Craig Green, a British fashion designer, has received considerable praise since his debut exhibition in 2013. In recent years, however, the designer has been criticized for his lack of creativity since designs from previous seasons have swamped the shelves of the current season’s merchandise. But Green seems to be back on track with his Autumn/Winter ’22 collection, incorporating unusual and occasionally surrealist ideas for their clothing and accompanying Adidas collaboration.
Bizarre ‘Stan Smith’
Although it may seem odd, the star of this footwear collection is the iconic Adidas Stan Smith sneaker. Green pushed the boundaries by collaborating with Adidas for the AW22 collection. The shoes come in various strange designs, with screws, breathing tubes, inflatables, and even DIY mold aesthetics. Additionally, Stan Smiths have a futuristic feel, which will undoubtedly capture your attention.
Green caught the public’s attention earlier this year when he revealed a sneak peek of his footwear AW22 campaign. The newest iteration of the collaboration with Adidas has inflatable or bolted-in elements and vibrant colors resembling flotation gear or an iron lung. However, this collaboration can only be recognized by looking at the distinctive Adidas dots that punctured the shoe in three rows from each side and by the brand’s emblem on the front of the inflated shoe.
Craig Green Breaks Down AW22 Collection
Highsnobiety, a global fashion media brand, spoke with Green about the unique footwear rotation for AW22:
Stan Smith frequently appeared throughout the show as retail and concept pairs. How was the design process?
“We started with the Scuba sole that we did the previous season for the Phormar. So, we started with the sole that we worked on together and looked at iconic Adidas shapes that could complement it, and the Stan Smith came up. You could keep the upper almost exact, in some way, yet the sole would change it completely.
From that, we also worked on the show and concept shoes based around Stan Smith. It’s quite a difficult style to work with, in some way, because it’s so iconic, and there’s not too much you want to take away from it. That’s how we got to the show shoe that’s essentially like a cast – a Stan Smith cast. We thought it was nice that you could still tell what the silhouette was only by seeing the three stripe perforations that are such an iconic detail.
To achieve the final design, we had a custom cast made from a Stan Smith and created the shoe shape around it. So, actually, you don’t ever really see the original shoe or all of the details associated with it, but your foot experiences them. We left the three stripe perforations on the external of the cast, which not only maintained that key detail but was functional, as it allowed the foot to breathe.”
Were there any new technologies or design details introduced into footwear this season?
“For the inflatable boot, the main body of the shoe was created with a latex dip molding factory that specializes in making things for medical use and diving suits. First, we had the initial parts of the shoe dipped into the “sock,” and then we joined them together and created an internal insert for the sole. Then we wanted to create something that you could screw onto the outside, almost like a football cleat, but rawer looking.
There’s something futuristic about how raw it is anyway. It was less about very modern technology and more about using something simple, like air, to support your foot inside the shoe. Essentially, lots of functional elements came together to create something that you could walk in.”
Expectation for Greatness
People expect great things when the biggest names in fashion and sneakers work together. Sometimes designers hit it out of the park, but other times they fall short at the finish line.
Given the legacy of many sneakers that brands offer as a blank canvas (like Nike’s Air Force 1 and Adidas’s Stan Smith), designers must walk a fine line between paying homage to the original and entirely transforming it through their unique design language.
Finding that balance makes a designer collaboration good, bad, or great, and Craig Green’s new collection showed that he is still refining and developing ideas to reach their peak. The runway shows for Autumn/Winter 2022 demonstrated clear progress—a drive to push the envelope and explore the boundaries of what is possible.
