Wales Bonner x adidas Samba Pony 'Leopard'
Colorway: Dark Brown/Cream White · Style code: IE0578 · Release date: November 8, 2023 · Price: $490 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Adidas Wales Bonner Sailor Jacket (JM8217) · Adidas Wales Bonner Quilted Jacket (KE9956SHAMAR) · Wales Bonner x adidas Samba 'Black' (FX7517) · Wales Bonner x adidas Samba 'Scarlet' (GY6612) · Adidas x Wales Bonner Shorts 'White' (KR8773)
An animal print on hair-on hide is the most literal use of that material in the group, and adidas priced it accordingly at 220 dollars, twenty above the plain cream and black versions. The colour record reads Dark Brown with Cream White. Because the pattern sits in the hide rather than being printed onto a flat surface, it shifts with the nap as the foot moves, which is the whole reason for choosing this material over an embossed or screened alternative.
It released on 8 November 2023 alongside the other two. The leopard make is the hardest of the three to place in an outfit and the one most obviously bought for its material, because nothing about it pretends to be practical: it marks, it cannot be cleaned properly, and it will look worse after a wet winter than it did in the box. Grace Wales Bonner's adidas partnership began in 2020 and has run to dozens of shoes, most of them on this silhouette, and the pony release is where it moved from adjusting colour and material grade to changing the category of material altogether. Nothing before it had asked the Samba to be anything other than a leather or suede shoe.