In the five years since Bad Bunny first partnered with Adidas, the musician, already a massive star, has ascended to even more towering heights: He’s dropped three blockbuster LPs, become the most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify, and earlier this year completed a 31-show residency in his native Puerto Rico that cemented him as, according to The New Yorker, “probably the most important pop musician of our time.”
Along the way, Three Stripes and Benito have built a prolific partnership: starting with three colorways of the classic Forum Low—in pink, blue, and brown—before moving on to everything from chunky Campus spins to collaborations with football legend Lionel Messi to fusion silhouettes like his signature Ballerina model, one of the shoes at the forefront of the ballet sneakers trend. Now, in celebration of a half-decade together, the duo are taking it back to the beginning with the Adidas x Bad Bunny Adizero SL72 ‘Archive.’
The ‘Archive’ takes a similar approach to the Swoosh’s ‘What The?’ series, mashing together older colorways into something weirder and wilder. Whereas Nike’s approach tends to aim for an intentional dissonance, Bad Bunny’s feels a bit more harmonious. The ‘Archive’ colorway takes the Adizero SL72—an ultralight update of the classic SL72 runner from the 1970s—and drips it out in pink, blue, and brown. Sound familiar? It should: they’re the same colors that adorned Bad Bunny’s first three Adidas collaborations.
The hues are a little bit different here, though. Where the original Forums played with softer shades, the Adizero SL72 goes for something a bit more saturated with deep brown, pink, and royal blue accents. There are tonal variations throughout, like a creamy tan on the heel tab and a delicate pink tinge on the shoe’s stripes, but the base colors are far bolder than the shoes they draw inspiration from. The result is a Neapolitan delight, pure color-blocking perfection and arguably the best work the Stripes and Bad Bunny have done together to date. Chances are, it won’t take another five years for them to top it.
The Adidas x Bad Bunny Adizero SL72 ‘Archive’ drops on September 27 for $160 via CONFIRMED and select retailers.
