Adidas Campus II

A walk in the Campus...

The history of the Adidas originals line in India is peppered with hiccups. Adidas entered the Indian market around 1996-1997 and before that they had a tie-up with Bata for distributing their shoes. During the tie-up which spanned seven years, Bata did little to build the brand in India and the entire Adidas line in India was about two or three models which they sold for about Rs.600 or so. They did not even bother to change the colors of those models, so no wonder back then Adidas acquired an image which was boring and uninspiring. When Adidas finally entered India in 1996-1997, they brought with them a slew of products, eager to correct the staid image they had acquired by partnering with Bata. Amongst these products were some Originals, like the Gazelle, Stansmith and the Samba. The pricing was quite reasonable back then - it was in the range of Rs.900-1200 or so. But back then, no one knew or heard of these models and worse, these retro kicks looked suspiciously similar to the ones which Bata was trying to sell all these years. So instead, people chose to buy contemporary, cutting edge athletic shoes, as if somewhat trying to make up for the lost time. Meanwhile, over the last few years, Adidas kept trying to sell their Superstars and the like, hoping that one day these models would be as popular in India as they are in US or Europe.

Considering the circumstances, it would be hard not to give Adidas credit for being very persistent in trying to sell their originals line in India. In the first half of September 2007, Adidas opened its first Originals store in Connaught Place, New Delhi. A brave move, considering that Adidas opened the store by shutting down and renovating over its regular performance store in the same location. Adidas later opened stores in Chandigarh and Bangalore and according to reports, has plans to open a total of eight stores, so we should see more of 'Originals' power in the days to come.

The Originals store in F Block. Inner Circle, CP, Delhi

But opening an Originals store is not just about painting the blue and white color scheme over the walls of the store, but also means that you had to stock the Adidas Originals line. And stock they did, with product lines like Porsche design, Goodyear and Superstar/Campus/Samba/Stansmith. This meant they could actually get in shoes which they earlier could not, owing to economies of scale. The Adidas Campus is one such shoe. Not seen much before in the Indian market, but these days you can find a pair of Campus in most of the large format Adidas performance stores as well

The twin brother of Superstar: Two iconic models, the Superstar and the Campus, share the same design DNA.

The Campus was released in the 1970's targeted at basketball players and was originally called the Tournament, but went through a name change in early 80's to become the present day Campus. There were a few tweaks here and there, like adding the Superstar outsole in the 90's for better durability, but in essence the shoe has remained the same. It is almost identical to the very popular Superstar, the only noticeable difference being the lack of a shell toe in the front, the lack of metal eyelets and the additional third row of straight stitch along the curve of the heel. Like many other basketball shoes, the Campus found its way into the skate and hip hop scene. When Beastie Boys, the hip hop band from Brooklyn, wore the Adidas Campus on the cover of their 1992 album, 'Check your head', it took the Adidas Campus to new heights, not unlike the meteoric rise of the Adidas Superstars after the band 'Run DMC' eulogized the shoe in their song - 'My Adidas'.

Cover and title of Beastie Boys 1992 album: I think it is Adam 'Ad Rock' Horovitz' in the center wearing the Adidas Campus. Even today, the trio are seen in lots of Adidas sneakers, be it the Rod Laver or the Stansmiths.

Though the Superstars and Campus share the same outsole and structure, the Campus can be confused with the Suede Adidas Gazelle if seen from a distance and especially if both shoes are in Black or Navy. Another distinctive feature which separates the Campus from the Superstar is the suede upper. While the Superstar has a smooth leather upper, the Campus has always been made of natural suede. Use of natural suede means that it does not require any break-in and you can start using it right out of the box. The collar area in the Campus is made of smooth synthetic leather, which makes slipping in and out a charm. The tongue is lined with a soft synthetic fabric which is soft to the touch and the sockliner (insole) seems to be made of a similar material.

One element threads common through flat soled retro kicks like the Campus and that is durability. Rock solid construction, helped by the use of 100% leather uppers, sturdy heel area and a hard rubber cupsole stitched to the leather upper. So it is not surprising that most of these sneakers became popular skate shoes as well, as these crucial elements became indispensable when it came to performing in a very punishing skateboarding environment. As these sneakers became more and more common place in popular culture, brands which made these sneakers started a colorway explosion, offering these classics in a veritable smorgasbord of colors and materials. But single color classics still hold their own, like the black Suede Campus we see today on this page. But I guess the folks at Adidas could not resist topping the upper with a thick white lace with black 'X's' around the length. Cool touch - it cranks up the shoe's street appeal a bit.

I am fond of flat soled sneakers, but I always missed the soft, inviting interiors of a regular running shoe whenever I wore retros. How your foot feels inside the shoe has a lot to do with the choice of the material used in a shoe. Flat soled retros like the AF1 or the Superstars uses smooth surface full grain leather most of the time and it takes a day or two to break them in. But Suede is different. Suede leather, though it comes with its own disadvantages (like trapping dirt quickly), is still my material of choice when it comes to combining comfort, durability and style. Wearing a suede shoe like the Adidas Campus or the Gazelle feels like wearing your worn in pair of jeans and is also pretty durable to boot. One of the reasons why many suede retros like the Adidas Superstar, Adidas Gazelle or the Puma Clyde are popular because the suede upper goes so well with a pair of blue jeans without being conspicuous.

The future of Adidas Originals in India seems bright - many media reports quote the CEO of Adidas India saying that the company will open more Originals stores in the many more cities in next few months. Meanwhile, I'll go and check out the nearest Adidas Originals store to buy the next shoe for my review - a Adidas Trimm Tab should do just fine...