Adidas will no longer produce the shoes planned for August which drew criticism Monday for what some said evoked slave imagery.
The company said Monday that it was pulling the JS Roundhouse Mids, which were unveiled on Facebook along with the question, “Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?”
Designer Jeremy Scott said on Twitter that the sneakers were inspired by the 1980s doll My Pet Monster. The plush toy inspired a direct-to-video movie and a short-lived animated television series featuring a purple-and-blue monster that broke free of orange chains that resembled those on the sneakers.
Scott has designed adidas shoes with Mickey Mouse and gorilla tongues and shoes with wings. His shoes are typically priced at more than $200. He said the new design was not intended to reference incarceration or slavery.
The shoes drew online criticism, including sharp words from Syracuse economics professor Boyce Watkins, who wrote, “Shackles, the stuff that our ancestors wore for 400 years while experiencing the most horrific atrocities imaginable.”
A statement supplied by adidas said, “Our collaboration with Jeremy Scott has always stood for creativity and originality. Jeremy Scott is renowned as a designer whose style is quirky and lighthearted & his previous shoe designs for adidas Originals have, for example, included panda heads and Mickey Mouse. The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery. Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available to the marketplace.”
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