated designer is working on with adidas and its Sports Style division. Perhaps the best place from which to design a large scale project such as this, Owens who typically designs bulkier and much more avant-garde footwear options for his namesake line hit an internal revelation questioning himself, “‘What shoes am I going to wear running?’ I can’t wear my big chunky basketball shoes — I’d look like a dinosaur running through the Tuileries.”

adidas — a label that has often professed a penchant for collaborating with high-fashion designers such as Jeremy Scott and Raf Simons — tapped Owens to curate a range of six styles of running shoes for men and four for women all built off a single silhouette. The shoes will subsist in a relatively stark contrast to Owens typical footwear designs with a much heavier focus being placed on the technical running aspect of the shoes as opposed to Owens’ customary fashion-centric approach. While imagery will not be unveiled until the Rick Owens spring show in Paris on June 27, WWD is reporting an expected retail tag of anywhere from $400 USD to $500 USD with the collection being offered as a single, standalone season.