adidas Spezial AW20 Chapter 2 _nwrdrSPZL
Gary Aspden’s adidas Originals SPEZIAL line presents chapter 2 of AW20 with _nwrdrSPZL – an official collaboration with iconic Manchester based electronic rock band New Order. The collection is heavily based around the repeated three block New Order ‘Tour’ graphic that the band have used for recent live performances in anticipation of new music being released by the band for the first time in 5 years. Founder and curator of adidas Spezial Gary Aspden, is a long time friend and fan of New Order with the collaboration being born out of their long-standing organic relationship. The adidas Spezial team and New Order worked closely on the project, with New Order traveling over to Herzogenaurach (adidas HQ) for each design meeting and sample review.
The collection is led by the the Wilsy SPZL, which was an obvious choice as a style Bernard Sumner has worn on stage consistently during New Order’s recent live shows. This one-off New Order version arrives in a premium clean white leather with a white translucent sole along with updated vamp details, co-branding and the subtle addition of white eyelets. The footbed carries the coloured ‘Tour’ graphic and the shoes with interchangeable branded lace jewels and reflective laces that offer a colour stab to a limited release of this iconic silhouette.
Moving focus to outerwear in the collection, the collection’s standout jacket is inspired by Bernard Sumner’s love of sailing with a parka in a coated woven fabric with a mesh lining and features ‘hidden in plain sight’ tonal reflective branding and stripes. Finer details include a distinctive see through hood window panels and a New Order sleeve patch – which are both synonymous with yachting jackets. The Manchester appropriate tonal grey of the jacket is lifted by a detachable and interchangeable colour-pop pullers to allow the wearer to customise the look of the piece.
Hailing from Manchester, New Order’s authentic connection to football culture is referenced through a football jersey that uses their repeated ‘Tour’ graphic in a tonal engineered jacquard base fabric with elasticated ribbing on the neck and sleeve. The shirt is finished off with Latin script used in the ‘Mod Trefoil’ badging along with a twist on modern football kit sponsorship with the use of song title ‘586’ across the chest. Continuing the sporting theme, The New Order track jacket lands in a clean navy made using recycled PES blend pique material. The jacket takes inspiration from classic adidas track jackets (particularly the signature argyle print of Ivan Lendl) and re-appropriates that look and feel with a repeated print of their ‘Tour’ graphic sitting above the hem. Rounding off the collection is a graphic logo tee in heather grey cotton and uses the ‘_nwrdSPZL’ graphic underpinned by ‘True Faith’ in Latin.
The adidas Originals Spezial AW20 Chapter 2 _nwrdrSPZL collection is online now and in both our Leeds and Nottingham stores.
adidas Spezial AW20 Chapter 1
Following on from the release of the adidas SPEZIAL ‘Made for HIP’ Elland, Gary Aspden’s adidas Originals SPEZIAL imprint returns with a new collection of footwear and apparel for AW20 inspired by terrace culture and adidas’ rich archive.
Spanning across a wide variety of silhouettes, each piece takes reference from the deep adidas Originals archives, procuring lesser known styles from the past with new life through unique hybrids that people have come to expect from adidas Spezial.
Footwear is spearheaded by the reworked HRMNY SPZL – an archival style from the original Torsion range which was originally a woman’s shoe and revered by German football fans. Following in the paths of previous leisure shoes, the Newrad SPZL is an all new silhouette arriving in light brown nubuck built on the Bermuda tooling and branded with an embossed ‘Mod Trefoil’ patch to the lateral side. The Alderley SPZL is a new Spezial court inspired hybrid that takes the foundations of its design from the mesh and foxing of the Rod Laver Vintage with a distinctive perforated leather toe. Footwear in the collection is rounded off with a pair of adilette slides with the debossed Mod Trefoil relief and Spezial branding.
The apparel side of the collection sees the return of an adidas Spezial favourite with the SL Haslingden jacket – widely regarded as one of Spezial’s most popular jackets ever, this time constructed in a super lightweight fabric with tonal 3 stripe branding. The ST11 is a newly developed jacket that comes in a bold gold colourway and draws inspiration from the silhouettes of the Standard Training of the late 70s with an updated colour, materials and fit. Additional staples apparel styles include the Mod Trefoil sweat in a chalk white Terry, white logo carrier tee, tapered navy track pant and trace green cargo short in the classic ‘Aldwych’ fit. A multi panel, peaked, logo cap in a warm beige with adjustable fit and three vent holes rounds of the collection.
The adidas Originals Spezial AW20 Chapter 1 collection is online now and in both our Leeds and Nottingham stores.
WAY OUT Cache: A Curated Cache Of Outdoor Artefacts
If you spend a couple of hours a day of Instagram like many, you might have noticed an influx in a new way individuals are curating their feed with certain dedicated pages. Online, the “mood board” style movement has quickly taken over as a new way to express a certain interest or style in a post-Tumblr era with popular pages by Hidden NY, organiclab.zip and Lawrence Schlossman leading the way. WAY OUT Cache is an upcoming UK based page and vintage seller specializing in more obscure outdoors-wear and the marketing around it, we caught up with Dan from WAY OUT to learn more.
Please introduce WAY OUT Cache and how would you describe the page?
WAY OUT Cache is an Instagram feed and online store dedicated to vintage outdoor gear. I like to think of it as a little community. Rather than me just sharing images for a “like” I try and offer stuff that people can engage with whether it be something to purchase, discover or share. Last month I did a little giveaway and the followers shared a few hundred images of their reusable water bottles. It’s nerdy if you’re not into it but I think actually engaging is the best thing I can do.
When did Way Out Cache begin and how did it come about?
I started the page last year at the same time I was selling vintage pieces for some extra cash. I was getting some really crazy pieces through and the only memory I’d have of them was the completed eBay listing which seemed a bit of a shame. I just wanted something to look back on and be like “I had one of those” but I knew people would connect with the old imagery just as much as the pieces themselves.
The Instagram mood board movement is currently popular with other pages such as Hidden and organiclab.zip for example, what’s your thoughts on this and is it here to stay?
I think it’s great and I hope it’s here to stay. Through university I used to run a streetwear blog called 5th Street which was reasonably popular but it got to a point where I felt it couldn’t compete with the bigger news sites. With Instagram I feel like anybody has a fair crack of the whip if they’ve got a cool eye for something that’s a bit different. I think it’s important to have a niche but not to box yourself in too much that you’re going to run out of content.
Outdoors and technical focused clothing are having a big moment right now, why do you think this is and where do you see it going?
I think a lot of people have got into outdoor gear because it fits with where the world is going. It’s imperative that we all start making better choices, buying stuff that lasts longer and using things multi purpose. I want a jacket I can wear for work, walk the dog in but also climb a mountain at the weekend too. I think it’ll continue like this for a while and the good bit is that the brands who have always done it will continue doing their thing.The bad part is that we are going to have to endure some poor quality gear from brands that are inevitably going to try and go outdoors.
Would you say the last few years have been post-streetwear?
Yes and it’s definitely refreshing. I can’t knock streetwear because I’ve made so many connections through it but now it’s died down a little, I like that people are finding their own feet. I saw a meme the other day that was like “Guys turn 20 and base their whole personality around these brands” and I just thought that was so true of streetwear. I like seeing what people actually like to wear now rather than what they thought was their uniform almost.
Which brands do you have your eye on? New and vintage?
You guys have got a lot of brands on my watch list actually. I’m really into Klattermusen, and wander and Snow Peak to name just a few. Their new gear is as good as anything from the past so I’m always checking for those. In terms of vintage I’ve been going back through Nike ACG a lot. For a sub-line of a sportswear brand it’s amazing just how many unique pieces there are out there. A lot of big brands who made outdoor collections gave up somewhere along the way.
Are there any vintage pieces you regret letting go of?
I don’t really get attached to pieces too much and in that sense I’m a really bad archivist. There’s 100s of pieces I regret letting go of too cheap though. A couple of years back me and my friends were getting some of the craziest Patagonia Retro X I’ve had to date and I was letting them go for £150-200. If I could have them back I wouldn’t be putting them on a 7 day auction that’s for sure!
What’s your current vintage grail?
I’d really like one of the Patagonia MARS GORE-TEX Jackets if anybody reading this wants to hook me up? The military issue stuff is annoyingly hard to come by in the UK so it’s either super expensive or gets snapped up quickly when somebody doesn’t realise what they’ve got.
What’s next for Way Out Cache?
To be honest it’s early days with the website so I’m looking to grow that and stock camping gear and equipment alongside the vintage. I’m also working with a couple of outdoor brands in the UK and helping them relaunch archive collections. At the moment this involves sourcing and selling pieces back to them and also looking through old printed material and deciding where to go next. It’s early days again but the idea of consultancy is something I like.
New Balance Tokyo Design Studio x Snow Peak Niobium Concept 1
Following on from collaborating in 2019, New Balance’s forward thinking Tokyo Design Studio team up with outdoors equipment specialists Snow Peak to create a new 3 in 1 silhouette in the form of the Niobium Concept 1. The function driven shoe features a detachable upper, weather-resistant toe box and an ABZORB midsole for comfort and durability. The 3 styles that the shoe can be worn as include a robust fishing boot, slip-on camping clog or as a sock like liner for wearing in a tent.
The all new silhouette was inspired by the chemical element niobium, a light grey metal that is resistant to a wide range of chemicals, and can be easily molded and re-formed in low temperatures. These aspects of the chemical can be seen in the versatility and multi-use mindset of the sneaker’s design. The Niobium Concept 1’s subtle “Sage Green” colourway also references the mossy rocks of mountain streams which is an ideal landscape for the shoe’s intended use.
The New Balance Tokyo Design Studio x Snow Peak Niobium Concept 1 is online now.
