Before long, all except for a few crusty old sneakerheads had forgot the tyre-inspired shoe. But all was not lost, two decades after its disappearance designer Nic Galway was wandering the archives at Three Stripe central when he happened upon the OG Radical. He’d been dreaming of ways to use the brand’s heritage to take customers on a new journey and the old runners were just the thing. It wasn’t so much the technical features that got him thinking, but more the concept that the designers had been working with – the prototypes and the thought processes they illustrated.

Those first 500 were recieved well, and just a year later the Tubular line launched, utilising all of the tech the Radical prototypes had pioneered. The Tubular 2 came with an external pump that could be attached to a valve on the side of the shoe. It was offered as the lightweight option, without the inbuilt mechanics, but only had two adjustable air bags in the heel and a forefoot that was cushioned with EVA foam. On the bulkier side of things the Tubular 4 had an integrated pump on the side and four separate air chambers, clearly based off the beta version of the previous year.

The mind of a sneaker designer exists in a temporal limbo – creating for the future with constant reference to the past. It’s up to them to integrate cutting edge know-how into new styles while staying one step ahead of present trends. From time to time concepts can stray a little too far into the future, resulting in ideas that the world is not yet ready for – such are the perils of the visionary. The adidas Tubular was one such idea, but fortunately it got a shot at redemption.