In 2016, Adidas Was The Coolest Brand In Fashion

The year 2016 is almost a wrap, and looking back, a few brands stick out as those that dominated fashion. They made—and sold—the products everyone wanted. They were the ones people couldn’t stop talking about. They were right at the center of culture and how we dress today. Gucci and Vetements were certainly in this camp. But the brand that did it on the biggest scale—in a way that was as smart as it was lucrative—was Adidas. That it’s technically a sports brand and not chiefly a fashion brand hardly matters when sports and style have become inseparable and streetwear is blending with high fashion. Adidas was everywhere. Its classic styles, such as the Stan Smith, Sambas, and especially the Superstar, helped drive the big swing toward casual shoes and away from performance that dominated the sneaker business in 2016. Last year, the German label sold 15 million pairs of the Superstar alone, and this year that momentum continued, letting the company reclaim the number two spot in US sport footwear and apparel from Under Armour. It benefited from the continued success of athleisure, which has remained a major force shaping clothing today, and helped fuel it through its popularity. Read more at Quartz.