Rick Owens is designing shoes for Adidas so he has something stylish to work out in

Rick Owens Adidas
Photography by Peter Stigter
Rick Owens Adidas
Photography by Peter Stigter

Earlier this year, Paris based designer Rick Owens decided to take up running, only to realize he didn’t have cool enough footwear to complement his cardio ambitions. “What shoes am I going to wear running?’ I can’t wear my big chunky basketball shoes — I’d look like a dinosaur running through the Tuileries.” Quelle horreur! His design instincts told him to take matters into his own hands. A quick call to Adidas was made and voila: Rick Owens for Adidas.

Announced yesterday on WWD, the new sneaker line will include six styles for men and four for women. There will be leather, suede and other Rick Owens signatures including a colour palette of black, grey and maybe a teeny splash of colour.

With Nike having recently teamed up with A.P.C. and J.Crew, it’s clear that designer-takes-athletic-wear collaborations are becoming somewhat of a mainstay. Adidas is no newbie to the high fashion world. The company has Stella McCartney, Opening Ceremony, Jeremy Scott and Yohji Yamamoto on their list of past designer collabs. Soon to be added to the list is Dior’s Raf Simons, whose capsule collection for Adidas hits shelves in July.

With the Rick Owens runners priced between $400 to $500, the purchase is sure to put a dent in your pocket, but a much smaller one than the designer’s own avant-garde cult basketball shoes, which start at a cool $1,200.

As far as wait-time is concerned, you can catch a glimpse of the collection at Rick Owens’ Paris fashion show on June 27th but will have to wait till December for the shoes to hit stores.

Will you be lining up for high-end running gear? Comment below and tell us!

More Style