Ggiata and adidas Take Over Family Style LA with Exclusive XLG 2.0 Drop

A Perfect Combo

Sneakers and sandwiches aren’t all that different if you think about it.

They are both about a footlong, come wrapped in paper, and start out clean before eventually getting messy. When you find a really good one, you may have to wait in a super long line for it. But it’s worth it when you open up the packaging and take that first sniff. They kind of make the perfect pairing.

Not sure why I hadn’t seen the similarities before, as I’ve certainly bought enough of each in my life. But when they were both put on a platter together as part of adidas and Ggiata’s collaboration at Family Style in LA this weekend, it just all made sense. A big-time sandwich to demolish while admiring your new larger-than-life Adistar XLGs. A combo that makes you feel good on the inside and outside—as long as you don’t let any of the pastrami cheesesteak fall on your new blue Squids.

Ggiata Creates Exclusive XLG Menu Item

Most bites at most food festivals are small little Costco samples, but Family Style is not most festivals. It’s the ultimate collaboration between the fashion and food worlds, and every brand and restaurant came to play in LA. Everywhere you turned, some of the best chefs from around the world were slinging insane dishes that could only be had at Family Style. There were a lot of big flavors but none bigger than Ggiata’s unreal pastrami cheesesteak, a melty masterpiece of RC Provisions pastrami, creamy Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, hot cherry peppers, and Russian dressing all piled up on a seeded baguette. Of all the things getting seeded on Saturday at Family Style, this baguette was the best in show.

Family Stylers could order the adidas x Ggiata cheesesteak one of two ways: regular, which was still a pretty hefty sandwich, especially if you were enjoying the festival to its full potential and were already 5 or 6 tacos and a burger deep; or XLG style to match the mega theme of the activation. The XLG Pastrami Cheesesteak was like a mile long and Ggiata claimed it would feed up to 10 people, but those 10 would have to be hungry as hell. I’m thinking this bad boy could have fed the entire 53-man roster of the Rams.

The adidas x Ggiata XLG Experience

A towering picnic table, shoeboxes bigger than a studio apartment, and jumbo games of cornhole and Jenga made attendees feel like they were starring in Honey, I Shrunk the Sneakerhead. Pairs of the brand new Hi-Res Blue colorway of the adidas Adistar XLG 2.0 aka Squids were up for grabs and awarded to winners of the games, while players could cool off with XLG-themed drinks from RC Cafe. The purple ‘X’ drink was phenomenal and quite refreshing on a warm day. I went back for it a few times when the Water Tent lines were long.

As I awaited my new pair of XLGs in a size 13–shout out the 13rotherhood–I saw multiple people ditching the shoes they wore to the festival to go straight-to-foot with the Squids. This says a lot about how comfortable this shoe is and how many steps festival-goers were putting in, ready to risk a brand new pair of bright white and blue sneakers as they hiked back and forth across LA State Historic Park to make sure they didn’t miss a bite or a beat from their favorite restaurants and musicians, respectively. Gonna take a lot of 10,000-step days to work off a 10-foot pastrami cheesesteak, but the XLG is up to the task, and then some.

Trying the adidas Adistar XLG 2.0 Hi-Res Blue

I broke mine out for the travel day home, full of long security lines and treks to changed gates, then back to the previous gate because you thought you left your headphones in the seat next to you but they were actually sitting on top of your hat the whole time so you wasted the 15-minute window on your layover you thought you’d have to get Bojangles. I can’t even imagine going through something like that in a lesser sneaker, having to settle for Biscoff breakfast while your feet are sore? Couldn’t be me, not in my XLG. Boom free ad campaign, adidas.

Normally, the airport isn’t my desired location for breaking in a new pair of shoes, but they actually wouldn’t fit in my bag. Not saying that as a slight on the sneaker at all. The XLG isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It’s huge and it knows it. And it’s not being big for big’s sake, either. The XLG is brimming with substance, stacking reflective safety features and molded RPU support cages on top of a healthy layer of ADIPRENE cushioning, all working in delicious unison.

It’s basically the pastrami cheesesteak of the sneaker world.

Check Out Our Comparison of the adidas XLG 2.0 and Jellyfish

Drew London

Drew oversees content at Sole Retriever and hates writing in the 3rd person soooo I'm going to stop. I've written for countless blogs and magazines, from Complex to XXL and everywhere in between. Spent a long time in LA, running content and working on branded collabs at The Hundreds. Now, I'm back home on the East Coast freezing my ass off. Email me at drew@soleretriever.com with scoops, story ideas, and size 13 heat.