adidas Rivalry Low “New York”

• MODEL: ADIDAS RIVALRY LOW
• SERIES: 10TH ANNIVERSARY
• PACK: ADIDAS ORIGINALS 10TH ANNIVERSARY NEW YORK PACK
• MADE IN: INDONESIA
• MADE ON: --/12
• ART.NO: Q34420

Just like Berlin and Tokyo, it’s now New York City’s turn to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their adidas Originals Store in SoHo. Marking the return of the legendary Patrick Ewing endorsed Rivalry Low silhouette, SoHo puts six styles of snakeskin onto these historical hoop sneakers.

What’s so legendary about the Rivalry? Most importantly, back in the days when endorsements truly separated the run-of-the-mill releases from those soon-to-be infamous models, basketball Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing made adidas shine with his 1986 sign on. And he stayed with the brand until he began making his own kicks in ’91. Of course, once this happened the OG Ewing silhouette had to be renamed and Rivalry was one of the many incarnations (later followed by the, now more common, Conductor model).

Known largely for his time playing with the New York Knicks, it makes perfect sense that a silhouette soaked in Ewing nostalgia would be resurfaced and retouched by adidas Originals for their SoHo store’s birthday celebration.

One hundred and fifty pairs were produced (with only one hundred made available for public purchase in New York), separated into five colorways against white canvases (to loosely represent the five boroughs of New York), with a sixth centerpiece pair (pictured here) showing off a black-based composition. All of them feature snakeskin details, inner tongue tags that read “Made For New York”, and an inscription on the back of the outsole that provides the number of the production run.

While the shoes don’t look too bad on foot, there are two significant items of disappointment. Firstly, where’s the high top? When it comes to basketball, although low cuts are certainly common, it’s definitely the high top silhouettes that dominate the court and (arguably) leave the largest impression (no pun intended). I personally would’ve loved to see a return of the Rivalry High instead. And secondly, unlike Berlin’s 10th Anniversary ZX 9000s – which were actually made in Germany – these were sliced and sewn together in Indonesia. Nothing surprising there, but I’d hoped there’d be another leap to homegrown footwear.

All in all though, with the above points aside, this is a sweet release to successfully celebrate a decade of originality coming straight outta SoHo. If you’ve never owned a pair of Rivalry, then now’s your chance.

written by Dylan Cromwell

photography by errol