Superkicks x adidas Originals Samba "Heirloom": 350 pairs and numbered boxes

Superkicks x adidas Originals Samba "Heirloom": 350 pairs and numbered boxes

• Indian retailer Superkicks and adidas Originals are releasing the Samba "Heirloom", built around the traditional peti trunk

• The run is capped at 350 pairs, each in an individually numbered box

• Inside the box, alongside the shoes: a provenance card, a zine, a leather luggage tag, a note and stickers

• Colourway NGTCAR/WONWHI/PREBRN, meaning Night Cargo, Wonder White and Preloved Brown

• The shoe was manufactured in India, at adidas India

The peti as the starting point

The project is built around the peti, a traditional handcrafted trunk used in India for generations to store objects of sentimental value: photographs, letters, jewellery.

Superkicks translated that logic onto a shoe. The Samba is meant to be something you wear, but also something you pass on, hence the name "Heirloom".

What you see on the shoe

Rather than rebuilding the wooden chest literally, the designers went the material route.

The upper is leather, finished with gold detailing, a buckle, rivets and decorative embellishments. That points directly at the metal fittings found on a peti, and at the jewellery kept inside one.

The best details sit where nobody usually looks. The heel carries trunk-inspired detailing, and the sockliner a patterned print.

The palette stays quiet. NGTCAR/WONWHI/PREBRN unpacks as Night Cargo, Wonder White and Preloved Brown, meaning dark green, off-white and worn brown.

What is in the box

This is where the project gets consistent. The run is capped at 350 pairs, each packed in an individually numbered custom box. Inside, alongside the shoes:

• a provenance card

• a design zine

• a leather luggage tag

• a note

• a sticker pack

The provenance card is the kind of thing that usually accompanies artworks or watches, not sneakers. It documents that a given pair belongs to a specific number in a specific run, doing exactly what the peti did for the keepsakes stored in it.

Why the Samba

The choice of silhouette is not arbitrary. The Samba arrived around 1950 as a functional football shoe, built for frozen pitches and indoor play. Over the decades it travelled well beyond sport: onto British terraces in the eighties, onto skateboards, into British indie rock, and finally, after the Wales Bonner and Pharrell projects, into mainstream fashion.

The Samba is therefore already an object handed down between generations, just at the scale of a culture rather than a family.

Worth adding that the shoe was made in India at adidas India, which on a project with this narrative carries more than logistical weight.

Price, run size and one loose end

Superkicks describes the project as limited to 350 pairs exclusively at Superkicks. Press materials, however, point to wider distribution from 29 August, taking in Concepts and The Good Life in the UAE, Shopigo in Turkey, Carnival in Thailand, atmos in Tokyo and Dover Street Market Ginza.

Those two statements do not reconcile cleanly. The likeliest explanation is that the 350 pairs cover the Indian market while overseas partners receive a separate allocation, but the retailer does not spell that out.

The price quoted in press materials is ₹12,999 including taxes, roughly $145 to $150. The article code KI1920 also comes from press materials rather than the product page.

For a UK buyer that means one thing: before release, check whether any of the overseas partners ships to Britain. Ordering direct from India adds duty, import VAT and a carrier handling fee on top of the price.

FAQ

How many pairs are being made?

350, though Superkicks describes that run as exclusive to its own stores. Allocations for overseas partners have not been stated.

How much does it cost?

Press materials quote ₹12,999 including taxes, roughly $145 to $150. No UK or European pricing has been given.

What is in the box?

A provenance card, a design zine, a leather luggage tag, a note and stickers, in an individually numbered box.

Where does the name "Heirloom" come from?

From the peti, the traditional Indian trunk for objects of sentimental value. The project sets the shoe up to be passed on.

Where can it be bought?

At Superkicks stores in India and online. Press materials also list overseas partners from 29 August, including atmos in Tokyo and Dover Street Market Ginza.

Where was the shoe made?

In India, at adidas India.

What happens next

The next date is 29 August and the wider distribution that was announced. Until then two questions stay open: how the run splits between India and the overseas partners, and whether any of those shops will ship to Europe.