adidas Superstar ADV vs Superstar: What Actually Changed

Set the two next to each other and the first reaction is that they are the same shoe. White leather, black serrated 3-Stripes, hard rubber shell toe, cupsole underneath. The Superstar ADV is the adidas Skateboarding build of that shoe, and the changes are structural. Once you know where to look, they take about three seconds to spot. Below are our own pairs on the shelf in Portland, so you can see the differences on real shoes rather than on a product render.

What is the adidas Superstar ADV?

The Superstar arrived in 1969 as a low-top basketball shoe, and the hard rubber shell toe was there to protect the front of the foot on a hardwood floor. The ADV takes that same silhouette and rebuilds it for skateboarding. adidas kept the proportions, the shell toe, the serrated 3-Stripes, and the leather upper. What changed is everything that has to survive contact with griptape. The result still wears like a classic leather Superstar while carrying a set of skate-specific updates.

The extra row of stitching

This is the tell. In the photo above, the ADV is the pair on the left, and it carries an additional line of reinforcement stitching running through the quarter panel. adidas adds that stitching in the high-wear areas, which on a skate shoe means the zones that drag along the board and the ground. Leather on its own tears from a single weak point. A second row of stitching spreads that load, so a blowout takes longer to start and longer to spread once it does.

On the standard Superstar, that panel is clean. It looks tidier, and for a shoe that spends its life on sidewalks rather than on a board, the reinforcement is weight and cost you do not need.

The one-piece tongue

The second change is harder to photograph and easier to feel. The ADV uses a one-piece tongue construction, which holds the tongue in place instead of letting it slide toward the outside of the foot. Anyone who has laced up a standard sneaker and found the tongue halfway around the ankle by the afternoon knows the problem. On a skate shoe the fix matters more, because a tongue that shifts changes where the laces sit over the foot, and the laces are what keeps you connected to the board.

The practical effect for someone who never skates is a slightly more locked-in fit through the midfoot.

Look at the shell toes

Straight on, the two shell toes read almost identically, which is the point. adidas did not soften the shape or shrink the toe cap to make room for the skate updates. The clearest visual separator from this angle is the tongue branding, with the gold foil treatment on one and the black and white Trefoil label on the other.

That similarity is worth saying plainly. If you want the ADV because it looks different, it does not. You would buy it for the construction.

What is underfoot

Both sit on a rubber cupsole. The ADV cupsole is tuned for grip and board feel, which is a different job from the one the standard cupsole is doing. On a board that means you can feel what is under your feet. Off a board it reads as a firm, grounded ride, closer to the ground than a cushioned trainer and more structured than a thin gum sole terrace shoe like the Samba.

Do the Superstar ADV run true to size?

Yes. Both fit true to size, and the Superstar remains one of the most straightforward fits in the adidas lineup. Order your normal size in either one.

The caveat is width rather than length. The Superstar last is on the narrow side and the rigid shell toe does not widen as the leather softens, so a genuinely wide forefoot will feel that on both pairs. Sizing up does not solve it, because the extra length adds nothing where the shell toe actually presses, and it leaves the heel loose. Our Superstar sizing guide covers the half-size question in full, and the Superstar II size guide handles the current mainline build.

So which one should you buy?

Take the ADV if you skate, or if you are hard on shoes and want the reinforced version of a silhouette you already like. The extra stitching and the one-piece tongue are doing real work, and neither one costs you anything in how the shoe looks.

Take the standard Superstar if you want the cleanest version of the shape. It is the one people picture when they hear the word Superstar, and the uninterrupted quarter panel is part of why. The White and Black Superstar ADV, GW6930 is the pair on the left in these photos. On the standard side, the Black and White Superstar II, JI0079 is the current mainline shell toe and the closest like-for-like comparison. Live sizes for both are on the cards below.

If you are still working out where the II, the XLG, and the 82 sit relative to the original, our Superstar versions explainer maps the whole family, and the Superstar 2 buying guide goes colorway by colorway. The full range lives in the Superstars collection.

Buying a real pair

The Superstar is one of the most counterfeited sneakers ever made, and the shell toe ridges, the serration on the 3-Stripes, and the heel Trefoil are the places fakes fall apart. Our legit check guide for Superstars walks through the tells if you want to run that check yourself. Every pair we sell is inspected in-house first, so it is already done. For where the model sits in the wider archive, see our guide to old school adidas models.

Every pair is authentic, authenticated in-house, and shipped the next business day from Portland, Oregon. Verified & Shipped.

— Anthony from West Coast Deals