Donald Glover (widely known as his rap persona, Childish Gambino), is always switching it up and leaving us wanting more as a multi-faceted creative. So, it’s only fitting that he launches his sneakers collaboration with Adidas with a series of short films featuring none other than comedienne Mo’Nique. Donald Glover continues to use his art to prose deep questions about our reality with the likes of his recent film with Rihanna, Guava Island, his hit TV show, Atlanta, or the music video for his Grammy Award-winning track, This Is America. When we heard he was launching a collaboration with Adidas Originals, we knew we would have no idea what to expect. Adidas Originals announced that they were officially launching Donald Glover Presents, a creative concept that the brand and Donald have been working on since September 2018. With the launch of Donald’s version of classic Adidas footwear styles, the Nizza, the Continental 80, and the Lacombe, Adidas and Donald Glover teamed up with the creative agency Royalty to exemplify the message behind the subtle imperfections of Donald’s sneakers.

Nizza DG Shoes ($80) (Photo: Adidas)















Lacombe DG Shoes ($90) (Photo: Adidas)















Continental 80 DG Shoes ($100) (Photo: Adidas)















When speaking on the imperfections featured on the sneakers, Donald Glover states, “Rich is a concept. With this project, I wanted to encourage people to think about how their stories can be told on their feet. Value isn’t quantified by what you wear, rather the experiences from them. And you make the decision on what works for you, you live through your own lens. The partnership for me is about being able to exemplify what doing your own thing truly looks and feels like.” Preach! Before Donald Glover actually delivered an emotional set at Coachella this past weekend, those who were in attendance were given a chance to cop a pair of Donald’s sneakers after he AirDropped a photo that would enable them to redeem a pair of free sneakers.

childish gambino airdropped a picture at coachella of his adidas collab and everyone who accepted got a pair of his unreleased shoes... pic.twitter.com/JLKsmNb4LM — jay ➐ (@THEGOODSlDE) April 12, 2019

The sneakers feature deconstructed aspects such as uneven stitching, inside-out golden eyestays, and a custom 3-Stripe mark that evokes hand-painting. The canvas of the shoes isn’t even stitched down, so that they fray over time. Speaking on the partnership, adidas Originals Senior Design Director Chris Law says, “Our partnerships are built on a foundation of creating moments of inspiration that we could not achieve alone. As a visionary, we admire Glover’s capability to surpass ‘genres’ and uniquely tell a story. From a design perspective, we drove the aesthetic of this collection based on adidas’ rich history in classic sneakers and Glover’s philosophy of understated points of interest and appreciation for how shoes evolve with wear, expressing more personality over time. Between Glover’s artistic vision and our expertise, we will continue to evolve and look forward to where that takes us.” While we patiently wait for the sneakers to drop April 26, check out the series of short films that Donald Glover dropped starring Mo’Nique and professional skateboarder Na-Kel Smith, directed by Ibra Ake, and co-written by Sam Jay and Jamal Olori of Royalty:

Written by Gina Conteh