adidas  Zürich 

ART NUMBER: 552604

MADE ON: –/04

MADE IN: INDONESIA

FACTORY: 

Introduced as part of the vast City Series and virtually remaining true throughout its 39 years, the adidas Zürich remains a sure fire classic leisure shoe. To many die hard vintage adidas collectors, they’re a must have holy-grail whether they’re oldschool casuals or novice collectors.

Paying tribute to Switzerland’s largest city, its striking colourway is influenced by the city’s Coat of Arms. Its Royal Blue uppers and silver or light blue stripes are also reminiscent to the lakes and mountains of Switzerland.

Originally manufactured in West Germany and introduced in 1976, the Zürich were constructed from Ox hide leather uppers with a unique wax shiny look, with silver or pale blue stripes and heel tab. It featured ankle and heel padding with a slightly raised heel counter to provide more support. They also notably featured a non-slip rubber profile, including a pivot point at the ball of the foot for extra comfort.

Now extremely rare, the original 70’s version of the Zürich had a thick wedged thermoplastic outsole with a red strip between the moulding of the sole and the upper, with a dark blue or grey suede toe bumper. In 1978 production of the Zürich switched to Yugoslavia and as a new decade dawned by 1980 several other short lived versions came into fruition. These included the Navy/Grey version as well as the Blue with Red stripes, similar to the Sao Paolo runner or the Dublin terrace shoe.

Apart from a few adjustments to the outsole, the overall classic look and style of the Zürich remains paramount to its origins. The last time these were released was in 2004, so it’s likely they’ll be seen in stores in the near future. But as with anything else, some trainers of a very unique and rare beauty are worth the wait and the adidas Zürich is certainly one of them.

Text: Scott Ptolomey