At the tail end of 2023, Timothée Chalamet was spotted in a particularly on-brand outfit. Sitting courtside at an LA Clippers basketball game, it was TC to a tee: a kooky element (in this case, a sweatshirt printed with library shelves) paired with trusty menswear staples (wide-leg black jeans and a baseball cap). Textbook, in more ways than one.

But really, it was the Wonka star’s shoes that caught the internet’s attention. From a quick glance, they seemed just to be a pair of white Nike trainers. Hardly revolutionary. But on further inspection, these were a pair of Nike Field General ’82s: a design from the eighties that had yet to be rereleased.

That happened not long after Chalamet’s endorsement of them. The ‘White, Varsity Red & Black’ colourway that the actor wears, as well as others, dropped in February.

The Nike Field General ’82 was first released in (you guessed it) 1982, originally designed to be worn by quarterbacks during American football games.

Momentum for the heritage silhouette is growing. Trainer fans have endorsed it across social media, from unboxing videos on TikTok and shoutouts in IG #ootd post. And luxury retailers like Mr Porter and LuisaViaRoma are on the hype train too.

“It’s a stand-out heritage pick, which was in line with an emerging trend we’ve seen in classic silhouettes being worn multiple different ways, whether that’s with a pair of selvedge or casually with sweats,” says Dean Walker, END’s buyer and energy director, about why they stocked the silhouette.

“It also has a similar feel to a lot of great Nike collaborations that we’ve been able to release as of late, such as the recent Bode Astro Grabber SPs.”

If you haven’t heard of the aforementioned shoe, you’ll likely have seen it. It was part of a collaboration between Nike and Bode (pronounced Boh-DEE) that hit the stores in April and predictably sold out instantly.

The Astro Grabber SP (the initials stand for ‘special project’) is another rereleased model, this time from the seventies, that was designed by Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. It was also made for American football players, and was the first shoe to be designed with the brand’s famed waffle sole. Emily Bode Aujla slightly updated the shape and sole for today’s aesthetes, the ‘Black’ in smooth leather and ‘Natural’ with a canvas-knit exterior. Both designs are finished with eclectic football charms that resemble those that the designer wears on a bracelet.

Minus the quirks of the Bode collab, and you have shoes that are very similar to the Field General ’82 – a Google search of the former will suggest the latter as the first option to buy. Convenient, eh! A now unattainable hypey collab (unless you want to drop $975+ on StockX) happens to resemble a $175 mainline silhouette by the same brand, an alternative for the slow-to-react fashion crowd to shop.

Nike x Bode Astro Grabber SP

We’ve seen this strategy play out with the Adidas Samba. Before 2020, the football ‘kicks were nowhere near as popular as they are today. That was the year when British-Jamaican designer Wales Bonner updated the silhouette in her first collaboration with the German marque. Style stalwarts started sporting the trainers, and those who couldn’t get their hands on the fast-selling drops looked to the originals as an option. Next, the masses who don’t know their Bottega from their Balenciaga clocked on, and the rest is history. Even the ex-prime minister was seen sporting a pair.

Jeremy Priest, a stylish 27-year-old who is neither a sneakerhead nor religiously checking Vogue Runway for the next season’s collections, brought a pair of FGs after spotting them on his friend’s Instagram, thinking they’d make a great everyday trainer. He wore them to a different pal’s home, who upon seeing Priest’s shoes paired with a white tee and jeans, went to change into a white tee, jeans and pair of Field General 82s. Priest shows me the pic of them standing side by side, the two of them laughing at their identical outfits.

“I think they sit in a cool little pocket where they’re super minimal in tone/material/silhouette but are somehow still maximalist to look at – as if they’re shouting in subtitles,” he says to me. “Also, I’m just so sick of Nikes looking like theme park maps.”

He goes on to explain how he’s started seeing more and more people in Field General ’82s – but not enough to concern him that they’re about to become too mainstream. The journey of the Samba and its oversaturation – from fashion sneaker to Westminster workwear – has been a cautionary tale.

Still, while the three-striped is nearing the end of its reign for those concerned about trendsetting, its undoubtedly been great for the brand. In April, Adidas pushed up its profit targets for the year partly due to the Samba’s success, with their shares increasing by 25% while Nike’s fell 26%.

Could this be the US-brand’s bid to make the next universally-loved, highly-profitable shoe? It has the same essence of the Samba: vintage design, a cool collab to associate it with and celebrity endorsement.

“We’ve definitely seen a shift towards more low-profile offerings across the board recently, and there will always be instances where a big trend is informed by sports,” says Walker.

“The difference with Nike is that it’s steeped with history and has such great nostalgic imagery behind each silhouette. It might rival the Samba, but I think the FG 82s strengths are that it’s a great in-the-know addition, yet it’s not pretentious.”

Enough to leave Adidas HQ quaking in their football boots? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Nike Field General 82 SP White, Varsity Red and Black

$165 from End Clothing

Nike Field General 82 SP Black and White

$165 from End Clothing

Nike Field General 82 SP White, Gum Yellow and Summit White

$160 from Above The Clouds

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This story originally appeared on Esquire UK