IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ADIDAS PURPOSE

Some people wake up for a cafecito or a morning run, pero for most, what really gets them moving is something bigger than themselves. It’s family. It’s purpose. It’s the chance to make a difference and create space for others to shine. That drive, that pasión, is what pushes them forward and helps build a better world.

adidas remains committed to showcasing bold and enterprising athletes, artists and cultural visionaries. In turn, they show leadership by uplifting their communities, and sharing their shine with the family and friends who helped light their paths to greatness.

Whether it’s the Mexican pride driving pro-skater Diego Nájera, the family values nurturing design duo With Vivid Color, or the traditions and flavors preserved by renowned chef, Manolo López, we are reminded that the world we hope to wake up to is built together, corazón to corazón.

🌟 VIEW & DOWNLOAD THE COMMUNITY ARCHIVES ZINE HERE 🌟

Manolo López is what his friends call a “Swiss army knife” but “make it Puerto Rican,” he says. An entrepreneur, chef, writer, producer and host of the podcast Identity at Play, López has used his passion for food, along with his boundless curiosity, as vehicles to help advance Puerto Rican culture far and wide.

Now based in New York City, López is the founder of Mofon-GO, the first Puerto Rican food stand in Smorgasburg, Brooklyn’s largest open air food market. In 2024, he opened Café Colmado, a coffee shop in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which Boricuas historically dubbed Losaida. There, he hosts community events which feel like family gatherings, drawing locals of all ages. “The first generations of Puerto Ricans that came here in the ‘40s and ‘50s, they couldn’t pronounce Lower East Side, so they called it Losaida,” he explains. “They endured decades of racism in order to establish themselves here. Now, every time that I walk into a space, I imagine how our community can benefit.”

Before he became an award-winning, multi-disciplinary storyteller, young López was wreaking havoc at home in Aguada, Puerto Rico. His parents, who ran a furniture manufacturing company on the island, grappled with what to make of his excitable, yet untapped energy. When he began using the family’s backyard to throw raging parties—attended by hundreds of local teens—his father not only instructed him to charge admission, but he taught him how to invest the money. Meanwhile, López’s mother—an exemplary chef in her own right—spent two months campaigning for La Escuela Hotelera de San Juan, a culinary school three hours away, to accept her son into the program. At 14, López became the youngest student in the academy, with his mom at his side.

López’s work has often brought him back to the land he was raised in. In 2022, he began producing a YouTube series called Mi Puerto Rico (and its Spanish-language follow-up, Rompiendo el Molde) to showcase the range of culinary excellence and gastronomy on the island of Borikén. Then, in the summer of 2025, he founded Finca La Promesa—a farm and community space in Rincón, a town on the Eastern coast of Puerto Rico, which he shares with his sister and brother-in-law.

“One night, I was just burnt out from all the work that I was doing,” he explains. “And I basically said, ‘My hero's journey ends back home.’” López plans to offer farm to table dining experiences for visitors, as well as private housing units for those seeking the same return. “For me, whatever project that I do is rooted in keeping our culture alive and pushing it forward—not just for Puerto Ricans, but for Latinos,” says López. “That’s what drives me.”

Pro skater Diego Nájera does not simply shred: he levitates. He pirouettes. He and his board sail through the air as if they were virtually weightless. Nájera’s athletic creativity and natural-born finesse have brought him to great heights over the years. He went pro in 2016 as a member of the Primitive Skateboards team and, in 2017, joined the adidas Skateboarding team where he has collaborated on designs for his own signature footwear, such as the Forum 84 ADV and the Sabalo.

In 2024, Nájera walked the runway for the very first time at New York Fashion Week where he was one of several prominent Mexican-Americans who modeled the Spring/Summer 2025 line for star designer Willy Chavarria. They hit it off so well that Nájera would walk again for Chavarria, this time at Paris Fashion Week in January 2025. “I’ve always loved what Willy creates and the meaning behind that particular collection made it even more special,” says Nájera.”When it came time to walk, I wasn’t nervous at all—just full of joy and ready to go. I kept my eyes straight ahead, locked in. No eye contact.”

For Nájera, his unwavering Chicano pride, as well as the values instilled in him by his family—to think positively and uplift one another—played essential roles in his career success. Hailing from El Centro, California, less than a half hour north of the U.S. Mexico border, the now 31-year-old was just five when his older brother gifted him his first skateboard. “My big brother was my role model,” he says. “Not just someone who led, but someone who led with good intentions. Looking back, I realize how special that gift was. I couldn’t get off [the board]. Skating became a real passion for me when I was around 10 years old, but that fun has never gone away.”

Skateboarding has most recently taken Nájera as far as Shanghai and Tokyo, where his authentic and effortless steeze has transcended borders, cultures and languages. He hopes his story can inspire others to believe in themselves, and to build up their communities with as much compassion as he benefitted from in his formative years.

Amid devastating wildfires and waves of gentrification, the look of Los Angeles has evolved a lot over the years. Yet from their home and headquarters in East L.A., husband-wife duo Julien Bleser and Sharnae Caceres—who, in 2020, founded their sign painting and graphics firm With Vivid Color—have perfected a colorful visual language that graces storefronts all over the city, eliciting feelings of nostalgia and belonging among Angelenos.

Bleser grew up in the West L.A. neighborhood of Ladera Heights, where he cultivated his passion for art through graffiti and murals. He came from a family of working artists; his grandmother was a toy designer for Mattel. “I grew up liking pop art, old cartoons, stuff that’s playful and fun,” says Bleser. “I saw how older sign painters would do the window splashes and make them so bright, fun and bold, yet simple and clean. I took that and put my own spin on it.”

Caceres, a Montebello native, took after her own grandmother, who she would assist in meticulously crafting porcelain dolls (and their outfits). “It was arts and crafts,” she said of her grandmother’s hobby. “Then it became textiles, embroidery, set design.” Caceres, who then worked at her father’s accounting firm, decided to invest in her own talent by taking sign painting courses at the L.A. Trade Tech school. It’s where she happened to meet Bleser, an alumnus of the school, who was visiting her class. The encounter was kismet; they would soon become partners in matrimony and, eventually, art.

As a duo, they designed windows, murals and menus for local barber shops and restaurants. They would repurpose vintage fonts from the 1950s, or paint lettering inspired by the sparkling cursive scripts on T-shirts sold at swap meets. Some of their paintings featured characters from Disney, Looney Tunes and the Mexican American comic series Homiez, which Bleser says “is essential California.”

It didn’t take long before With Vivid Color was sought after by streetwear brands like Pleasures, Born × Raised, Supreme and Undefeated to paint their storefronts. In October (2025), the couple celebrated five years of business by releasing the second volume of their art book series, With Vivid Color—and commemorating it with a day party in Alhambra, where they handed out free original coloring books for kids.

“You gotta make sure the client’s happy, and for us, that’s the community,” says Bleser. “You gotta make the community happy, because that’s who sees it. That’s the difference between what a fine artist who paints in their studio does, and what we do.”

EXPLORE THE FULL DIGITAL COMMUNITY ARCHIVES ZINE ACROSS TRENCH.

This article has been produced in collaboration with adidas Purpose, Pitch Blend and TRENCH.