adidas Adilette Sandal 'Black White'
Colorway: Core Black/Core Black/Cloud White · Style code: GZ8409 · Release date: February 9, 2022 · Price: $170 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Adidas Adilette Sandal 'Black' (F35417) · Adidas Adilette Sandal 'Black Grey' (HP3007) · Adidas Adilette Sandal K 'Black' (G26877) · adidas Adilette Sandal 'Black Grey' (FY8649) · Adidas Adilette Sandal 3 Sandals Black Sneakers (HQ0113)
Adi Dassler's starting point was a complaint rather than a design brief: a coaching friend described club showers as a swamp of germs and asked for something players could wear between the pitch and the water. The idea sat unbuilt for years, until foam injection molding made a one-piece sole practical.
The result reached the market in 1972 (the year Munich hosted the Olympics and West Germany took its first international title), and the pattern has barely moved since. A wide banded upper carries the three stripes, the footbed is contoured, and the sole is textured so a wet foot does not slide.
The sandal variant keeps that footbed but swaps the fixed band for a strap that adjusts, which quietly changes who the shoe is for. A slide covers the ten metres to the shower. A sandal is for the walk home.