Look down and verify what you’re sporting in your toes. If it’s a pair of Adidas Sambas, I’m afraid you must take them off instantly and by no means put on them once more. Sorry. I don’t make the foundations. Blame our beleaguered chief. In an Instagram video final Thursday, Rishi Sunak wore Sambas throughout a Downing Road interview to advertise his tax insurance policies. The doomed prime minister went for a white pair with navy stripes, teamed with skinny slacks and a tailor-made white shirt. Hear rigorously and you could possibly hear the demise knell tolling for the coach du jour.
The ever-present gum-soled, trio-striped trainers are beloved by everybody from rappers to supermodels. They’ve been hailed as “this yr’s It-footwear”, “the official shoe of the season”, “the defining sneaker of our age”. They’re what Converse All Stars have been within the 00s or Stan Smiths within the 2010s. A retro informal traditional. An archival pub shoe that works nearly anyplace.
In keeping with the Night Normal, they’re like rats. In London, you’re by no means greater than six toes away from a pair of Sambas. Effectively, no extra. Nothing kills off a sartorial merchandise’s perceived cool like a extensively reviled politician being snapped sporting it.
GQ journal rushed out an op-ed headlined: “Can Rishi Sunak go away the Adidas Samba alone, please?” Even the Every day Mail caught the jackboot in, operating an article headlined: “Rishi Sunak roasted after sporting Adidas Sambas to ‘try to seem regular’.”
Journalist Ed Cumming tweeted: “Pondering of the Adidas Samba group at this tough time.” A social media sneakerhead added: “In 2025, gross sales of Adidas Sambas have been so low that the ailing sportswear large was pressured to discontinue them. To today, nobody is aware of why.” Others are speculating that the footwear have been a present from Nike as a sly spot of company sabotage. Former Scottish Conservative chief Ruth Davidson put it most succinctly: “Holy shitbiscuits.”
Sambas instantly aren’t simply uncool – they’re a bit Tory. The chosen trainers of the lame duck chief of a dying authorities. File alongside cashmere hoodies, Canada Goose parkas, Timberland boots and shrunken fits. It’s a glance that goals for Succession-style stealth wealth however lands on midlife disaster fintech mogul. It didn’t assist that Sunak’s Sambas have been pristine and box-fresh. They appeared squeaky, stiff and unconvincing, somewhat like the person himself – rubbing in opposition to the nation’s heel, leaving us purple and sore.
His sneakers may come from the alternative finish of the category spectrum to that point when Danniella Westbrook and her child have been photographed in Burberry verify. However the impact is similar – a killer blow to the item’s cachet. The one place the place Sambas now have any road cred is Downing Road. And the clock is ticking on that one.
The PM has already proved the world’s worst waiter and pint-puller for photograph ops. He admits to having no working-class mates, can’t use a contactless card and feels like an alien when he talks about stacking the dishwasher. One more try-hard bid to look relatable has backfired. In a single day, old-school favourites have turn into Tory trotters. Discuss placing your foot in it.
