adidas Torsion Attitude

• MODEL: ADIDAS ATTITUDE
• MADE IN: VIETNAM
• MADE ON: --/12
• ART.NO: Q23072
• FACTORY: SHW/675001

The Torsion Attitude mixes street style with on-court capabilities, so it’s no surprise that it’s making a return, and even Derrick Rose recently claimed it for his latest project with adidas.

Such a silhouette packs a nostalgic smack in the face reminding us which kicks were being rocked on the basketball court back in the 90s. Although this pair doesn’t give in to the crazy retro colorways that most people like to see on the model, it keeps it identity known with the small flashes of “sunshine” yellow throughout the labels, outsole, and extra set of laces. I guess nowadays more people want to keep the colors of their shoes less radiant since the Coogi sweater went out of style and dressing boring went in.

The main reason the Torsion Attitude gets its name is due to the inclusion of the Torsion technology added onto the well known adidas Attitude silhouette. The Torsion system provides lightweight arch supports which allow the ball of the foot and the heel to move independently. Placing this in a pair of shoes make them more beneficial when playing motion sports (such as basketball). It clearly proved to be successful because it’s now used in the majority of adidas’ performance shoes.

Getting back to the raw aesthetics of the shoe, color aside, it is (and always has been) a very clean looking model. The use of the waves for the stripes and the reduction of hard edges – especially when it, and many others along side it, were originally released – gave way to the age of “sleeker” design. This left the Superstars and Campus’ to be left in the world of what is now known as lifestyle sneakers.

But over time, as new innovations came about, the same has happened to the Torsion Attitude. Since the release of this pair, Derrick Rose’s pair has pushed all others aside with its replacement of genuine leather with synthetic leather and its even more sleek design. Between this pair and Derrick’s pair, I’d much rather let my feet take on the extra few ounces to keep the suede and tumbled leather upper over being able to run a millisecond faster.

I just hope that with all the branching off of models, we don’t lose what made the model desirable in the first place.

written by Kyle Zemborain

photography by errol