Rishi Sunak may have rendered them uncool this week, but the trainer has risen to ubiquity in the past few years. So what is it about this fairly simple design that is so widely loved?
On the train from Peckham in south London to Dalston in east London the other day, it became hard to ignore: everywhere I looked were Adidas Sambas. White ones. Black ones. Those Wales Bonner ones with the pony fur and leopard print. Little silver ones. Black leather ones with studs.
The humble Adidas Samba, once the reserve of football fans, Britpop kids and the odd skateboarder, has become as ubiquitous as battered Converse All Stars in the 00s indie sleaze years. Last week, even the Conservative prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was seen in Adidas Sambas – a move that many have hailed as the final nail in the coffin for the popular trainer. Sunak has since issued a “fulsome apology to the Samba community”.
