Famous for its shell toe, the Adidas Superstar has made its way back into the headlines and some of your shopping carts. Formally introduced in 1970 as a refined low-top evolution of the Adidas Supergrip and the Adidas Pro Model, it was designed by Adidas executives and designers in the late 1960s, Horst Dassler, Chris Severn and the rest of the Adidas team in France at the time. Despite the brand’s dominance in football and track and field, this shoe was created during a time when Adidas was looking to challenge Converse in basketball footwear.

The idea, sparked after the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, was turned down by the founders of this German footwear brand, Adi Dassler and his wife Käthe Dassler.

“We don’t have the time nor the resources to waste on basketball. It’s a very minor sport. Don’t bother.”

With Converse still dominating the basketball world with the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star, the Adidas team continuously added and reworked different technical features to make the shoe not only good-looking, but highly functional and comfortable. It took years, going back to the drawing board multiple times, producing many prototypes and going against his parents’ wishes, to develop the Adidas Supergrip.

Five years later, after much trial and error, Horst and Chris created a pair of basketball sneakers they believed could rival the All-Stars: the Supergrip. It made its NBA debut with the San Diego Rockets, notably on John Block, and later gained wider recognition through the Boston Celtics, who went on to win the NBA championship. By the mid-1970s, an estimated 75% of NBA players were wearing the Supergrip, cementing its place in basketball history.

How did we go from the Adidas Supergrip to the Superstar? With the addition of the now famous shell toe, the first pair was then released in 1970. The Adidas Superstar moved from the basketball courts to becoming a cultural icon in the mid-1980s when Run-D.M.C. adopted the shoe, wearing them laceless with Adidas tracksuits, and their song My Adidas led to the first major music–sneaker endorsement deal with Adidas.

Since its debut, the Adidas Superstar has evolved through countless designs, collaborations and creative campaigns, worn by athletes, musicians, artists and everyday fans alike. The shoe dominated Adidas Originals’ retro revival in the mid-2010s, selling over 15 million pairs in 2015 and becoming one of the brand’s best-selling sneakers heading into 2016. Now, with 2026 shaping up to echo the nostalgia cycles of the past, many are wondering: could the Superstar be poised for another comeback?

The Adidas Superstar is, and always will be, an icon.