Laduuuuuuuuuuuumadness?

Ok so it's been a minute since we gave you some sneaker love. Askies ne banayse! The Ordinary Girl remembers it like it was yesterday. Well, yesteryear to be exact. Dude and the fam lunched at the then newly revamped Melrose Arch in Jozi. Dude and Young Calibre were super stoked about the adidas Originals store that has been opened there. You'd swear it was made of Mr Sweet's Jelly Beans.

Anyway, the store was highly disappointing in its range and its pricelist. But the latter was to be expected, it is *pinches nose* Melrose Arch after all! Fast forward a couple of months and Dude happens upon a pair of blue and mustard adidas Gazelles. He's been in love with them since. To fully understand what I mean I have to tell you that the 6.0s seem to have been retired. Yeah. Meditate on that.

Dude loves sneakers, it's true. But I'm pretty sure he won't be camping out like a rabid hypebeast to buy any one of the new adidas Originals Gazelle 2 Laduma Pack sneakers. Now I'm not dissing the shoes, allow me to channel Common on this one: if I don't like them I don't like them, that doesn't mean that I'm hating.


The Pack was designed with the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in mind. With special emphasis on the fact that this is the first Cup ever to be held on African soil. So what did adidas Originals go and do? Hook up patterns that are "African" (read colourful and busy) in their principal design, add a tribal looking icon on the tongue and couple that with an African football phrase just to round things off. Yep. Above one stripe is the word "Laduma" (meaning "Goal") in blood red.

I guess the suede is the only redeeming factor. I don't know if they are available in South Africa yet - don't ask me. But with the chokehold that FIFA has on everything else that has to do with our soccer, it's highly unlikely that you will get them onto your feet before someone is headbutted on the field.


Sneaker Obsession (where these pictures are borrowed from) seems to co-sign on these. Do you guys like them?