JW ANDERSON Just Turned Diadora's 1975 Runner Into Your Next Obsession

Italian sportswear has quietly become one of fashion’s most enduring reference points. Long before luxury labels started mining the aesthetics of terraces, tracksuits and archival runners, brands like Diadora were already shaping the visual language of sport through performance design and technical craftsmanship. Now, that history is being pulled back into focus through a new collaboration with JW ANDERSON, marking the label’s first-ever project with the heritage footwear company.

At the center of the release is the Equipe trainer, a silhouette originally introduced by Diadora in 1975 for elite runners. While plenty of archival sneakers get revived today, the Equipe carries a different kind of weight because it comes from a pre-sneaker-boom era when performance footwear was still deeply tied to athletics rather than lifestyle. Jonathan Anderson taps directly into that lineage, keeping the shoe’s lean runner profile intact while pushing it into a more fashion-forward space through saturated color treatments and elevated detailing.

The timing also makes sense culturally. Slim runners, technical nylon and understated athletic silhouettes are increasingly replacing oversized statement sneakers. The shoe features a streamlined build with a swallowtail toe, heel-wrapping outsole and subtle branded hardware, balancing performance history with and understated design language.

The collaboration was first previewed in JW ANDERSON’s AW26 lookbook, and our Hypebeast exclusive features unreleased campaign imagery starring actor Conor Sánchez, photographed by Sammy Khoury. Available in four colorways — Green Night, Navy Peony, Empire Red and Princess Blue — the project also highlights the craftsmanship coming out of Montebelluna, Italy, a region long considered one of the spiritual homes of technical footwear production.

The limited-edition release arrives May 15 through select JW ANDERSON stores, Nordstrom and both jwanderson.com and diadora.com.