adidas is being saved by Pharrell, not Kanye

New York

ADIDAS AG executives are decidedly happy these days, thanks to Pharrell Williams.

While they were throwing euros at Kanye West and letting him run amok in the design department, the sober heads in Herzogenaurach, Germany, pulled out a 45-year-old basketball shoe called the Superstar and put it in Pharrell's hands. adidas declared 2015 "the year of the Superstar" and in March released 50 colour-saturated versions that the soft-spoken pop star promoted in rainbow-laced ads.

adidas designers didn't stop at 50. There were Superstars in metallic gold, red suede and a curry yellow with velcro straps. There were high-top versions and pairs that glow in the dark. People who didn't find a version of Superstars to like could customise one. It was a well-executed example of fashion's best economics: Take a clas…