ADIDAS Originals Mexicana Cogo/Black/White

The Adidas Mexicana utilises the silhouette of the established Gazelle, which was by then, accepted as the functional sports shoe but was being seen more and more on the streets of fashionable young Europeans, rather than in the sports centres for which they were intended.

In this guise, shown with the matching suede tongue and boxed logo, the Mexicana was probably named by the marketing department as a homage to the 1970 World Cup, of which Mexico was the host nation.

Using the much favoured pigskin suede, the vibrancy of the yellow is offset with the black stripes and heel tab. The design prefers to re-use the same white sole unit as the Gazelle rather than opting for a black or gum sole.

On later variations of the model, a contrasting black vinyl tongue was used, with the trefoil logo – which was probably chosen because of unit costs rather than aesthetics – and the boxed horizontal lettering substituted for the vertical parallel style.