Mid last year saw the first SPEZIAL exhibition in London, the pinnacle in long time three stripe devotee Gary Aspden’s journey to uncover the heavy cultural context surrounding the adidas brand via the showcasing of product collections of some of its most passionate fans. This week sees the next phase in the project, with the launch of the adidas Originals x SPEZIAL capsule collection at Oki Ni.

Curated by Aspden, the archive-inspired collection for FW14 takes the concept behind the exhibition and transforms it into a fully fledged range of clothing and footwear. “Growing up in the North West of England in the 70s and 80s adidas was (and still is) the brand we all gravitated towards,” explains Aspden. “I grew up loving the sophistication of European sportswear brands.” It’s a fondness that pushes through strong today, founded in the character injected into streetwear brands by their wearers, from shelf to street.

As Aspden explains, it was this that sparked a need to react against the effects of our shrinking digital world on the zeitgeist now. “Now you have this very homogenised, global culture. I wanted to do something contrary to that.”

The collection lines up a mix of sportswear and leisurewear (fact: the latter’s alignment with the brand dates back 40 years to the era of Adi Dassler himself), the new capsule reworking this heritage in premium fabrics and contemporary cuts. The footwear, for example, takes four classic adidas silhouettes and tweaks them with adjustments to upper patterns, the hybrid results marrying up different elements of staple styles. The hard work’s done for you – all you need to do is make your stamp.