First released in 1979 originally as the Miler silhouette, the adidas 1609ER is an OG 70s running trainer straight out of the Herzogenaurach archives.
When you start reaching a certain age you find yourself trying to stop yourself saying “back in my day”. Without sounding too much like a bitter near 40 year old going on a nostalgia trip of the 90s & the noughties, whether you like to admit it or not “back in my day” really does apply to some things. One of them things is trainers & as much as brands like adidas have been knocking out some of the best trainer innovation in recent years with groundbreaking silhouettes like the Adizero Adios Pro Evo, it’s the OG silhouettes that will always get the attention of the die hard adi fans. If there’s one running trainer era that really holds it own for “die marke mit den 3 streiffen” its got to be the 1970s. An era that gave us retro running icons like the SL72, the Country, the Marathon & the Miler. All built with performance, stability & comfort at their core with the lightest materials available at the time, there’s just something aesthetically unique about this magical Adi Dassler decade. OG 3 stripes silhouettes like the adidas Miler were born from an era of the Dassler brothers bitterly brotherly rivalry. As running became cool, just like its done in recent years, the 70s was more about short shorts & moustaches as oppose to stopping for sour dough & coffee at some overpriced hipster cafe in a gentrified inner-city suburb. Taking the original DNA of the adidas Miler trainer, the German sportswear brand have now re-introduced their 1609ER trainer in true OG form.
First introduced in 1979, the adidas Miler trainer perfectly captured the whole running trainer boom of the late 1970s. Built for track athletes to get the “fastest mile”, the Miler featured all the traits of the classic running silhouettes from the 1970s. Re-released back in 2010 under a different moniker due to trademark issues, the Miler was revived from the Herzogenaurach archives as the 1609ER trainer, with 1609 referencing the amount of meters that make up a mile.
Back with a big 3 stripes bang for 2026, the 1609ER RS now returns in true OG form for 2026. Features include textile mesh uppers with hairy suede overlays alongside a low-stack EVA midsole which gives a nod to the original cushioning of the classic. Other highlights include a sawtooth rubber outsole for added traction with ‘1609ER’ in gold foiling to the lateral sides. Finished off with trefoil branding to the heel & classic 3 stripes to the sidewalls the 1609ER rekindles that original 3 stripes passion.
