Even among adidas fans, the Campus silhouette is a lesser-known classic. In fact, it wasn’t even named Campus when it was first released in the 70s — its birth name was “Tournament”. However, as the basketball shoe gained prominence outside of the courts and found itself courted by the hip hop and skate community, it adopted a more versatile “Campus” title. Its popularity truly peaked in the 90s when iconic rap group Beastie Boys featured the adidas Campus on their album cover.

Despite its steady presence as an everyday fashion option, it still resided in the background as Super Stars, Stan Smiths and Gazelles dominated the 00’s stage. However, adidas is digging the Campus 80s out of its archives and imbuing the suede low-top with contemporary collaborations.

The latest of which is under the seasoned hands of graffiti artist COOK, who is best known for being the only Japanese member of apparel brand DISSIZIT. A recurring character in COOK’s artbook is COOK-chan, a rounded character with a chef’s hat that is often repurposed in different colors and animated faces. It is no surprise that COOK-chan is prominently featured on the COOK x adidas Campus 80’s tongue, armed with a spray can and an all-knowing smirk.

COOK’s creative direction sees the Campus 80 take on two colorways—forest green and deep black—with the suede’s front splattered with drops of paint. The cream midsole, too, sees paint marks that match the upper for good measure. It’s a straightforward yet stylish link to COOK’s spray art that goes beyond mere co-branding.

Aside from footwear, a line of tees, hoodies and long-sleeve shirts with the smug COOK-chan is also available. The Trefoil and COOK also engages Shikaruna Koubo to create a line of made-in-Japan soft vinyl dolls in the likes of COOK’s POLICE DOGG and COOK-chan. While the character figurines are already available, the COOK x adidas Campus 80 and accompanying apparel will be released on 22 October. The shoes retail for JPY13,500 (~US$91) while the apparel ranges from JPY5,940 to JPY12,100 (~US$40 to US$82).

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