The Kermit the Frog media tour continues. After shocking judges as a contestant on The Masked Singer, joining the National Recording Registry, and doing press for the streaming premiere of The Muppet Show on Disney+, everyone’s favourite felt fellow is back in a new ad spot for adidas Originals. Sitting on a park bench next to Stan Smith—as in, the tennis legend who became an iconic shoe—Kermit waxes poetic about how healing the world through your own small actions can be an intimidating, though not impossible, task. “It’s not easy being green,” he declares. To which Smith replies: “Nothing great ever is.”
It’s a commercial for adidas’ new sustainable Stan Smith made with recyclable materials, which the brand unveiled earlier this year. And lest anyone question Kermit’s greatness, The Green One now has his very own iteration of the silhouette. For the next chapter of its “Stan Smith, Forever” initiative aimed at reducing plastic waste, the Three Stripes is unleashing a new take on the eco-forward version of the sneaker inspired by the hallowed Muppet. (It’s the brand’s first Kermit collab since 2011’s Superstar IIs.)
His Frogness’ Stan Smith does not disappoint. The sneaker boasts a clean white upper made of PRIMEGREEN—a recycled performance fabric that contains no virgin plastic—and matching recycled rubber outsoles, with hits of lime green throughout. It swaps out the silhouette’s classic three stripes for a perforated “K,” while featuring Kermit’s name embossed on the heel and a portrait of his ever-cheerful visage printed on the left tongue (his homie Stan, meanwhile, has his likeness printed on the right tongue). Rounding out the look is another illustration of the Muppet towards the rear, and his mantra, “It’s not easy being green,” embossed across both heel tabs.
We, for one, welcome this new Kermaissance in pop culture. The famed amphibian, after all, is a timeless style icon, rocking some pretty fire fits throughout the years—that is, when he chose to rock anything at all. And all the more power to him for using his platform to fight climate change. If Kermit was able to escape the cruel clutches of his toxic ex Miss Piggy, then truly anything is possible. Here’s to the GOAT. (Greenest of All Time.)
The Stan Smith sneaker featuring Kermit the Frog launches in Canada on April 20, and will be available at adidas.ca/en/stan_smith, as well as adidas stores and select Canadian retailers.
