Summary
- Denim Tears has officially unveiled its first adidas Originals collaboration — the start of a multi-year partnership — reworking the Superstar 82 and the Stan Smith 80 in a black, blue, red and cream woven plaid lifted from the “Ghana Must Go” market bag.
- Both pairs carry the heart-shaped Sankofa symbol beneath co-branded tongue details; the Superstar gets serrated Three Stripes and deep blue accents, the Stan Smith perforated stripes and a green suede heel tab, with cream soles and the Superstar’s shell toe keeping the base clean.
- Release: Saturday, November 7, 2026, exclusively at African Diaspora Goods (176 Spring St., New York) — Superstar 82 at $180, Stan Smith 80 at $160 (style codes LN3808 / LN3810 as reported).
Some patterns carry a whole history in their weave. The checkered tote known as the “Ghana Must Go” bag — named for the 1983 expulsion of Ghanaians from Nigeria, when millions carried their belongings across borders in exactly these bags — travelled from Africa through Hong Kong’s scaffolding culture to the stalls of Canal Street. Tremaine Emory grew up seeing it there. For his first adidas collaboration, he put it on the shoes.
“It’s a cultural motif of the diaspora. A lot of people don’t know how it blends African and Asian history, and how it ended up on Canal Street,” Emory told Hypebeast, in an interview published today alongside the official reveal. The Sankofa symbol on both pairs — “go back and get it,” in the Akan tradition — makes the thesis explicit: a symbol of displacement, reclaimed as one of resilience and memory.
The debut was staged where the motif lives: a Canal Street stall steps from the subway, pairs laid out like market goods, and a corner building nearby wrapped entirely in the same plaid. The Stan Smith and Superstar are only the first move in what Emory called a “symbiotic” partnership — but as opening statements go, this one will be very hard to follow.
Release Details
- Name: Denim Tears x adidas Superstar 82 / Stan Smith 80 “Ghana Must Go”
- Style codes: LN3808 (Superstar 82) / LN3810 (Stan Smith 80), as reported
- Price: $180 (Superstar 82) / $160 (Stan Smith 80)
- Release Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Source: Hypebeast (official reveal + Emory interview), Sneaker News and Sneaker Bar Detroit, cross-checked November 4. Photos: adidas Originals / Denim Tears via Hypebeast.
