As I was pitching my article idea to the peanut gallery (aka Gogo and my mom), the audience gasped as I told them what I was writing about. “But Lila, Sambas are your shoes!” replied Gogo. My mom looked crestfallen as she shook her head and shed a tear. That’s right babies, I’m writing my official eulogy to the Sambas.
The rich history of the Sambas dates back to the 50s, when Adidas released the shoe as an indoor soccer sneaker that thrived in the wet conditions of Europe during the winter months. With their gum sole and iconic three stripes on the side, these shoes became the sexiest sportswear accessory. There popularity boomed from the 1980s on as the shoe moved from the realm of soccer to the magical world of streetwear. With a brief cultural pause thanks to the Nike Air Force 1 (jeepers!), now anyone from Rihanna to Kaia Gerber to EmRata to Bella Hadid to Zoe Kravitz is seen wearing variations of Sambas daily.
My history with the Sambas is one of absolute tragedy and romance. Think: Romeo and Juliet, a constant pull and push, and dare I say …. never the right place at the right time. My aunt collected Adidas her whole life. While the majority were Sambas, there were a few Gazelles thrown into the mix every so often. Not only that, but my dad still to this day is an avid supporter and wearer of the three striped shoes. As you can imagine, at every King family dinner, if you looked under the table, the image of Sambas would be, well, overwhelming. I remember my first official order of Sambas was when I was a young teen. I had gotten really into Pinterest and started seeing those shoes everywhere. I remember one image I saved was a girl in classic white Sambas with a dainty anklet and an incredible long trench coat. Consider me hooked! I went online and finally ordered a pair for myself, losing my Sambas virginity. After 5-7 business days, the beautiful box arrived. I swear to God as I unwrapped the shoe, the intro to Beyonce’s Halo suddenly was blaring and glitter and sunshine were spilling out of the box of my dreams.
As I put on the shoes, they fit perfectly. My dad came in and told me he didn’t like the colorway, and my friends from home told me I looked like an Italian soccer player. Not even these words deflated my spirit. I loved these shoes so much that I wore them until plastic was sticking out of the broken fabric lining in under six months and immediately bought another pair on Amazon (jeepers x2!). Sambas became my shoe. To me, they were sleek, original, and so comfortable. Shocker, I wore through my second pair and bought yet another pair a year later. The broken ones I was even able to sell on Depop for $20, so in girl math I basically made money from owning Sambas.
Once I got to college, I noticed that Sambas were for sure starting to become more of a cultural trend than my little secret. Obviously, I was living under a rock, because come on Lila, everyone knew what Sambas were. After wearing through my third pair of white Sambas, I decided to experiment with different colorways. I got a pastel green pair that became my summer go-to, and a royal blue pair for the winter months. As my collection began to grow, I couldn’t help but feel proud of how my love of a simple shoe had taken on a life of its own. People were coming up to me left and right complimenting my sneakers – every little freshman’s dream! I experimented with shoe lace colors, ribbons, and socks to continue to make my collection of Sambas even more me. I now own five pairs: the green and blue, white ones that I bought off of Gogo at a reduced price because we both agreed that she just wasn’t a Sambas girl, black ones with pink ribbon, and a fabulous vintage pair that my aunt used to own. These vintage sneakers are white and blue and must have truly been one of the first Sambas to ever have been released. When I wore them out, my friends asked me if I was going bowling…
All of this is to say that, yes, I have a robust Sabmas collection. No, I don’t have a $600 pair of Wales Bonner, but I have colorways that I have owned and loved for years now. One of my main qualms with the effects of the Sambas boom is that now that so many people own them and are constantly trying to get the next best pair, it’s become more of an elitist accessory. To have a truly unique pair, you had to have paid a pretty penny for a sneaker that originally became popular because of its low price. If you’re wearing the Jonah Hill collab and just got it recently, it’s likely your bank account has dropped a few hundred dollars. Yet if you’re wearing the classic white or black Sambas, your feet now get lost in the hundreds of thousands of others who own your exact shoe.
Adidas x Wales Bonner
Now that I’ve unloaded onto you, dear reader, my mental baggage when it comes to Sambas, I have to ask myself why I care so much that everyone and their mother wears Sambas these days. Just because suddenly my staple shoe is swarming my Instagram feed, does that mean that I have to abandon my life partner, my confidant, my beautiful pookie Sambas?? I am honestly not sure. When I think about what I value the most about fashion – aside from sheer aesthetic – I always return to the fact that what you wear speaks to the originality and creativity of a person. Putting together an outfit is no small task, and it can take months, even years, to figure out how to truly express yourself through your clothing, shoes, and accessories. A part of me dies inside knowing that everyone from the tip of Manhattan to Staten Island has a pair of Sambas. They feel less and less like my Lila shoe, and more like a generic sneaker. I’m getting tired of seeing the three stripes!
Where do I go from here? The irony of all of this is that as I write this in a corner café of the literary quarter in Madrid, I’m currently wearing Sambas. Shocker! I don’t think that I have to completely cut Sambas out of my life, and I love the fact that I can consider myself a collector of Sambas, just like my aunt was. Maybe, though, this Sambas boom is the push I need to get out of my sneaker comfort zone. I’ve experimented with boots, ballet flats, mary janes, the list goes on. But sneakers? Never. I do think eventually the Samba-craze will die back down and I can return to my roots, but right now, I’m on the hunt for a new sneaker. I’ve considered Onitsuka Tigers, but they just seem like the obvious alternative for people who don’t want to be basic and wear Sambas, but still want the Sambas aesthetic. Also, I hate to break it to you, but we are already entering an era of Onitsuka Tiger-craze, so I think I’d be leading myself back into a philosophical sneaker hell. Nike Cortez could be cute, but hey, I can’t tell you all of my secrets!
To my dear Sambas: I love you oh so much that I wrote an entire eulogy for you, because I miss who you were in 2018 and I am going to miss wearing you every single day in 2023, 2024, etc… But don’t worry! You’re not ever going to leave my closet. We just have to take a break.
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