Beastie Boys' Adidas sneakers coming out for 'Paul's Boutique' 30th anniversary
The Beastie Boys‘ rapped they had “more Adidas sneakers than a plumber’s got pliers / got more suits than Jacoby & Meyers” on “Shadrach,” one of the singles from their seminal sophomore album Paul’s Boutique. In honor of the album’s 30th anniversary on Thursday (7/25), the Beasties will be making that boast a reality with a pair of custom Adidas sneakers. The Adidas Skateboarding x Beastie Boys Americana, which you can see above, will be available for sale starting Thursday at the gift shop of massive Brooklyn graffiti and street art exhibition Beyond The Streets (which is presented by Adidas and includes a Beastie Boys section), as well as at select skateboarding shops. The sneakers feature a vegan canvas upper, gum sole, grey cotton jersey liner (to match the stripes), and The Beastie Boys’ logo, designed by Eric Haze, stamped on the tongue and liner
As Fast Company reports, the shoes were unveiled at a private Beyond The Streets event on Monday night (7/21), which Mike D and Adam Horovitz both attended. Fast Company spoke to Ad-Rock about the new sneakers:
Horovitz says the Adidas partnership felt right because they’ve actually been wearing them for decades. “Like, I love Coca-Cola, because it’s delicious,” says Horowitz. “And if it was just about McDonald’s fries, I’d be on board, because I use those products. Same with Adidas. I’ve used their Campus and shell toes, and Stan Smiths, and Rod Lavers . . . a lot of their products!”
When it came to designing their own pair, the two decided on vegan canvas in an off-white, accented with a light gray cotton jersey liner and matching three stripes. The Check Your Head-era, Eric Haze-designed Beastie Boys logo is stamped on the tongue and inside. “We just started talking with a couple of their design guys about different ideas for what we could do to the sneaker, and Mike and I were talking about the stripes, and what if they were cut out and you could see through the shoe,” says Horovitz. “Then we thought it’d be cool if it was like a sweatshirt on the inside, like a sweatshirt for your feet, and you could see the inside from the outside. That’s our twist.”
Oh, and don’t forget about the gum soles. “We’re suckers for the gum soles,” says Diamond.
The Beyond the Streets exhibit runs through August 25 at 25 Kent in Williamsburg. The Beastie Boys are also celebrating the anniversary of Paul’s Boutique with the reissue of six EPs.
