Pharrell teams up with Adidas to launch new Xhosa sneakers
The new range won’t,
however, be available for purchase in South Africa for the time being.
Global clothing giant Adidas has always been one to innovate their product offering by teaming up with celebrities. Their Ivy Park collaboration with Beyoncé remains one of their most successful collaborations in recent years and now, they’re teaming up with singer Pharrell Williams yet again on a new project to release a Xhosa sneaker.
The NMD (short for Nomad) HU "Clear Aqua" sneaker releases globally today. The sneaker features Adidas’ trademarked boost material and has the word ‘Uluntu’ written on the upper part of the show.
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‘Uluntu’ is a Xhosa word that means the human race and is the latest in the brand’s ‘Human Race’ collection that has been released through the duo’s NMD series since 2016.
Since then, the Pharrell Williams x Adidas collection has produced an array of apparel consisting of shorts, sweaters, hoodies, and tracksuit pants.
The NMD HU Clear Aqua is not the first Adidas sneaker to draw inspiration from Africa. Pharrell previously released the popular ‘Solar Hu’ range in 2018, which was inspired by the national flags of East African countries. The range was available in three colourways – combining yellow, red, green, orange, white, black, and cyan.
The latest range has already sparked massive global interest but Adidas confirms that the shoe won’t be on sale in South Africa – despite being inspired by the Xhosa culture of Mzansi.
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Naturally, this has left a sour taste in the mouths of South Africans. "The entire concept is wrong if it can’t be purchased in the country where the word originates,” Mxolisi Mac Bhengu says.
Image courtesy: Adidas