adidas Century Mid

• MODEL: ADIDAS CENTURY MID
• TYPE: BASKETBALL
• MADE IN: CZECHOSLOVAKIA
• MADE ON: --/92
• ART.NO: 073922

Don’t get these 1992 released beauties twisted with the more modern Century Mid Vulcanized skate shoe; the OG Century was a hardcore basketball trainer that came in both Mid and Hi cuts.

With all the predominantly white basketball shoes out there it’s dope to see that adidas dropped a nearly solid black Century Mid. This Czechoslovakia-made court shoe is superb in it’s straight forward design, solid durability, and excellent colorway. Relatively hard to come by deadstock, we’ve managed to get our hands on a couple pairs and due to that luck we’re sharing these with you today.

Personally putting this shoe on was magic. Great heel support, very strong toe box, lots of synthetic inner lining to keep things comfy. The thick rubber sole left me feeling like I was walking, not on, but literally above the ground. A bit of a narrow toe box but the split leather it’s made from will certainly stretch over time as I beat its white and black non-marking outsole (which is sandwiched with a purple foam based mid foot) against the pavement.

We’ve actually seen a handful of variations on the Century Mid, such as a white, black, and “seville” (basically orange) release. An amateur eye would consider the Century Hi to be identical with the Mid cut version, except that if you look closely you will notice that the upper plastic eyelets are shaped differently, given a more vertical positioning. A quite similar pair of Hi’s was released in the same colorway pictured here (only with the black and white reversed) as well as others including a white, “charcoal” grey, and “scarlet” red pair.

A key feature shared between any variation of the old school Century silhouette is the alternating eyelet styles: leather, plastic, leather, plastic, leather, plastic. This provides two key features: firstly, for those that don’t want too much lace left over they can simply loop through every hole creating a much denser lacing style and using up the entire length. Secondly, in true retro spirit, you might find yourself arriving to the court with your kicks laced loosely or even untied completely in order to look relaxed and cool in the face of your competition. Believe it or not this was the typical trend back in the day pioneered by the freshest of trainer heads, and for those that still follow this trait a fast lacing technique is definitely required. Come loose and lace up within a heartbeat when the game is on thanks to the plastic eyelets (which are a bit similar to the ‘Ghilly’ eyestays actually). This is the true reason that the top eyelets are completed in plastic, so to signify to the wearer that once laced up to the top it’s time to get down or lay down. Throw a pair of these on loosely laced and show off your true b-ball spirit.

written by Dylan Cromwell

photography by errol