Adidas Superstar II

Man, the Superstars. This review might take time - let me grab a cup of coffee and get settled, it's going to be a long night. I feel it is important that I spend time on this review, because I feel that the Superstar hasn't been given its due in India and people need to know the story behind one of the world's best selling shoes of all time.

If you ask my opinion on which three sneakers make it to the world's top three list, the Adidas Superstar would certainly be right up there with the Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars and the Nike Air Force 1. I have always wondered, what is it about a particular shoe which makes it an icon, a living legend? Whenever I come across such a shoe, I try to go back to its roots and find out what's the story behind the shoe which has made it what it is. So let's press the rewind button for a moment and go back to where it all started.

Converse was the dominant player on the US basketball scene ever since it was launched, and even till the late sixties, pro players chose to wear the popular canvas Hi tops for their game. In 1969, the all leather Superstars were launched, and that changed everything overnight. The design of the Superstar was thought of by a guy called Chris Severns who was a distributor for Adidas running spikes in the fifties. Though he was no longer in business with Adidas in the sixties, he went to them with an idea he had for a basketball shoe which he thought might work. Chris noticed that all the pro-basketball players wore the Converse All Star Hi which was virtually unchanged since it was launched many decades ago. The game of basketball had grown aggressive and fast since, and injuries among the players due to the lack of a stable shoe were common. Chris came up with an idea of an all leather basketball shoe with a firmer and flatter rubber outsole which would help support the foot better while playing the game. He also suggested the idea of a "Shell toe" to Adidas, a feature which was meant to minimise toe injuries and make the shoe more durable.

The "Shell toe": Though the shoe I picked up was a pair of Superstar II, it is practically the same shoe as the original Superstar I. The difference is the metal eyelets/trims and a different logo treatment on the tongue.

When Chris approached the players with the new shoe, he met with a lot of resistance. The Superstars looked nothing like what they had been playing in all this while, besides Adidas was not even known for making basketball shoes. However, with some reluctance a few players of the San Diego Rockets agreed to wear them and it created quite a commotion on the court when they wore the white leather three stripes instead of the familiar Chuck Taylor All Stars. Very soon, players started noticing the all leather superstars and even players in the Boston Celtics began wearing them. The fact that they went ahead and won the American Championships soon after only fuelled the growing popularity of the Adidas Superstars. When Kareem Abdul Jabbar signed up with Adidas (its first basketball player endorsement) and started playing in the Superstars, the success of the shoes reached a new frenzy.

"Herringbone": The Adidas Superstars was the first shoe in the industry to introduce the wavy "herringbone" texture in outsoles, a design feature which helped convert scores of players from the Converse high tops to Superstars.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar's endorsement of the Superstar propelled the shoe to stratospheric heights in the sixties and the mid seventies, but by late seventies and early eighties, the same fate befell the Superstars as the Chuck Taylors - the Superstar was almost completely wiped up by a new kid on the block, Nike. Converse also upped their ante by launching improved basketball shoes such as the "Weapon". So by the time the Superstars hit the early eighties, it was dead.

Though the Superstar faded away from the basketball courts soon after, something miraculous happened to the Adidas Superstars around 1984 - they started selling for apparently no reason. Adidas executives were puzzled no end: "Hey, we thought that the shoe was dead. What's happening now?" The reason was a then little known pioneering hip-hop band called the 'Run-DMC" formed in 1982. The band sang their songs wearing laceless white Adidas Superstars and soon the young kids started copying their band's unique dress sense. As Run-DMC's popularity grew, so did the Superstars, and by 1985, the sales of Superstars reached a new high. People at Adidas were stunned at the fact that the band had single handedly managed to revive the fortunes of the Superstar and quickly stepped forward to collaborate with Run- DMC, the first instance of a shoe company endorsing a music band.

Nostalgia: Retro Adidas "Trefoil" logo and punchline - "The brand with three stripes".

The association between the band and Adidas grew so strong that Run-DMC composed a song called "My Adidas" in their 1986 album 'Raising Hell". It is certain that Run-DMC alone contributed to a few million additional pairs of Superstars and the shoe hasn't looked back since. Thank you, Run-DMC.

Extra bling in Superstar II: The updated version of the original Superstar has eyelets with "adidas Superstar" molded in, and the laces have a metal trim in the front which has "Superstar" written on them.

Members of Run-DMC wore those shoes because they were comfortable, strong and looked cool. Nothing has changed much since. The Black Superstar II which I picked up from the neighbourhood Adidas store recently has the similar soft leather upper and timeless look which had won the hearts of pro-basketball players and hip-hop icons; and the stitched rubber outsole and the shell toe provide robust durability without making it heavy. All this, combined with the distinctive retro three stripes on the side, has really defined what's really, really cool.

Yesterday once more: Notice the jewel like Adidas retro logo on the heel area of the Superstar II. Sweeet!

"Standing on the 2 fifth St.,

Funky fresh and cold on my feet

with no shoe string in em, I did not win em

I bought them off the Ave with the tags still in em

I like to sport em that's why I bought em

A sucker tried to steal em so I caught em and fought em

And I walk down the street and I bop to the beat

with Lee on my legs and adidas on my feet

and now I just standing here, shooting the gif

me and D and my adidas standing on the 2 fifth

My adidas...

My adidas..."

Lyrics from the song "My adidas" in run-DMC's 1986 album, "Raising Hell".

The Lowdown:

Shoe name: Adidas Superstar II

Color reviewed: Black/Metallic Gold

Retail price (India): INR 4499 (Basic ones are cheaper)

Estimated US retail: $75

Available at: Major Adidas outlets and select multibrand stores.

Weight: 410 grams for a half pair of size UK 10 / US 10.5

Verdict: Buying and wearing a pair of Adidas Superstars is the fastest way to catapult yourself into the upper echelons of the sneakerdom.