How the minimalist tennis shoe became 2014’s standout sneakers.

A 67-year-old two-time Grand Slam tennis champion and a kid practising the half-pipe may at first seem to have little in common. Until, perhaps, one looked at their feet. The former could well be wearing the classic tennis shoe named for him by adidas in 1971 – the Stan Smith – and so, more than 40 years and 40 million pairs later, could the kid. And the connection goes deeper still: “When I was playing… I’d secretly go out after [tennis training] and get my skateboard,” Mr Smith says.

Mr Smith’s achievement as a tennis player has arguably been overshadowed by the moniker he lent to the world’s first leather tennis sneaker (the design had previously been endorsed by French tennis player Mr Robert Haillet in the 1960s). “Some people think I’m a shoe,” says Mr Smith, who now co-owns a tennis academy in South Carolina.

Over the decades, Stan Smiths have benefitted from a periodic sub-cultural appropriation – from the label-obsessed football casuals (read: hooligan fans) of the 1980s to Brit Pop-loving indie kids of the 1990s and box-fresh-and-bling rappers of the 2000s. And they have always been a collectors’ favourite in Japan. Mr David Bowie wore them in the 1970s and Jay-Z recommends them for his Hampton packing list, along with one’s “Hermès boat shoes”, on his 2002 track “Jigga That Nigga”.

Still, not even the marketers at adidas could have dreamed how well 2014 has gone for the Stan Smith. Messrs Kanye West and Pharrell Williams have been papped wearing the latest incarnations this year. Ms Gisele Bündchen has been photographed naked but for a pair. And at last month’s menswear catwalk shows in London, Milan and Paris, the simple white leather sneakers were popping up on telltale feet.

“After the explosion of tech sneakers the past few seasons, a number of designers have turned back to the simple timelessness of a classic tennis sneaker – the most obvious point of reference being the adidas Stan Smith, the ultimate in classic tennis cool,” explains Mr Sam Lobban, Senior Buyer for MR PORTER. “Raf Simons included these in his SS15 runway show, and we have his first collaborative Stan Smith launching on site soon. In terms of designer interpretations of this style, these were seen at Valentino, Gucci, Common Projects, Ami, and even a platform version from Alexander McQueen, to name a few.” All of which will keep the tennis shoe at the forefront of fashion for the foreseeable future, making it a smart investment to buy into now.

Still, not even the marketers at adidas could have dreamed how well 2014 has gone for the Stan Smith. Messrs Kanye West and Pharrell Williams have been papped wearing the latest incarnations this year. Ms Gisele Bündchen has been photographed naked but for a pair. And at last month’s menswear catwalk shows in London, Milan and Paris, the simple white leather sneakers were popping up on telltale feet.

Perhaps the style’s endurance can ultimately be attributed to its Bauhausian “less is more” aesthetic. It’s one that means it isn’t dependent on nostalgia for rediscovery, especially appealing in a sneaker world full of quickly dating, loud graphics, pop colours and techy fabrics.

This has made Stan Smiths something of an Everyman shoe. Track down a box-fresh pair of original French-made Stans if you can – super rare, since production soon went offshore, and still a sacred grail for sneaker heads. Or just wear a beaten-up pair with some rolled khakis – Stans are one of the few white sneakers that genuinely look better with age, as Mr Raf Simons demonstrated when taking a bow following his Christian Dior show last month. When asked about why he collaborated with adidas on the Stan Smith, Mr Simons cited its everlasting appeal as the biggest factor: “As a young man, I was totally obsessed with adidas. For decades, I only wore Stan Smith sneakers. What I find particularly interesting is that adidas sells products that stay the same for many years, such as Stan Smiths.” And in these days of sports luxe, when tailoring meets streetwear, you can also rock a box-fresh pair with a suit. Any which way you wear them, the lack of visual clutter works. There’s even a democratic quality to the name Stan Smith. Perhaps that’s why the creators of American Dad! borrowed it for their lead character.

“The simplicity of their design just makes them so incredibly versatile,” says Mr Aspden. “For me they’re the ultimate modernist trainer – nothing is there that needn’t be. They’ve been copied and referenced by a host of different fashion designers but these dilutions just don’t have the integrity of the original shoe. They truly are the greatest trainers of all time.”