It’s been a long time since one pair of sneakers has been anticipated as much as the newest design from D Lillard 1, but fans have already taken to social media to express their excitement with the design, which was modeled after the old carpet that once lined the floors of the Portland Airport.
Carpets might cover 70% of flooring in the U.S., but few carpets have been as recognizable as the purple and blue lines that decorated the airport’s sea green carpet.
When the Portland Airport ripped out its old carpeting last year, travelers around the globe shared their grief at the loss of the beloved design via social media.
The carpet has been on the floor of the airport for about 20 years, according to WDSU News, but in the past couple of years it became an iconic design, specific to Portland. As KGW News and Oregon Live have reported, travelers began taking pictures of their sneakers on the floor and posting the pictures to social media accounts with the hashtag #pdxcarpet as a way of announcing their arrival in the city.
As a way of commemorating the Portland “landmark,” Adidas joined forces with Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard to design a new sneaker with the color palette of the carpet.
On May 19, Lillard tweeted “I’ve got something special for my PDX fans coming real soon,” along with a photo of his own Adidas-brand sneakers standing on the carpet; a picture of the new carpet-themed sneakers was released shortly after.
Anyone unfamiliar with the iconic carpet of Portland may find the new sneakers a bit odd, but this is hardly the first time that the design has created a flurry of social media activity — there have already been several items, like socks and t-shirts, emblazoned with the PDX design.