An early blog reference to Levi's lousy treatment of the once iconic product applies I believe to the current production run of the adidas Stan Smith, mentioned by the lad in blog 3/17/03.

When The SS's came out in the early 70s, the green splash on the ankle support was real suede with no adidas logo (can you beleive it), the soul was thicker, the leather was, well more leather-like (rumoured to be Aussie kangaroo) as was the tongue. A couple of five-setters on a blood red clay court and the little beauts had the lovely worn in look and feel of an old doubles partner.

Bjorn Borg wore them in his first Wimbledon final and boy did he look the DBs, unlike my good self according to my girlfriend. While attempting to recreate my lost youth with a new pair of Stans and a pair of new vintage Levi 501s (and a personal trainer to coach me into the buggers), my girlfriend believes I resemble a gay Blue Peter presenter (British children's TV magazine prog) circa 1980. Talk about Pattern Recognition.

My lass has no time for them, making me walk three steps behind her. So thank you Mr G for highlighting the classic status of the Stan Smith and their inherent rightness. If only adidas would bring back the original build quality.

Chateau