Since its inception in 1958, Missoni has worked its way up the ranks to become a globally-recognised luxury brand. Inspired by founder Ottavio Missoni‘s paintings, the brand’s signature is the intricate, boldly-coloured woven patterns it uses in its textiles. Zig-zags, checks and stripes all feature prominently, in a dazzling array of colours from muted earth tones to bright jewel shades. Missoni’s textile work has even been recognised as having artistic merit, having been featured in exhibitions all over the world.

adidas, by contrast, is a leading name in both sportswear and lifestyle clothing, creating countless innovations for athletes in its lifespan. At first glance, the two brands couldn’t be more different, which makes the upcoming adidas x Missoni collaboration seem like a bit of an odd one. But looking a little closer reveals that the Italian textile artists and the German sportswear kings have more in common than first thought.

Prior to founding his namesake brand, Ottavio Missoni was an accomplished hurdler, even representing Italy in the 1948 Olympic Games. This led to his first foray into the clothing industry, where he and teammate Giorgio Oberweder invented a range of lightweight wool tracksuits. The suits were so effective that they were adopted by the entire Italian Olympic team, and pushed Ottavio — along with his wife, Rosita — to start experimenting with different methods of fabric weaving. This led to the first Missoni-branded goods being available in 1958, after which the Missonis experienced global demand for their unique vision. Widely credited with being one of the original labels to bring Italian ready-to-wear to the world, Missoni became known as pioneers of the fusion of sportswear and tailoring, predating the athleisure trend by several decades.

Now, adidas have teamed with Missoni to bring Ottavio’s original concept up to date for the modern era. Leveraging both brands’ expertise to the fullest, the adidas x Missoni apparel is crafted from a lightweight wool blend that utilises adidas’ Primeknit technology along with trademark Missoni textile patterns and colours. This lends the pieces both the flexibility and moisture-wicking properties of performance athletic gear and bold, eye-catching Missoni signature style in both multicoloured and monochrome varieties.

Finishing off the collection is a trio of adidas x Missoni Ultraboost Clima trainers. The perfect choice for this collaboration, the Ultraboost straddles the performance and lifestyle categories with ease. This edition sees the traditional Primeknit uppers upgraded with Missoni-designed patterns for a hit of luxury appeal, while each boasts a contrasting medial lace panel, delivering a typically idiosyncratic Missoni finish. The rest of the shoe remains the same, riding atop a precision-tuned Boost sole unit with embedded Torsion technology, ensuring the collection’s performance characteristics remain uncompromised. Whether you’re a Missoni fan, an adidas collector or just want to flex at the gym in style, the adidas x Missoni collection is truly unmissable.

The adidas x Missoni apparel and footwear collections will be available in-store and online on the 25th of April from Aphrodite Clothing. As always, numbers are strictly limited, so make sure not to sleep if you want to secure your favourite pieces.