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    adidas Superstar

    adidas Superstar

    1013 articles

    Durability made this shoe a basketball star; its style made it a star everywhere else.

    adidas Superstar 360 S82711
    • adidas
    • Superstar 360
    • S82711
    • $148
    adidas Pharrell Williams Superstar Primeknit S42930
    • adidas
    • Pharrell Williams Superstar Primeknit
    • S42930
    • $227
    adidas Pharrell Williams Superstar Primeknit S42929
    • adidas
    • Pharrell Williams Superstar Primeknit
    • S42929
    • $260
    adidas Pharrell Williams Superstar Primeknit S42926
    • adidas
    • Pharrell Williams Superstar Primeknit
    • S42926
    • $282
    adidas Superstar 360 S32130
    • adidas
    • Superstar 360
    • S32130
    • $165
    adidas Superstar Q47342
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • Q47342
    • $196
    adidas Superstar Q47184
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • Q47184
    • $238
    adidas Superstar Hanami IG9648
    • adidas
    • Superstar Hanami
    • IG9648
    • $275
    adidas Superstar 82 IG4691
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • IG4691
    • $277
    adidas Superstar 82 IG2477
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • IG2477
    • $300
    adidas Superstar 82 IF7465
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • IF7465
    • $298
    adidas Superstar 82 IF7464
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • IF7464
    • $305
    adidas Superstar Golf ID9298
    • adidas
    • Superstar Golf
    • ID9298
    • $150
    adidas Superstar HR1433
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HR1433
    • $338
    adidas Superstar Bonega 2B HQ9884
    • adidas
    • Superstar Bonega 2B
    • HQ9884
    • $170
    adidas Superstar HQ9113
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ9113
    • $150
    adidas Superstar 82 HQ8877
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • HQ8877
    • $160
    adidas Superstar 82 HQ8876
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • HQ8876
    • $160
    adidas Adifom Superstar HQ8752
    • adidas
    • Adifom Superstar
    • HQ8752
    • $186
    adidas Adifom Superstar HQ8750
    • adidas
    • Adifom Superstar
    • HQ8750
    • $178
    adidas Superstar 82 HQ6750
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • HQ6750
    • $160
    adidas Superstar Millencon HQ6039
    • adidas
    • Superstar Millencon
    • HQ6039
    • $170
    adidas Superstar HQ4344
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ4344
    • $142
    adidas Superstar HQ4290
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ4290
    • $95
    adidas Superstar HQ4289
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ4289
    • $152
    adidas Superstar HQ4287
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ4287
    • $115
    adidas Superstar HQ4285
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ4285
    • $95
    adidas Superstar HQ4256
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ4256
    • $160
    adidas Superstar 360 2.0 HQ4124
    • adidas
    • Superstar 360 2.0
    • HQ4124
    • $80
    adidas Superstar 360 2.0 HQ4122
    • adidas
    • Superstar 360 2.0
    • HQ4122
    • $65
    adidas Superstar 360 HQ4093
    • adidas
    • Superstar 360
    • HQ4093
    • $80
    adidas Superstar 360 HQ4091
    • adidas
    • Superstar 360
    • HQ4091
    • $70
    adidas Superstar Taegeukdang HQ3612
    • adidas
    • Superstar Taegeukdang
    • HQ3612
    • $474
    adidas Superstar HQ2168
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ2168
    • $140
    adidas Superstar HQ2167
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ2167
    • $140
    adidas Superstar HQ1937
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ1937
    • $140
    adidas Superstar HQ1936
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ1936
    • $140
    adidas Superstar HQ1906
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HQ1906
    • $140
    adidas x Marimekko Superstar HP9779
    • adidas
    • x Marimekko Superstar
    • HP9779
    • $140
    adidas Jeremy Scott Money Print Superstar HP6596
    • adidas
    • Jeremy Scott Money Print Superstar
    • HP6596
    • $219
    adidas Superstar HP6550
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HP6550
    • $95
    adidas Superstar HP5500
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HP5500
    • $180
    adidas Superstar HP5499
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HP5499
    • $193
    adidas Superstar HP5498
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • HP5498
    • $193
    adidas Superstar 82 HP3169
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • HP3169
    • $325
    adidas Superstar 82 HP2183
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • HP2183
    • $180
    adidas Superstar 82 H06258
    • adidas
    • Superstar 82
    • H06258
    • $289
    adidas Superstar H06192
    • adidas
    • Superstar
    • H06192
    • $150

    Superstar

    Adidas knew that to be more successful in the American market, they would need to do something innovative. Their United States consultant, Chris Severn, saw how the loose, canvas basketball shoes were a risk to players’ health and felt that this was where they could shake things up. When the adidas Superstar landed, it completely upended basketball shoe design, and the ripples of this seismic shift in shoe culture would be felt years into the future.

    The Superstar was the new and improved follow up to the Supergrip, which was released sometime in the mid sixties. This model introduced key technologies throughout the 60s and 70s, such as a tough leather outer and vulcanized rubber sole with its herringbone grip for on-court sticking power. The Superstar picked up where the Supergrip left off, adding a dense rubber toe that fanned out in a seashell shape to guard the player's toes against injury when stood on. They also featured the brand’s unmistakable three-stripe logo stitched in white into the medial and lateral sides with unique Superstar perforation strips.

    Compared to the canvas sneakers of the time, the adidas Superstar was technically the better shoe. It was made of tough leather, weighed 30% less, had better stability, and came with protective ribs that distinguished it as a one-of-a-kind sneaker. Severn knew that if the players could be convinced to train in the Superstar, they’d switch. So, in 1969, he traveled to the training grounds of NBA teams so that he could personally put them in the players’ hands.

    By sheer force of will and at a glacial pace, the tactic worked.

    Little by little, they started appearing on the NBA circuit, the uptake massively increasing when adidas signed top star Kareem Abdul Jabbar as their first professional contracted athlete. The shoes were lauded by the players for how the leather outer and shell toe cap combined to form a resilient sneaker that was comfortable to play in. By 1973, three-quarters of US basketball professionals wore the Superstar. From a slow start to near complete dominance of NBA basketball. The Superstar was a sensation.

    Yet, in the eighties, the Superstar’s court performance began to be outpaced by newer models with more innovative technology. But this was not the end of the adidas Superstar; the seeds of its legacy had already been planted. Thanks to the cozy relationship between basketball and hip-hop, fans continued to wear the shoe long after it had been pushed off the courts, raising it to the level of an aspirational lifestyle silhouette.

    Run-DMC regularly appeared on stage wearing the adidas Superstar without the laces and with the tongue sticking out, eventually using it to make a statement about the culture of the time. In 1986, they released a song called “my adidas” in defiance of the thinly veiled prejudice the followers of hip-hop culture received when they wore adidas. This created a powerful moment when 40,000 fans lifted their Superstars aloft during a Run-DMC concert in allegiance with the group’s message. After “my adidas” was released, Run-DMC signed with adidas, becoming the first hip-hop group in history to sign a sneaker deal, which ended up paving the way for future adidas collaborators like Pharrell, Ye and Beyoncé. With Run-DMC’s global influence, the adidas Originals Superstar became one of the most famous silhouettes in history.

    For the same reason it was worn by the majority of NBA players in the 70s, skaters also loved the sneaker since it could withstand the damage of more than a few falls. Hip-hop and skate culture blurred into one another to create the emergent streetwear movement of the early 2000s. The adidas Superstar merged into a new scene and was once again loved by a new set of sneaker fans, with the style ultimately becoming an aesthetic pillar of streetwear fashion.

    The power of the Superstar’s style–the three stripes, the ribbed toe cap, the heel strip–has captured the imagination of an eclectic mix of sports, brands and people over the years. This has led to it becoming one of adidas’ most successful, most collaborated-on and most recognisable silhouettes. While its tough leather upper and protective rubber shell toe cap put it on the feet of the majority of NBA players in the seventies, its iconic aesthetic has kept it on the feet of just about everyone else since. The legend of the Superstar lives on.

    Rank the Adidas Superstar
    (12)

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