adidas Originals Consortium Zx420 (Quotoole)
UPDATE: Check out the stunning beauty shots above, before making a swift move to to score your pair.
There's more to this latest adidas Originals colab than most, so we require your earnest attention right now. Let's break it down: Quote is German sneaker collector specialising in all things Trefoil, Peter O'Toole is an English adi collector and graphic designer with a particular penchant for drawing shoes with Three Stripes on them. They met each other back on the Crooked Tongues forum almost a decade ago, they talked about their shared love and they hooked up to create an illustrated poster of the highlights of Quote's collection. Adidas noticed – they're pretty good at – offering the duo the chance to create a book together. They've finished the book, you can see it in the gallery above, it's called 'Quote's Archive' and it celebrates 50 pairs of vintage adidas trainers spanning from the 70s to early 90s, complete with Quote's commentary and O'Toole's doodling. Now, it gets even better – the boys were also offered the chance to pick a shoe to design a colour way for! They chose the blazin' silhouette, and their creation can also be seen above. Here's what adidas had to say about the colab...
In conjunction with the Quote’s Archive project, adidas sneaker collector Quote and UK illustrator Peter O’Toole were given the opportunity to makeover an archive shoe, both being enticed by the zx420 for different reasons. Collaborating entirely online, the pair did not meet until the final sample was produced, but the long- distance design process seems to have paid off.
With numerous panels to play with, the zx420 offered numerous opportunities to experiment with colours and tones, but in the end their inspiration was taken from a particular pair of vintage adidas Denver from Quote’s collection. A high quality pale blue soft suede overlay sits on iconic mesh in darker shades of blue, whilst red colour blocking on the midsole and along the 3-Stripes add a pop of colour. Purple and magenta feature on the tongue and ankle padding respectively, and a subtly vintage cream midsole give the shoe a classic ‘80s runner feel.
Each designer’s imprint is present, with their faces featured on the ‘Endorsed by’ fabric label under the tongue, and a motif sock-liner design, utilising Quote’s fist logo and O’Toole’s typographic namesake.
The 'Quotoole' adidas ZX 420 and 'Quote's Archive' book drop at selected adidas Consortium retailers on November 15.
- Originally published October 27, 2014.