Electronic Live Act pioneers Underworld and Tomato have created a special limited edition custom design of the Adidas Superstar trainer as part of the 35th anniversary celebrations of the iconic shoe. Approached by Adidas, Karl Hyde of Underworld Fame and Tomato have themed a new pair of trainers. Karl has worn Superstar shoes both onstage and off for many years, and considers Adidas’ invitation to design a version of the Superstar a great honour:“Before talking to any of our partners at Tomato, Rick [Smith] & I discussed a couple of designs & talked to Adidas. The idea we opted for was an off-shoot from Underworld’s Japanese stage production. In order to bring the details of the band closer to large audiences we’d covered the equipment in small cameras. Another feature was that my feet had their own camera crew whose job it was to film my dancing from the ankles down. Out of this came the idea of trainers that were innocuous under most conditions but shouted when the lights hit them. Further conversations between Rick, Jason [Kedgley, Tomato] and I lead to the use of 3M scotchlite material which became a hidden design feature. Covering them in a subtle text taken from that Japanese tour was an additional detail and something we knew Jason at Tomato would handle brilliantly as he always has done when it comes to jamming with Underworld.”
The special edition will be limited to just 5,000 pairs and the slated release of the Music Series is March 1st 2005, with the Underworld/Tomato design being joined on the shelves with shoe designs by Run DMC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bad Boy, Roc-A-Fella, Missy Eliot and Ian Brown. The shoe will be launched at a Jam Master Jay memorial dinner in New York on 25th February 2005, which will be attended by all the contributors and hosted by Chuck D.