Just in time for Juneteenth: The Adidas slave shoe!

That right there is the Adidas Roundhouse Trainer shoe. It was set to be released this summer but Adidas announced they were cancelling the project because… Well because the cuff and chain look like slave shackles. Adidas shoes are popular with African Americans but references to slavery are not so popular. Kind of a pet peeve for African Americans, really. The whole slavery thing.



Jeremy Scott, the designer of the shoe, maintains that he was not trying for the whole “slave” look when making the shoe. His inspirations have always came from toys in his childhood. When I read that I wondered what kind of weird shit this guy was into as a kid when shackles were involved but then I read that the particular inspiration for this shoe was the plush toy “My Pet Monster”.







So okay. Maybe he wasn’t going for a whole slave motif but that imagery stirs strong feelings in people about a horrible chapter of our history. On top of that it looks really stupid.



I mean, if you’re wearing those with long pants are you supposed to put the cuffs under the pants? Then nobody sees them. Do you put them over the pants or maybe roll up your pant legs like there was a flood coming? That would just look weird.



Also, fastening the cuffs is just another step in putting on shoes and I’m lazy. When I found out that I needed loafers for a job several years back I didn’t buy tennis shoes for three years just because I didn’t want to tie laces. Now I’ve got to tie my shoes and fasten the cuffs? I don’t even tie my shoes sometimes. The cuffs would probably just drag behind my heels and some jerk would step on them and make me trip.



Adidas also announced they’d be cancelling plans for their new “Three Fifths” sandal.