With the things I tend to obsess about, there often comes a point where I’m filled to the brim with knowledge and I run into a wall: ‘damn, is that it?’
I know us sneakerheads are skewed towards our market - thinking that what we see in our daily lives represents the whole. It’s almost comical when you look at the actual statistics and how ‘the rest of the world’ partake in this game. For example, the biggest shoe company in Africa (which is more than 3 TIMES AS BIG AS THE US IN AREA AND POPULATION) is a company that most American sneakerheads have never even heard of. So when, miraculously, I stumbled onto a legacy European brand in my search for something else…I was stoked to find a rabbit hole in Italy that was making waves stateside: Diadora.
Funny thing is, tho, this rabbit hole started out as hype about ‘construction’ and ‘materials’ (both top notch), but it eventually evolved into something much more interesting to me: the choice and use of colors. Where others focus on loud, comically-loud colors, I look at Diadora and I see crazy colors that somehow don’t actually look crazy. And no matter how crazy they are - they’re presented tastefully…
The first pair I remember seeing - the ‘Notti Veneziane’ N. 9000 in 2016 was the first time I saw burgundy, navy and green together on a sneaker, and that ultimately became the colorway that I’d often reference for custom projects…it was bold but very, VERY subdued. Bold because I don’t remember ever seeing those colors together and subdued because it looked so perfectly natural. And…if you know anything about me…that’s my jam. That’s *entirely* my jam. As you can see above in my Diadora sneaker wheel - it feels like a wide range of colors but it doesn’t really feel like a rainbow.
I just picked up a couple of pairs from their Heritage collection - a pair of 1989 Conquests and a pair of 1990 N. 9000’s, and both pairs make me feel like an adult again…but…in a good way. Let’s keep em coming!
I know yall saw their recent dip into the performance collab space with @lackofguidance - I think they just opened up a new chapter for me to obsess over.
#diadora #italy #heritage