adidas Campus 80s (House Of Pain)
With the right people pushing the buttons over at adidas, the product range keeps getting more and more impressive. Confidence is definitely high, so when I heard that this special ‘House Of Pain’ 80s Campus model was coming, I had a feeling it’d be good. Initial reports I’d seen online, based off PR-approved photos, seemed a little lacklustre: even though I had decided I liked them already, I felt it was worth holding back any judgment until I’d seen them in the flesh. St. Patrick’s Day seemed to be the perfect day to put this little post up.
I’m glad I did hold back: this is definitely a shoe that looks better on the foot than perfectly lit, white-backgrounded – and then viewed on a computer screen. Even with my shoddy camerawork, you’ll get a much better idea of how the shoe actually looks in the flesh.
First round visual, courtesy of C-Law at adidas
Production round visual, courtesy of C-Law at adidas
The first thing you’ll appreciate, aside from the classic Campus shape, is the quality of the suede. When asked what the deal was on this, C-Law at adidas says, “Yeah, it’s a nice heavy vintage looking suede called ‘Teasel’ that costs a bit more. We were briefed to come up with some holiday pack shoes that had more substance, both in design and concept than your regular St. Patrick’s Day shoes (for example, white with shamrocks all over it etc.). Production wise, everything we wanted – we got”.
That explains the premium feel to this version – and also why the theme went a little deeper than the usual Irish iconography employed by most. Everything here seems to be top quality, from the uppers through to the detailing and embroidery.
Even if you’re not the biggest fan of the band, the affiliation does nothing to detract from the fact that this is a good-looking and well-considered shoe. The initial idea for the House of Pain connection was then developed with House Of Pain’s Danny Boy, back and forth via phone calls and e-mails. In case you were wondering, the ‘Fine Malt Lyrics’ embroidery references the group’s debut (and arguably best) album from 1992.
An all-black ‘Kartel’ version to be given to the band (and no doubt a small group of friends and affiliates) didn’t get as far as the sampling stages unfortunately, but the final released product in its dark green incarnation is still my favourite of the three possibilities.
1500 pairs of this shoe have been produced and they will officially launch at Concepts in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day, along with a matching Celtics jersey. It looks like these are going to be available online at a number of different places, which should go some way to appease the people who were dreading having to scoop them up from eBay.
Scrapped ‘Kartel’ (friends and family) version visual, courtesy of C-Law at adidas
I’ve been sent some very interesting record label-inspired ‘anniversary’ product news that will appear shortly. With collaborations like this Campus as a frontrunner, I’m definitely looking forwards to seeing the new ranges.
Filed Under: Reviews
