The Bodega x Adidas Consortium Kamanda + Sobakov release on Saturday, August 25th exclusively at both Bodega locations and online at bdgastore.com.
Why, in a World Cup year, with most of the globe fixated on soccer for a solid month, would anyone release a soccer shoe after the tournament was already over? If you’ll indulge us for a few moments, we can explain.
The World Cup Finals always throws the perception of soccer out of alignment. A month long buffet of international soccer at the highest possible level, where every game is high stakes drama in front of fanatical, capacity crowds, with millions more glued to screens at home, tends to do that. Events like the World Cup, or the Champions League represent the pinnacle of the game, but the vast, overwhelming majority of the soccer world can only imagine reaching those heights. We’re not just talking daydreaming amateurs either; even amongst the professional ranks, the clubs and their fans who find themselves outside of the elite exist in a completely different day to day reality.
A trip to Turf Moor or Bramall Lane or Carrow Road, in the pouring rain, for a tussle between the 11th and 12th placed teams is a lot more common than going up to Old Trafford with the championship on the line. Let’s face it; it’s incredibly easy to be a fan when everyone is watching, when trophies, medals, and glory are on the line, but genuinely caring about what happens in all those “meaningless” fixtures, when everything from sleeping in to alphabetizing your shoe collection would be considered a better use of your free time, is true devotion personified.
Without all the stuff like 0-0 draws, uninspired cup exits, transfer flops and humiliating derby defeats, there would be no context for the truly big moments to stand out as special, but that isn’t what makes the consuming devotion tick. The fact is that all those people who want to know if you have anything better to do are technically correct. Rationally, there is no reason for anyone, let alone thousands of people, to care about what happens in, say, a late February game between teams that aren’t contenting for a title or in danger of relegation. It’s just there to make up the numbers. The reason why people keep coming back, in the face of all logical thinking, is this sort of consuming obsession is, at its core, a deeply personal thing. Maybe it’s a family tradition, maybe you aren’t the kind of person to give up when things aren’t going well. Maybe you actually believe that the next game is the one that will prove to be the first step on an against all odds journey of triumphant glory. The point is the result matters to you, no matter what the table says.
The adidas approach to soccer is all encompassing. It’s not just that the three stripes have been a fixture in all the glamorous championship games for decades, it’s not just that they’ve been equally prevalent all the way down the soccer pyramid; it’s that adidas have been as much a part of watching the game as playing it. Lineker, Forest Hills, Robson, ZX500 Dalglish, Trimm Trabb, the names blend together in the mind so effortlessly.
The latest team up of Bodega and adidas sees two new three stripes models, the Kamanda and the Sobakov, bring the low profile sleekness of soccer footwear to contemporary lifestyle silhouettes. The Kamanda features a tonal black, ballistic nylon upper with classic stripes, offset by an olive, knit tongue, and khaki suede heel tab. A rugged, textured tread pattern sole wraps around the entire shoe. The Sobakov, with a ribbed suede upper in tan, a reflective silver, modernist variation of the three stripes, which wrap around the heel, and a sole pattern is rendered in sculpted waves opts for a more casual interpretation of aggressive design.
So, why weren’t these soccer inspired shoes centered around the World Cup? Simple; they weren’t designed to be the flavor of the month. They were designed to cover all the surfaces that life is lived on, from concrete and dirt pitches to polished floors and lush green, picture perfect fields, because following your passions doesn’t always take you down the easiest road, but it’s always worth the trip.
Special thanks to the people of Ceylon Park, House Slam, + UNKN Studios.
