Style
Adidas and Prada are making a trio of luxury, $525 Superstar sneakers
Premium materials, premium price tag.
Prada and Adidas are following up on their initial collaboration by releasing three new luxurious Superstars without a price-raising bag involved.
Each of the full-grain leather sneakers was handmade by Prada in its Montegranaro, Italy factory, elevating them from the $80 Superstar Adidas typically produces. The process involved 100 different steps by 100 different Prada employees, according to a Highsnobiety story explaining why Prada Superstars are worth the $525 price tag. Broken down further, the sneakers were cut, lasted, glued, polished, and then packaged by hand — each step of which involved 20 microstops.
It's a luxury treatment similar to what Dior did with the Air Jordan 1s, only for a fourth of the price. To remind you of what sets them apart, "Made in Italy" is hot stamped onto the upper underneath the Prada logo.
The three new colors — Prada and Adidas' second release differs from the first by offering each of the three sneakers for sale on their own. The first Prada Superstar, which was all-white with black branding, was sold with a leather bowling bag for a total cost of $3,170.
This new crop of sneakers maintains the same color pallette and includes a white pair with a black mustache and stripes. Another pair goes all-black with white branding, while the final opts for a metallic silver leather on the upper.
Releasing through Adidas' new app — Each of the Superstars will release September 8th through Adidas' relaunched Confirmed app. They'll also be available through Prada's webstore and select boutiques worldwide. This should give you a much better chance at securing these than the first Superstar, which had a run of only 700 pairs worldwide.