The Adidas Superstar Adicolor has been around since 1983, when the Superstar first took off in popular culture. The simple visual design of the Superstar, with its chunky body and two-toned stripes-on-solid appearance made it easy for people to express their individuality with paint and markers. Seeking to capitalize on the public’s desire for customized shoes, Adidas created the Adicolor line of Superstar shoes. Adicolor mimicked the appearance, if not the basketball functionality, of the Superstar brand. The originals were simply white leather low-top shoes with the stripe outlines and shape of Superstars, sold with a set of acrylic mixing paints and a wooden palette.

The Adicolor line appealed to people’s creativity and a do-it-yourself sensibility. The shoes came in a wooden box, emphasizing the rough-hewn rawness the Adicolor brand attempted to portray. Each pair came with two laces, with one containing the Leonardo da Vinci quote, “For all those colours which you wish to be beautiful, always start with a fresh white ground.” These were the first of the Superstar brand to market themselves toward an artistic, cultural crowd, rather than an athletic one. The progression from Superstar to Adicolor went from basketball culture, to hip hop culture imitating basketball culture, to popular culture imitating basketball culture. Each time the visual design became more complex, while the performance design became an aesthetic, not a functional element of the shoe.

Despite the unique idea behind the Adicolor, the brand didn’t take off to the same extent that the Pro Models, Superstars, or Superstar IIs did throughout the 80s and 90s. It was popular among urban kids for whom it was a status symbol, a cool shoe to have, but it didn’t catch on so much throughout the rest of America.

The Adicolor was rereleased in 2005 as part of the 35-year anniversary of the Superstar. In addition to the reintroduction of the blank white shoes and acrylic paints concept, more than 40 different custom styles were offered to the public. These included the NYC cityscape as designed by Bill McMullen, images of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, camouflage canvas, patchwork prints by Emilio Pucci, brandings from popular performers Run-DMC and Missy Elliot, and many more. The Adidas Superstar Adicolor has been a huge success ever since.