![]() ![]() ![]() When they make mistakes, they address them, and I like to help them turn problems into assets. They do care about the world in a lot of ways. Whatever it is that I’ve learned, I like to go back and share with them, and we end up doing something about it, collectively, as partners. Well, I am a student, and they are a brand of the people. These days, sneaker collaborations come and go in the blink of an eye, but your relationship with Adidas has held strong the better part of a decade now. Not just the individual wearing them, but the rest of the world around them as well. When I design something, again, it’s about bringing convenience and creativity and considering the human condition. Back then, I was doing whatever I could to help push. It’s their point of view-that skateboarding POV-that’s changed the world. Skateboarding has given us a lot of people that have gone on to do so many things outside of skateboarding. But it’s a very good step for mankind to finally respect that which has given us so many really talented people. Thank goodness now it’s been accepted at the Olympics-not to say that’s the greatest endorsement in the world. At the time, I had a chip on my shoulder about how skate culture was regarded by the rest of the world. I go through evolutions just like everybody else. How do you think your instincts as a designer have evolved or remained the same since that period? One of the first sneakers I ever bought for myself was the Ice Cream Boardflip, one of the earliest shoes you ever designed. Beyond all the hypermodern tech stuffed into its sleek silhouette-like the strikingly sculptural Futurenatural midsoles, which allow your feet to move more fluidly and naturally-the Sičhona is also the very first shoe to bear Pharrell’s Humanrace logo, which he introduced last year with the launch of his much-heralded skincare line. The Sičhona, meanwhile, marks a fresh chapter in Pharrell’s long-standing partnership with the Three Stripes. It’s a full-circle moment that feels particularly apt: The Hu NMD went on to become a verified global hit, spawning dozens of freaky colorways and an unprecedented collaboration with Chanel. To debut the shoe, Pharrell and Adidas returned to Standing Rock to shoot another campaign starring Dakota youth. He gave me something even better-‘sičhona,’ which means ‘connecting to the earth.’” That would be the name: the Humanrace Sičhona. “I reached out to my brother Dee Jay Two Bears, and asked him how I would say ‘barefoot’. “I wanted to get advice from our native brothers and sisters,” he says, “because I’ve learned so much from the way they see existence and nature.” Five years ago, Pharrell traveled to North Dakota to meet members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to shoot the first campaign for his Adidas Hu NMD sneaker, and he’s stayed close with several of them ever since. With that in mind, Pharrell knew immediately where to turn to when it came time to name the shoe. “Obviously you have all this advanced cushioning and technology, but you just feel so much closer to the earth.” “It reminded me of being barefoot,” he says. The first time Pharrell Williams laced up a sample of his latest sneaker with Adidas, he was struck by a sensation he’d never quite felt before.
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