Fear of God designer Jerry Lorenzo says that his work at Adidas, and his Fear of God Athletics sub-label there, is not done yet.
In a Substack story published on Monday, fashion industry analyst and Snobette co-founder Lois Sakany wrote that, “Fear Of God Athletic’s So-Called Era Is Coming To An End.” Her breakdown of the collaboration begins with what sounds like an unconfirmed death knell for Fear of God x Adidas.
“No official announcement yet, but word on the street is that Adidas will not renew it’s [sic] contract with Jerry Lorenzo and Fear of God Athletics when it comes to an end this year,” Sakany wrote. “(The brand did not respond to my request to confirm.) The brand is currently in the midst of queuing up Fear of God Athletics Drop 4, which will be among the final launches for the brand.”
When Complex reached Lorenzo for comment, the designer said that he’d not seen the rumor about Adidas deciding against renewing its partnership with Fear of God, but affirmed in his reply that there are more sneakers coming from the collaboration.
“With Adidas we have the Fear of God II coming at the end of this year,” Lorenzo told Complex on Tuesday. “The III hits Holiday ‘25. After that, the future will be determined by the promise fulfilled by these next two performance shoes.”
The Fear of God designer spoke to the shifting nature of his role at Adidas—when the collaboration was first announced, in December 2020, Lorenzo was positioned as the new head of creative for Adidas Basketball. Adidas and Lorenzo pivoted away from that plan, which delayed the arrival of Adidas’ first drop of Fear of God Athletics, the performance-focused pillar in his brand portfolio.
The first full collection from Lorenzo under Fear of God Athletics didn’t arrive until November 2023. It was, by most accounts, a sluggish start.
“The partnership started off with too many ambitions outside of the purity of creating a single product,” Lorenzo said. “Now for the final year and a half, the focus is simply there.”
Adidas’ response to Complex’s questions about the status of Lorenzo’s deal did not clarify whether it’s renewed the partnership.
“While we don’t comment on the details of our contracts, we can confirm we are already working on exciting plans for 2025 together,” Adidas said.
Lorenzo believes that the upcoming Fear of God Athletics sneakers from Adidas will finally deliver on his vision for performance basketball sneakers. When his first Adidas basketball shoe, the Fear of God Athletics 1, released last year, it was more of a lifestyle shoe than he’d intended it to be.
“In my mind the [Adidas Fear of God Athletics] II is our first true uncompromised basketball shoe,” Lorenzo said on Tuesday. “The III, poetically, will be the best version of the promise dated back to December 2020.”
He quipped that he might even name the forthcoming Fear of God III the “Question 2,” an apparent callback to his Allen Iverson-referencing swan song shoe at Nike.
Lorenzo’s comments to Complex do not preclude Sakany’s info from bearing out, and he didn’t reply to the specific claim that Adidas isn’t renewing with Fear of God Athletics. But, per the designer, the end of Fear of God and Adidas is not yet nigh.
“As the future of the relationship is not clear,” Lorenzo said, “either way it goes, both Adidas and Fear of God Athletics will be in a better place after the III hits.”
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