Six Years of adidas Collabs, One Exquisite Italian Wales Bonner Sneaker
The indelible impact of Wales Bonner’s adidas collaboration, which has been running for over half a decade, is inescapable. We’ve spent the past few years reporting on both the Wales Bonner-inspired Samba renaissance and a constant stream of Wales Bonner x adidas-flavored footwear arriving everywhere from adidas’ biggest competitors to Belgian fashion royalty.
Now, it’s Wales Bonner’s turn to create its own Wales Bonner x adidas sneaker.
Grace Wales Bonner, founder of the eponymous label and newly-hired Hermès creative director, typically leaves the sneakers to her various collaborations, reserving her mainline footwear for more traditional leather shoemaking.
The Spring/Summer 2026 collection, newly released on the brand’s website, is mostly the same emphasizing buckled loafers and playfully studded calf leather riding boots. But the Wales Bonner Paris Trainer is an outlier.
The Paris Trainer has all the hallmarks of Wales Bonner’s industry-shaking adidas collab. There’s a thin low-profile shape, croc-style leather detailing on the tongue, and that signature blanket stitching holding everything together. Even the small details show wafts of adidas, like the round suede overlays on the medial side reminiscent of the Wales Bonner adidas Japan and a bowling-shoe style toebox recalling the upcoming Wales Bonner x Y-3 sneaker.
Basically, this is the best bits from six years of adidas x Wales Bonner distilled into a single sleek sneaker. Except there’s no adidas involved.
And this being part of Wales Bonner’s mainline collection means the sneaker is produced in Italy to the brand’s luxurious standards using high-grade calfskin leather. It also means an elevated pricepoint, with the Paris Trainer retailing for $665.
After propelling the adidas Samba to unimaginable popularity, mainstreaming feral hairy sneakers, and giving rise to countless other slim-soled and flappy-tongued models, the Wales Bonner x adidas shoe series’ influence is perhaps best represented by, of all brands, Wales Bonner.
Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit HS Shopping for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.
