The adidas x Pharrell Williams sneaker and the missing release in South Africa

adidas x Pharrell Williams' NMD HU "Clear Aqua" sneaker, which was released last May 14, has come at the center of a controversy in South Africa. On the upper of the sneaker is written the word "Uluntu" which is a word in Xhosa language that can be translated as "community", "human race" or "humanity". What has caused controversy, however, is the fact that this very sneaker will not be available on the South African market – a controversy that is further aggravated when you consider that the Xhosa community is the second largest cultural group in South Africa and its language is one of the official languages of the country. A representative of adidas' South African division confirmed to Business Insider that the sneaker will not be available in the country. 

The failure to release the sneaker in South Africa is certainly to be considered a mistake error in the distribution model. It's in fact a usual strategy, in the sneaker industry, to increase the value of a certain release by promoting its scarcity and making some silhouettes more difficult to buy than others that are instead distributed globally. At the moment it's not clear why the distribution of the shoe on the South African market was not foreseen – drawing inspiration from a country's culture for a product that will never be sold in that country is not only an apparent case of cultural appropriation but also sounds commercially illogic, considering that the shoe would probably have sold out in the country.