There was a time when the words "ballet sneaker" would have sounded like a contradiction.
A ballet flat was a ballet flat.
A sneaker was a sneaker.
You didn't need a degree in footwear to tell the difference.
Then adidas put a strap on a Samba.
South Africa bought them.
And suddenly, here we are.
The Sneakerina has officially entered the chat.
But here's the question nobody seems to be asking:
Did adidas help start South Africa's Sneakerina era?
Let's go back to the Samba Jane
The adidas Samba had already conquered South Africa.
We all know the story.
At one point, you could probably walk through Braamfontein, Rosebank or Sandton and spot enough Sambas to form a five-a-side team.
Then adidas did something slightly risky.
They took the Samba and made it a Mary Jane.
Same terrace DNA. Same instantly recognisable Three Stripes. Same gum sole.
But instead of simply tying the laces and walking away, adidas added a strap across the foot.
The Samba Jane was born.
And South Africans didn't exactly reject it.
Then came the Ruffle Pack.
And this is where things got really interesting.
Because adidas didn't just make a Samba more feminine.
They leaned into it.
The ruffles made the shoe look softer, prettier and slightly more playful than the terrace sneaker South Africa had become so familiar with.
On paper, it sounds like the kind of thing sneakerheads should have hated.
Instead, people wanted them.
And that tells us something.
The South African sneaker consumer was already willing to bend the definition of what a sneaker could look like.
The Samba didn't have to be chunky.
It didn't have to scream "performance."
It didn't even have to look particularly sporty anymore.
It could be feminine.
It could be delicate.
It could look like a Mary Jane.
And still be a sneaker.
That was the opening.
adidas didn't stop at the Samba Jane
This is where I think adidas deserves more credit.
If the Samba Jane had been a one-off experiment, we'd probably just remember it as another strange variation of the Samba.
But adidas kept going.
And going.
And going.
Now the brand has an entire Balletcore section on its South African website, with the Samba Jane sitting alongside Taekwondo Mei ballet styles and other low-profile silhouettes.
That's not an accident.
That's a strategy.
The Taekwondo Mei is arguably an even bigger statement.
The shoe was originally inspired by adidas' early-2000s Taekwondo footwear, but the modern version has been reimagined as a sporty ballet flat, with a slim profile, leather construction and delicate proportions. Adidas itself describes it as a "sporty ballet flat."
Think about how far we've travelled.
We went from:
Samba → Samba Jane → Samba Jane Ruffle → Taekwondo → Taekwondo Mei Ballet.
That's not one trend.
That's a brand repeatedly testing the same idea from different angles.
And South Africa is watching.
This is where the Sneakerina comes in
"Sneakerina" is obviously a ridiculous word.
And somehow, it is perfect.
Sneaker + ballerina.
That's basically the whole thing.
A shoe that borrows the low profile and delicate shape of a ballet flat while keeping enough sneaker DNA to stop it from becoming an actual ballet flat.
It sounds like fashion nonsense.
Until you see one on someone's feet.
Then it starts making sense.
The interesting thing is that the Sneakerina isn't trying to compete with the chunky running shoe.
It isn't trying to replace your Air Max.
It exists in a completely different part of the wardrobe.
It's the shoe you wear with baggy jeans.
A mini skirt.
A football jersey.
A pair of cargos.
A dress.
And suddenly the outfit feels a little more fashion-forward without looking like you spent three hours trying to become a fashion influencer.
That's probably part of why the silhouette has lasted.
And now Puma wants in
Of course, adidas isn't going to have the whole playground to itself.
Puma has clearly been paying attention.
The brand has taken its already-successful Speedcat - the slim, racing-inspired sneaker that went from motorsport heritage to one of fashion's favourite low-profile shoes - and pushed it directly into ballet territory.
Enter the Speedcat Ballet.
Puma describes it as a reinterpretation of the Speedcat inspired by classic ballet flats, with a slip-on construction, elastic detailing and that unmistakable racing DNA underneath it all.
And Puma isn't stopping at one version.
Its South African site now has an entire ballet category with multiple Speedcat Ballet variations, including Nova, Satin, Lustre, Metallic and Dress-Up versions.
That is important.
Because Puma isn't entering a trend with one random product.
It's building around it.
The message is basically:
"Oh, you like ballet sneakers? Cool. We have more."
So did adidas actually start it?
Here's where things get complicated.
No, adidas didn't invent the Sneakerina.
Fashion has been playing with ballet flats, Mary Janes, slim trainers and hybrid footwear for years.
And globally, the Sneakerina conversation was already growing before South Africa started giving it serious attention.
But that's not really the question.
The better question is:
Did adidas help make the Sneakerina feel normal to South African sneaker culture?
And I think there's a pretty strong argument that they did.
Because adidas didn't suddenly release one ballet sneaker and hope for the best.
They had the Samba.
Then they changed the Samba.
South Africans embraced the Samba Jane.
Then came more variations.
Then Taekwondo became part of the conversation.
And now adidas South Africa literally has a Balletcore category filled with these silhouettes.
That's a pretty impressive progression.
And South Africa is not exactly an easy sneaker market
This is the part that makes the story interesting locally.
South African sneaker culture is serious.
We have people who will debate a colourway for 40 minutes.
People who know the difference between five almost-identical shades of cream.
People who will tell you that a sneaker was better before it became popular.
People who will happily spend their last R2,000 on shoes and then figure out transport later.
So when a silhouette this different starts getting accepted, it says something.
The Sneakerina isn't replacing the sneaker.
It's expanding what South Africans consider a sneaker.
That's the bigger cultural shift.
A sneaker can now be feminine.
A sneaker can be flat.
A sneaker can have a strap.
A sneaker can look like a ballet shoe.
And nobody has to ask whether it is "really" a sneaker anymore.
And honestly, the timing makes sense
Sneaker culture has been obsessed with the low-profile silhouette for a while.
The Samba.
Gazelle.
Handball Spezial.
Speedcat.
All of them pulled us away from the giant, overbuilt sneaker.
Then ballet came back.
Mary Janes came back.
Fashion started flirting with hyper-feminine styling.
Eventually, someone was always going to put the two together.
The Sneakerina is basically what happens when sneaker culture and ballet culture stop pretending they live in separate houses.
And adidas was already standing at the front door.
But here's where Puma could change the game
Puma has something adidas doesn't.
The Speedcat already has a very different identity.
It isn't a terrace shoe.
It comes from racing.
It has that slightly rebellious, Y2K, motorsport energy.
So when Puma turns it into a ballet sneaker, the result doesn't feel like adidas copying itself.
It feels like a different interpretation of the same movement.
Adidas says:
"What if the terrace sneaker became feminine?"
Puma says:
"What if the racing sneaker became feminine?"
And suddenly the Sneakerina isn't one shoe.
It's a battlefield.
So what's next?
This is the part I actually want to see.
Because if brands keep pushing this, we're going to get some absolutely ridiculous combinations.
Metallic Sneakerinas.
Animal-print Sneakerinas.
Football-inspired Sneakerinas.
Platform Sneakerinas.
Maybe even a chunky Sneakerina.
Actually, let's hope not.
But fashion has already taught us that once people decide something is cool, there are no rules anymore.
And South Africa is already participating.
The Samba Jane isn't some strange foreign trend waiting to arrive here.
The Taekwondo Mei isn't some European fashion experiment happening on another continent.
The Speedcat Ballet is already being sold locally.
The conversation is already happening.
The Sneakerina is here.
So, did adidas start South Africa's Sneakerina era?
Maybe not.
But if we're looking at the brands that helped make the idea familiar, adidas has a pretty convincing case.
The Samba Jane opened the door.
The Ruffle Pack pushed it further.
Taekwondo walked straight through it.
And now Puma is standing behind them saying:
"Move over. We're coming too."
Which means the real story isn't whether the Sneakerina is a trend.
It's what happens when South Africa stops seeing it as weird.
Because that's usually when a trend becomes culture.
And judging by what we've already seen?
We might be past that point already.
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