About

Adidas SL 72

The number in the name is a year. The SL 72 was made for the 1972 sports year, when the Munich Games were approaching, and the letters stand for super light. That was the whole brief: a training shoe that weighed as little as possible. Nylon instead of leather, suede only where necessary, and a sole that has more tread than mass.

Buy an OG or an RS?

This is the question that matters for this model, because the two versions filling the stores differ fundamentally. The OG follows the original: a thin, low sole with a gum-coloured bottom and hardly any build-up. The RS places the same upper on a thicker, stacked midsole with an extra layer in between, higher and with noticeably more cushioning. From the side the difference is visible at a glance by the sole height. If you want the seventies silhouette, choose the OG; if you walk a lot every day, the RS is the more comfortable of the two.

The sole is a sawtooth

Turn the shoe over and the tread runs like a row of teeth from toe to heel, the same sawtooth idea that the Samba carries beneath it. The brand name with the trefoil is embossed on the side of the midsole. The toe has a suede cap that folds up around the toe, and the heel has a suede reinforcement panel; between them the upper is smooth nylon with the three serrated stripes across it.

A little box as a signature

On the heel panel, just before the suede heel piece, there is a small gold-coloured frame with the brand name and the model name beneath it. That box logo appears on every version examined for this text, from bright green-yellow to muted brown, and together with sole height is the quickest check in an untitled photo.

What it’s next to

The SL 72 belongs to the lightweight line from the archive, alongside the Gazelle, which in suede offers the same kind of simplicity, and opposite the Handball Spezial, which is built for indoor use. Within that group this is the sprinter: the least material, the most tread.

On this page you can see which versions of the Adidas SL 72 are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, what price they start at and in how many shops they are in stock.