ADIDAS SPZL X PETER SAVILLE PULSEBEAT SPZL

adidas Spezial has long been deeply entrenched in music, with collections often serving as an exploration into subcultures close to the heart of chief curator, Gary Aspden. One such band who falls under that category is Joy Division, with their seminal album, “Unknown Pleasures”, being right at the centre. This season, adidas Spezial links up with Peter Saville, the graphic designer responsible for creating the legendary Unknown Pleasures cover, to celebrate the importance of his work and to push things in a new direction.

The result is named the Pulsebeat SPZL — a reference to the reworked graphic on the tongue, with its iconic waves reworked using biometric data gathered from the men’s and women’s teams of Manchester United Football Club. The references continue with the sneaker’s colourway, which is a subtle, two-tone black that nods to the album covers sleeve and its dark, vacuum-like appearance. The overall shape and details of the sneaker are as terrace focused as you’d expect, with a low-cut shape, T toebox and serrated three stripes that are borrowed from the Blackburn SPZL.