Checks vs. Stripes: What's So Bad About Wearing Nike & adidas Together?

Ah, the age-old question. Can I wear those really comfortable adidas socks with my Nike Air Force 1s? Long story short, do whatever the hell you want. No one’s gonna lose sleep over you reppin’ those Air Jordan 3s with some adidas joggers. Might you get funny looks? Yes. Might you just feel uncomfortable all day but not be able to put your finger on why? Yes. But you do you, boo.

Think about it though: is this really the way you want to live your life? Looking disorganised? Non-committal? On the flip side, the fact you didn’t get round to thinking about what socks go with which shoes could show that you’ve got your shit together and don’t have time to be worrying about such trivial things. However, many sneakerheads might argue you just look clueless. There’s so many ways this question has been interpreted, and what you choose to do is completely up to you, but let’s take a deep dive into why Nike x adidas ‘fits are so frowned upon by the streetwear community.

Taking the query to Twitter, 445 people voted on the controversial and argument-inducing topic. After 24 hours, the results were in - and it was a close call! 45% of voters reaffirmed that wearing Nike and adidas in the same outfit is fine. One voter commented ‘wear what you like, don’t be silly’, which is understandable, but still 55% of voters disagreed with him. You absolutely cannot, without a doubt, wear checks and stripes together. Why is this? Either way, there was no landslide result meaning we’re going to have to look at this a bit more closely.

The results from The Sole Supplier HQ were much more clear. Asking 20 TSS employees, 70% made it clear that you’d never catch them wearing the two competing sports brands in the same outfit. Interestingly enough though, even upon voting for ‘No’, a conversation began surrounding when it is acceptable to break these unwritten rules.

One of these ‘exceptions’ was regarding sponsorship and professional athletes. Quite often, you’ll see footballers, basketball players, NFL teams and the like, sporting adidas boots with a Nike team kit and vice versa. So arguably, what difference should it make whether you’re on or off the court? Also in a lot of instances, a footballer’s team will be sponsored by one brand, whilst the athlete's personal brand is sponsored by the other. Usually though, if allegiances match up, you’ll see one brand, and one brand only, making up the outfit. One commenter described it as simply as thus: “you wouldn’t mix sports teams, so why mix sports brands?”. The allegiance is strong with this one.

Perhaps that’s it: humans crave belonging and a sense of community. It’s in our nature. Whether you’re on team adidas or team Nike (this is probably down to which brand’s clothing or sneakers you prefer to wear most often), due to your stubbornness you’ll probably stick to whichever you opted for at the age of 13, for the rest of your life. Shame, but such is life and we can’t change the way we are when it comes to adi vs. Nike.

This being said, logo-mania outfits in any way, shape or form are wrong: Nike and adidas or otherwise. Since the beginning of fashion as we know it, it’s been labelled as a rather big and “tacky” faux-pas to show off multiple large logos in one outfit. So it seems fair enough to translate this to a Nike x adidas outfit, too. Whilst on the catwalk you’ll see a cacophony of colour and patterns no matter the season, but many will reaffirm that a more minimalist approach is transferable to your everyday lifestyle and streetwear ‘fits.

During the survey, others commented on strictly a Nike shoes and adidas socks ban (and vice versa). Others said this was not far enough, Nike sneakers worn with adidas joggers is still not correct. Others agreed that Nike kicks, neutral bottoms, and an adidas hoodie/jacket was acceptable. The argument being, the further apart the items of clothing, the better the ‘fit. At the end of the day, if you’ve got an adi sweatshirt that perfectly matches those Forces you always wear, then why not rock both?

Confirming the fact that adi sneakers and Nike socks is a match made in hell and a guaranteed way of giving people the ick was a certain controversial feed post by a popular retailer, who reposted an on-foot look of adidas Ozweego worn with Nike socks on Instagram. In a flurry of responses, the company was met with complaints regarding how they could have possibly reposted this; serious comments or otherwise, it was beyond obvious that people noticed. One commenter took it to the limit, claiming that there was a lack of respect for the Ozweegos when pairing them with Swoosh-adorned socks! Nevertheless, said company obviously decided that any engagement was good engagement, so reposted a variation of the same image not even a week later. Fair play.

In recent years, we’ve seen a plethora of crazy collabs cause a stir in the scene. What would happen if competitors Nike and adidas joined forces to produce a collaborative sneaker or clothing line? Following in the footsteps of Gucci and Balenciaga, can you imagine a Swoosh ladened Ultra Boost? Or if the check on the Air Force 1 was replaced by three stripes on the sidewall? What would the world have come to? It’s barely even worth thinking about.

That being said, the two companies have so many good qualities that could be bunched together to create one mega collection - no one can deny this. Although there’s still some part of this that would feel unnatural. Nevertheless, those who are stuck on the fence and caught between the two brands would have the best of both worlds. Though, for the one TSS employee who said, “IMO, I don’t think it’s allowed at all. Even adidas with Converse is dangerous!”, then perhaps this won’t even be a compromise for them.

Whether you simply wear things that ‘go together’, or think more deeply about which brands you wear with which, there’s no denying that the German giant and Oregon-born brand have shaped the sportswear, streetwear and sneaker scenes into what they are today. Of course, you can wear what you like: chances are no one will notice. However, for a certain few in the sphere, wearing Nike and adidas in the same outfit is, and always will be, blasphemous, and we should respect the unwritten rules of those who choose to live by them.

What do you think? Are you happy to rock the competing brands together at the same time? Or does something about that not sit quite right with you? Let us know over on Twitter. Remember, you can find the latest Nike releases and adidas drops on our app. Download today and make sure to sign up for release reminders for your favourite sneakers. We’d love to welcome you to the TSS family!

Looking to swot up on other controversial topics? Check out why the Jordan 1 Mid is so unpopular right here.