Sports clothing major Adidas has worked with avant garde designer Jeremy Scott on many shoes for its Adidas Originals collection. But a recently unveiled design has caused so much controversy that the company has nixed its plans to sell them and offered an apology for causing offense. Called the JS Roundhouse Mids, some people were repulsed at the “chain & shackle” design which reminded them of slavery in the African American community.

Scott on the other hand said on Twitter that the sneakers were inspired by the 1980s doll ‘My Pet Monster.’ The popular plush toy inspired a short-lived animated television series featuring a purple-and-blue monster that broke free of orange chains that resembled those on the sneakers. Nonetheless, the “chain & shackle” image has a bad connotation according to some and they were quite vocal about accusing the designer (and Adidas) for evoking racism.

The “kicks” have caused so much controversy that Adidas issued a statement saying:

Our collaboration with Jeremy Scott has always stood for creativity and originality. Jeremy Scott is renowned as a designer whose style is quirky and lighthearted and his previous shoe designs for adidas Originals have, for example, included panda heads and Mickey Mouse. The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery. Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, Adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available to the marketplace.

So if you were looking forward to collecting this $350 pair, now you can’t. Let us know in the comments if you think it was the right decision on Adidas’ part to cancel these “handcuff” shoes.

Adidas shackle shoes
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Adidas handcuff shoes
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[Via USA Today]

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