Adidas x SANKUANZ
Chinese fashion designer Shangguan Zhe founded his label SANKUANZ in 2013 and quickly rose to prominence on the global stage, receiving nominations for numerous prestigious fashion awards for the label’s playful experimentation with cut, form and pop cultural iconography. For their first collaboration with adidas Originals, SANKUANZ uses this same ethos to explore the culture of America’s basketball scene, complementing a comprehensive lifestyle wardrobe with a duo of collaborative basketball footwear silhouettes.
The first basketball silhouette is the Crazy BYW, originally from the FYW collection brought into the present through the use of BOOST technology, described by Shangguan Zhe as his favourite series ‘I feel lucky that the BYW from the collaboration has inherited the classic look of the FYW series and I have had this great opportunity to interpret my favourite item with the SANKUANZ style.’ The second silhouette, the more classic Rivalry Hi, another mainstay within the adidas basketball archive.
As for apparel, the SS20 capsule is inspired by the West coast, street basketball scene and combines ‘SANKUANZ’s eccentric graphic designs (logo/pattern/symbols) with adidas’ authentic sports DNA. Razor-sharp tailoring, graphic playful prints, deconstructed and genderless sporty silhouettes are all blended together, resulting in eccentric, yet well-balanced collections.’
Both the collection and the accompanying campaign take inspiration from iconic 90s video games. Shangguan Zhe speaks of the 90s inspiration in the design process ‘I referred to various dressing styles of different characters in these cultural scenarios. Thus came the hoodies, sweatshirts, chino pants, basketball jerseys with shorts and showtime hoodies. All these items are reversible, offering a wide range of possibilities of looks. The prints are inspired by the hiphop graffiti of 1990s, while the palette of acid green and indigo purple is the signature colors of SANKUANZ.’
The collection launches in APAC on May 23rd and globally June 25th
