Summer trainer launches: Duke + Dexter picks vintage tennis style, Adidas and Edison Chen celebrate football

Trainer/sneaker launches are coming thick and fast at present with many of them offering a distinctly retro edge combined with links to specific sports, primarily tennis ahead of the summer tennis season and football (soccer) ahead of the World Cup.

That can be seen from both niche and mega brands, and Thursday sees British launching Duke + Dexter launching a new shoe, the Plus Court Sneaker.

“Drawing on the visual language of 80s and 90s tennis trainers, the design revisits familiar references through a constructed lens”. 

What that means in practice are “clean lines and balanced proportions [that] define the silhouette… with a focus on everyday wear”.

Made of Italian leather, the Plus Court Sneaker is set on custom rubber cup soles, finished with a subtle ageing process to achieve a naturally worn-in appearance. 

Featuring soft towelling lining (“a nod to classic sportswear interiors”), the shoes are “built for all-day comfort”.

They come in five colourways including Vintage White (which “leans into the aged character of the shoe”); White for a “cleaner and more minimal” look; Kiss with a “soft hit of colour”; Black for a more defined, tonal option; and Distressed White “with a subtle worn quality that complements the vintage detailing”.

There’s also a campaign was shot in New York City and “follows actor and model Luca Fersko through a series of everyday moments”.

Adidas and Edison Chen

Meanwhile Adidas Originals and CLOT by Edison Chen are continuing their partnership and have united for the Mundial Collection, a reimagining of the Adidas football heritage released as a “pre-celebration” of the upcoming football World Cup. 

The collection is “built on the belief that football has always been more than a game; it is a shared global language. Viewed through Edison Chen’s lens, Adidas’s iconic football archive is reinterpreted through refined materials and silhouette experimentation”.

The CLOT Mundial (“the hero silhouette that fully embodies this philosophy”) comes with a premium leather upper, raffia Three Stripes, and an espadrille sole. The design “reflects Edison’s latest exploration of remixing a classic football icon. It honours the Mundial’s legacy within Adidas’s archive while pushing it into new cultural territory through unexpected materials and global references”. 

The CLOT Samba continues this approach, combining a Samba Millennium upper with a suede toe cap and raffia bottom. 

It’s not only about shoes though as there are also Teamgeist-inspired knit jerseys that reinterpret tournament-era design lines with Edison Chen’s signature knits, “merging performance heritage into a lifestyle collection”. 

Supporting pieces include the Heritage Print Short, Baja Hoodie, Refined Utility Short Sleeve Shirt, and a Bandana Slider, completing the collection with a balance of utility, nostalgia, and contemporary styling. 

Signups for the footwear opened on 22 April via the CONFIRMED app, with apparel available to purchase. The full collection is available to purchase via the app, the Adidas webstore and in stores on 2 May.