New Orleans has always operated on two frequencies at once. There is what you can see and what you can feel, the city that exists in daylight and the one that comes alive in the hours between. Politics x Reebok Workout Plus 'Wishing Ritual' lives in that space between the visible and the hidden, drawing from the rituals and legends that have shaped New Orleans into something no other place on earth quite resembles. This project did not start with a shoe. It started with a question about what it means to leave a mark and whether anything is listening.

The design answers that question slowly. The Workout Plus arrives in an all-white premium leather upper that appears clean on the surface, deliberate in its restraint. But exposure to water reveals what was always there beneath it, hidden "XXX" markings that emerge like something uncovered rather than applied. That reveal is the whole point. The eggshell outsole grounds the silhouette in something worn and familiar, while the classic side panel carries Politics branding in place of the usual mark. A terry-knit sock liner finishes the interior with a softness that feels almost ceremonial, close to the skin and quiet about it.

The "XXX" motif carries weight that goes beyond decoration. Rooted in the spiritual traditions of New Orleans, the practice of marking surfaces as a form of petition is one of the city's most enduring and personal rituals. The marks represent a conversation with something beyond reach, made not for display but for meaning. 'Wishing Ritual' borrows from that tradition without claiming to own it.

The campaign visuals pull from the city itself. Worn concrete, fog over wrought iron, chipped walls that have absorbed decades of weather and witness. New Orleans ages differently than other places. It accumulates rather than erases, and the world built around this project reflects that quality. The shoe fits naturally inside it, looking less like something dropped into a setting and more like something that belonged there all along.

The Politics x Reebok Workout Plus 'Wishing Ritual' releases Saturday, April 11, 2026 online at sneakerpolitics.com at 9 AM CT and in-store at all Sneaker Politics locations at 11 AM CT for $140 USD. A 20th anniversary mark on the insole ties the release to this chapter of Politics history, a quiet detail that connects the ritual of this project to the longer story of what this brand has been building since the beginning.