Nike SB vs. Adidas Skate Shoes Who Is Top Dog?
Today we go through Nike SB and Adidas Skate shoes to determine who is actually the top dog of the Hypebeast and the reselling world.
Everyone and their dog knows about Nike SB and how they took over the sneaker reselling and the leisure-wear world with their Nike SB line as well as its less popular counterpart, the Nike SB Blazer.
Today, we go through popular releases of Nike SB and Adidas Skate shoes to see which one takes the crown for being the best shoes out there.
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Before we compare the two, let’s take a detailed look at their history to determine their cultural value and a few of their popular models first, starting with Adidas Skate shoes.
Adidas Skate Shoes History
If you think about Adidas Skateboarding, you may not feel the want to get up and jump in excitement. After all, the prestigious brand is now more well-known for holding a monopoly in the athleisure industry.
However, the skating subgenre and Adidas skateboarding shoes have a long history together.
Even if they weren’t very prominent, Adidas’ forays into the counterculture sport started at a vital time. In 1989, Adidas underwent a moment of reflection. Two years before, Horst Dassler had mysteriously vanished.
Then came worrying times, including some serious financial challenges. The company’s brand, which had established itself as the pioneer of the athlete-first design movement, suddenly lost its direction.
As a consequence, the quality of the items as a whole declined, which had a negative impact on sales.
The subculture of skateboarding was all about challenging the status quo. Simply said, it would be challenging to promote apparel to skateboarders as a huge company with staff dressed in suits. It was more difficult if they saw you as a symbol of the society they loathed.
Adidas’ responses to this showed how important their shift of direction was.
A New Era
In the same year, 1989, the company developed a part of its brand just for skateboarding. However, there was an exception in this case since Adidas didn’t initially intend to “join” the sport. Instead, it urged influential members of the community to participate.
Some of the names now associated with the business are well-known. Mark Gonzalez is a legend outside of athletics, even in the most isolated places.
Dennis Busenitz has been a total skateboard blur for a very long time. Just ask anyone who has attempted to capture one of his pranks on video.
One of the most recent additions, Nora Vasconcellos, is the first female rider for the brand and a well-established name on a global scale. Adidas’ choice of Paul “Skin” Phillips as the team manager was also essential to this effort.
Adidas chose him because of his expertise and passion for the sport to lead its still-expanding skateboarding projects.
Phillips contributes to the business with his well-known expertise in both skating and photography. Another important way that marketing and storytelling support Adidas Skateboarding’s objective is in this instance.
Since skateboarding began as a part of the brand’s shifting focus back towards its athlete-centric roots, it made sense for the Three Stripes to pursue it.
Adidas had already established itself as a player in the sport before their persistent efforts were fruitful.
Today, although the brand has roots in many other fields of sports, it also releases sneakers and apparel for the skating niche. Albeit, probably not even close to as popular as Nike’s SB line.
Let’s look at a few interesting products from Adidas’ SB division.
Adidas Experiment 2 Triple Black
- Retail Price: $110
- Average Resell: $106
- Release Date: 08/13/2022
- Colorway: CORE BLACK / CORE BLACK / SHADOW RED
- Style Code: GX4493
After launching the Experiment 1 in “Dust Sand” in 2021, Adidas and Fucking Awesome (FA) have teamed up once again to offer the Experiment 2 in “Triple Black.”
FA and Adidas Skateboarding have granted the Experiment 2 from 2021’s thin, leather-covered design an all-black update as part of their ongoing cooperation.
Creator Jason Dill drew inspiration from old skate shoes for the most current version, fusing the past and present.
The “Triple Black” model has a black leather upper, rubber sole, and textile inner with a gold Adidas Originals emblem on the heel branding.
Notably, this pair’s co-branding avoids utilizing foul language on the surface by employing a simple “FA” on the tongue along with other national flags.
A maroon, terry-lined sock liner, however, is repeatedly embossed with the word “Fucking Awesome.” The backup laces complement this shade of red if the standard black is too light.
Despite being stylish and valuable, these shoes shouldn’t be resold since they have no market worth and have even been offered at a discount.
Adidas Busenitz Savannah
- Retail Price: $80
- Average Resell: $170
- Colorway: SAVANNAH / YELLOW TINT / CLOUD WHITE
- Style Code: EF8465
Despite being among the top skateboarding shoes on the market, the Adidas Busenitz is not nearly as well-known as the Nike Dunks.
With soft yellow side stripes and ventilations on each side below the logo, they have a light tan suede top. The tongues are branded with “Adidas,” and the design is completed with white midsoles and outsoles.
These have changed hands for more than double what they originally cost on the secondary market! However, overall sales for these are low, and I would not even consider them to be part of the mainstream yet.
Adidas Superstar ADV Kader Sylla Dark Purple
- Retail Price: $100
- Average Resell: $170
- Release Date: 11/12/2022
- Colorway: DARK PURPLE/DARK PURPLE/GOLD METALLIC
- Style Code: HP8865
Super Stars are used for skateboarding throughout the USA, just like the regular Dunks are.
Adidas no longer works with Ye, but the German sportswear corporation hasn’t backed down when working together on big-name projects.
For the launching of new products, The Three Stripes has worked with other companies, including Palace and Pixar. The company is now evaluating its relationship with renowned skater Kader Sylla via its skateboarding branch.
After collaborating earlier last year, the two have linked up once again to design a second hue of the Adidas Superstar ADV.
With this new album, the Studio City native chooses a daring course of action.
Sylla uses a bold purple shade to cover the shoes’ shaggy suede side panels and rubber toe caps, departing from the concealed idea that underpinned his original proposal. “I’m excited about this release since it appears bigger than the last.
“I tried to do a color that others aren’t doing much of—there aren’t many purple shoes on the market,” Kader continues in reference to the launch.
The tongue banners, the Kader logo adjacent to the stripes, the heel Trefoil emblems, and the lace dubrae are just a few of the shoe’s lavish gold details.
These are not very lucrative on the secondary market, but if you had purchased them for the $100 suggested retail price, you might have earned good profits.
Now, we go through the rich history of Nike SB!
Nike SB History and Cultural Value
Skateboarding was still relatively new in the 1980s, thus there weren’t many shoes made specifically for the sport. Skateboarders were huge fans of Nike basketball sneakers because of their strength and flat bottoms.
Nike made their initial foray into the skateboard industry in 1996. Skateboarding was still a very small-scale subculture at the time, and corporate brands were frowned upon.
They also didn’t have the most attractive sneakers at the time, and they didn’t skate very well. Bam Margera, a team rider, used to wear és accels with side Nike logos taped on.
Nike collaborated with an advertising firm and produced some absolutely incredible advertisements as well.
The advertisement for this campaign, “What if We Treated All Athletes Like Skateboarders,” ends with a youthful Bam Margera doing a kickflip over the Nike logo. Nike withdrew from the skateboarding industry because the shoes just weren’t accessible, and skaters didn’t want them either.
By purchasing the Savier brand in 2000, Nike launched their second skateboard marketing campaign. Small skate shoe company Savier, located in Portland, Oregon, was still in the design phase.
Brad Staba, Brian Anderson, Stefan Janoski, and Jon Rattray were all members of the squad and later went on to work for Nike SB.
Nike intends to make a third effort to get into the skateboarding market. Sandy Bodecker, Mark Parker’s (the CEO) and Phil Knight’s right-hand man, was assigned to the case.
Sandy Bodecker began working for Nike as a shoe tester, and since he left the wildest remarks on every model he tried, he continued moving up the corporate ladder.
He was also the person they assigned to lead Nike Soccer in Europe, another difficult market for Nike to penetrate. Bodecker saw that Nike needed to approach skateboarding with the sport’s best interests in mind if they were to succeed.
He made sure they gave back significantly, this time to the skateboarding culture, businesses, and skaters. He was also aware of the significance of authenticity in the skating scene.
In addition, Bodecker saw that Nike had a long history of supporting skateboarding, and he preferred to draw inspiration from that history to create his own sneakers.
He intended to bring back the Dunk since it was once so well-liked and because it is similar to the Nike Jordans that have a significant place in skateboarding history.
Additionally, he collaborated with some of the greatest and most well-known core skateboard businesses, many of whom felt left out as skating gained popularity and skate shoe companies began to place an increasing amount of emphasis on small shops.
In March 2002, Nike SB released its first pair of footwear, a line of custom Dunks for each of its athletes.
The Richard Mulder Los Angeles Dunk (which was also based on the hues of his very first pair of Nike sneakers), the Gino Iannucci Long Island New York Dunk, the Danny Supa Los Angeles Dunk, and the Reese Forbes Wheat Dunk (based off of his favorite work boots).
The first of many successful collaborations between Supreme and Nike SB came in 2002. The first Nike sneakers to use the recognizable elephant design from the Jordan Brand collection were the Nike SB x Supreme Dunks.
These were only produced in 500 pairs; if you still have a pair now, they are ridiculously valuable. The rest is history as Nike continued its trend of releasing extremely hyped releases to this day.
We only need to show you a couple of recent releases to prove how Nike SB stacks up against Adidas SB.
Concepts x Nike SB Dunk Low Purple Lobster
- Retail Price: $100
- Average Resell: $1,000+
- Release Date: Friday, December 14th, 2018
- Colorway: VOLTAGE PURPLE/VOLTAGE PURPLE
- Style Code: BV1310-555
These shoes were launched in 2018 as a tribute to the 2008 debut of the OG Concepts x Nike SB Dunk Lobster, which is still one of the most expensive Nike SB Dunks available right now.
Worth much more than $2,000 on the secondary market today.
The toes, eye stays, and heel overlays of these Concepts x Nike SB Dunk Low Purple Lobster are speckled with paler purple.
A deeper leather can be seen on the perforated toe boxes, collar underlays, and side panels.
Traditional white laces are tied around matching necks, while purple logo and tags contrast with cushioned tongues that look to be constructed of mesh. Sock liners with picnic prints provide a special touch, and the heel tabs have white “Nike” embroidery on them too.
This sneaker’s side swooshes may be its most notable feature with a royal plum hue. Jet black midsoles and purple outsoles complete the design.
These shoes have a high secondary market value, as was to be anticipated. Currently, platforms like StockX have an average selling price of over $1,000.
Nike SB Dunk Low Court Purple
- Retail Price: $100
- Peak Resell: $300+
- Release Date: 01/23/2021
- Style Code: BQ6817-500
- Colorway: COURT PURPLE/BLACK/WHITE
The white, black, and purple color combination of the Nike SB Dunk Low Court Purple is also evocative of the Air Jordan 1 Black Toe.
Smooth black leather is used for the toes, heels, and eye stays, while crisp white leather is used for the toe boxes and side panels. The black lateral Swooshes and Court Purple quarter panels add a dash of originality.
White midsoles and purple outsoles, meanwhile, complete the design.
These shoes were very profitable, with an average resale value of $280 and a $180 profit.
Conclusion
Although the actual performance may be comparable, it is also pretty subjective, and I believe most people would side with Nike SB simply due to its name.
However, Adidas SB also has its own cult following that would beg to differ.
Overall, it is up to the wearer to decide, but when it comes to general hype, color choices, collaborations, and resale, the three stripes cannot touch Nike SB.
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