Denim Tears’ first outing with adidas is, fittingly, a walk down Canal Street. After weeks of speculation, Tremaine Emory’s imprint has officially unveiled its first collaboration with the Three Stripes, introducing a plaid-clad rework of two of its signature silhouettes: the Stan Smith and Superstar.

With a release date yet to come, an early look shared with Hypebeast reveals the pairs outfitted in a black, blue, red, and cream woven plaid, lifted from the “Ghana Must Go,” or Market, bag. Cream keeps things clean on the soles and the Superstar’s shell toe. A Sankofa symbol also graces both pairs, sitting beneath co-branded details on the tongue. And, as those familiar with Emory’s work will know, the surface aesthetics are just half the story.

Anyone who’s taken a trip to Denim Tears’ flagship, African Diaspora Goods, in the last few years may pick up the pattern from the in-store hangers and bags. But even before hitting SoHo’s luxury storefronts, flurries of plaid flank the exit of Canal Street Station, brimming with purses, garments, and tech gear sold on the street. “It’s a New York thing. It’s a New York-inspired brand,” Emory said on the project in an exclusive interview. “Of the many patterns we use and reference, I’ve never used that one in Denim Tears clothing before. When it came time to do my first [collaboration] with adidas Originals, I wanted to bring it into the shoes.”

“It’s a cultural motif of the diaspora. A lot of people don’t know how it blends African and Asian history, and how it ended up on Canal Street.”

From Virgil Abloh for Free the Youth x Off White™ and Sandy Liang x Baggu to your local cart-hauling grandma, the checkered carryall is a fashion favorite for all. “It’s a cultural motif of the diaspora,” one that’s used by many both within and beyond the Black community. Yet for a bag so widely loved across generations and continents, as Emory pointed, its complex origins are often overlooked. “A lot of people don’t know how it blends African and Asian history, and how it ended up on Canal Street.”

The pattern, he explained, originated in Africa, and first became widespread as part of Hong Kong’s architecture, where it was used for scaffolding in Hong Kong. It was later popularized as bags, courtesy of a Chinese tailor. Today, the plaid, often seen in red, blue, and white variations, is best known as the “Ghana Must Go” print, referring to the mass expulsion of Ghanaians from Nigeria in 1983, which forced millions using the plastic totes to carry their belongings across borders.

Once a symbol of displacement, the bag has become one of resilience, memory, African diasporic identity, and strength, a testament to how cultural narratives can be reclaimed, and even evolve, while actually honoring their roots. The attention carries over to the front of the show with the heart-shaped Sankofa symbol, “which means don’t forget to go back and get what you forgot,” explained Emory. “Black metalsmiths who were freed slaves put this on gates across the East Coast, all over America and the Caribbean.”

“It tells a story of another motif from Black culture that’s traversed between Africa and America,” Emory shared. How these artifacts move and connect with one another, “be it in dance, or in blues, in cooking, painting, education, or science,” continues to draw him in. “They were taken from us, but remained subconsciously in some ways, and pop up in [others].”

To debut the Denim Tears x adidas Originals collaborations, the brands took it back to Canal Street, where it all began. Photos figure both styles in, true to form, just steps outside of the subway station in the kind of open-air stall that first put Emory onto the bag as a kid. The collection extends onto nearby architecture with a pop-up installation on a corner building nearby, completely enveloped in the same plaid print. The designer is no stranger to the streets as his runway — or canvas (lest we forget about the 10-foot-tall jeans on the Kaisokah Moko Jumbies that roamed downtown earlier this year). The label, after all, is still his conceptual art practice, and a recently museum-worthy one at that. “[Art’s] always been a strong part of Denim Tears, and it’s how the brand started, me making artworks in my apartment in LA.”

The Stan Smith and Superstar are just the first move in the partnership between Denim Tears and adidas Originals, a relationship Emory described as “symbiotic” with both brands keen on leveraging their shared love for visual codes, cultural references and creative perspectives. And if his enthusiasm is anything to go by, we suspect there’s plenty more to come. “Already, we’re off to an amazing start.”

Check out the galleries above for the first official look at the Denim Tears x adidas Originals Superstars and Stan Smiths. Stay tuned for release details.