In 2009, adidas had a special project for their Consortium lineup. The 3Way collection consisted of 12 of adidas’ premier retailers working on five of their iconic models. The first wave of the special collection consisted of four shops. Patta represented Amsterdam, Sneakersnstuff for Stockholm, LimitEditions for Barcelona, and A.R.C. was chosen to represent New York.
A.R.C. has been a long time supporter of the three-stripes, selling classics like the Stan Smith 80s since the day they opened up. It was no surprise to see them choosing the model for their part of the project. With almost free rein given from adidas, the A.R.C. team decided to bring it back to basics. They went with an off-white canvas upper that featured white on the soles and eyelets. Classic Stan Smith green shows up in the same canvas on the heel as well as on the uniquely branded tongue. A major change included replacing the normal three-stripes with perforations. Finishing it all off was a matching A.R.C. hangtag.
Along with the Stan Smith 80s model, all four shops teamed up for a special version of the Superstar 80s…but that’s a story for another day. A worthy addition to a lineage of Stan Smith classics, having the A.R.C. Stan Smith 80s in your collection is a smart play.
Nick Engvall
Robbie Falchi