Erik Hernandez
Pencil sketch collage of the SL Loop Runner, with looped stripe studies, a side profile, heel views and outsole drawings.
SL Loop Runner in a black and green palm print with black stripes, worn, lateral view on pavement.
Close-up of the green palm print upper with black looped stripes and laces.
Someone sitting on a concrete wall wearing the green palm print SL Loop Runner.
Overhead view of the green and teal palm print colorways side by side on concrete.
Heels of the teal palm print SL Loop Runner, worn, from behind.
Close-up of the teal palm print heel and white midsole.
The teal palm print SL Loop Runner worn with white laces on a concrete ledge.
SL Loop Runner in blue suede and white mesh stripes with a red midsole line, lateral view reflected in water.
The blue suede pair worn at the edge of a puddle, reflected in the water.
The blue suede pair from the toe, with a yellow and red midsole line.
Heels of the blue suede pair with SL Loop printed on the heel, reflected in water.
Close-up of the blue suede heels and pull loops.
The Wish Independent Currency SL Loop Runner with a banknote-print upper on a dark backdrop, lateral view.
The Wish banknote-print shoe with its white laces loose and floating.
Close-up of the Wish banknote-print tongue with a large 2 and the Trefoil.

Brief

Rework the SL 72, a 1972 adidas running shoe, as a lifestyle runner for the Fall/Winter 2014 Originals line. The shoe had to carry the SL heritage while reading as new: lighter, street-ready, and built on its own tooling.

Process

Early concepts tested how far the upper could be stripped back. The idea of peeling away the quarter to form the three stripes, each ending in a loop that holds the lace, became the detail that gave the shoe its name. Pull loops at the tongue and heel repeat it, and a T-toe ties the shoe back to the SL 72.

The upper is a bootie in four-way stretch mesh, with raw, cover-stitched edges and no heel counter. It sits on a new EVA midsole, faceted to echo the sculpted details of the SL 72. The SL Loop Runner launched in 2014 in numerous colorways and collections, including an “Independent Currency” collaboration with the retailer Wish.