x C.P. Company SAMBA

On this side of the Atlantic, the role of soccer fans in creating sneaker culture from the ground up is almost criminally underestimated. The impulse to in some way credit everything that ever happened in popular culture to New York City notwithstanding, the concept of athletic shoes as the object of fashion obsession must acknowledge a massive debt to the north of England. Terrace dwellers at clubs like Liverpool, Everton, Leeds, Manchester United, and Manchester City transformed the de rigueur look from boots and denim to something more suited to touring the golf and lawn tennis clubs of the British Isles. Naturally the right sneakers were the cornerstone of any look, and far more often than not, the right sneakers had three stripes. In the modern era, places like the Kippax, the Kop, Stretford End and the Gelderd End don’t exist any more, but the style they cultivated has endured and extended beyond the confines of stadia to influence an entire fashion culture. Adidas have teamed u