adidas Superstar II vs Superstar: What's Different on Foot
The Superstar arrived in 1969 as a low-top basketball shoe with a hard rubber shell toe built to protect the front of the foot on the court. It has been in the adidas line ever since. The Superstar II is the version adidas is building now, and the question we field most often at the warehouse is whether the II is a genuinely different shoe or the same last wearing a new name.
It is a real update. The changes are concentrated in three places: the padding, the volume of the shape, and how the shoe feels underfoot on day one.
What actually changed on the Superstar II
The clearest difference is padding. The Superstar II carries a noticeably fuller tongue and collar than the slimmer Superstars adidas has released over the last several years. That extra padding does two things. It shortens the break-in period, because the collar is already soft where the leather upper is still stiff. It also changes the silhouette, giving the II a rounder, fuller profile that reads closer to an early 2000s Superstar than to the flat, stripped-back retro cuts.
Everything that defines the model carries over unchanged. The upper is leather. The 3-Stripes are serrated. The shell toe is the same hard rubber cap the shoe was originally built around, and it is still what gives the front of the sneaker its shape. Underneath is a rubber cupsole, and inside is a textile lining. On the women's Superstar II, adidas adds EVA cushioning into the cupsole, which is the one spec difference worth knowing between the men's and women's builds.
What that adds up to on foot is a shoe with more structure and more weight than a low-profile terrace model. If you have worn a Samba, the Superstar sits higher, wider through the toe, and firmer underfoot, with a thicker sole in place of the Samba's thin gum.
Do they run true to size?
Both run true to size. Order your normal size in both the original Superstar and the Superstar II.
The more useful point is that the Superstar is one of the most forgiving fits in the adidas catalog. The toe box is broad, the leather relaxes with wear, and the padded tongue on the II takes up a little of the volume that a narrow foot would otherwise swim in. If you have been sizing up in Sambas or Spezials to get room, you can go back to your true size here. Men's pairs are listed in US men's sizing and women's pairs in US women's sizing, so read the label on the listing before you convert anything.
We have written the fit out in more detail in the adidas Superstar sizing guide and, for the II specifically, in the Superstar II size guide.
Which one should you buy?
Buy the Superstar II if you want the current shoe with a softer collar out of the box and a fuller shape. It is the easier pair to wear straight from the box, and it is the version most of what you see on feet right now actually is.
Look at the older, flatter Superstar cuts if the silhouette matters more to you than the break-in. Those versions sit lower and closer to the foot, with a thinner tongue that lets the leather crease in the way collectors tend to prefer. The Superstar ADV is the skate-built variation of that same idea, and we have laid out how all four Superstar versions relate to each other if you want the full map before you commit.
Two Superstar II pairs to start with
The men's Black/White Superstar II, JI0079, is the version to reach for if you want the shell toe to read as a detail rather than a headline. Core Black leather runs through the upper, the serrated 3-Stripes come in Cloud White, and the shell toe is finished in matching black rubber, so the shape registers without shouting. It wears well with straight-leg denim, nylon track pants, and faded black cargos, and the white stripes keep the pair from vanishing into an all-dark outfit.
The women's White/Black Superstar II, JH7032, is the classic read: Cloud White leather, Core Black serrated 3-Stripes, Superstar side branding, and the rubber cupsole with EVA cushioning. This is the pair that goes with everything from straight-leg denim to relaxed trousers to a skirt, which is most of why the colorway has outlasted every trend it has been part of.
If you want the same white-and-black blocking in men's sizing, the White/Black Superstar II, IH8659, is the direct counterpart. You can see the rest of what we carry on the Superstars collection page, where the live colorways and sizes are always current.
A note on buying Superstars secondhand
The Superstar is one of the most counterfeited sneakers ever made, largely because the shell toe is easy to approximate from a distance and hard to get right up close. Stitch count on the shell, the serration on the 3-Stripes, and the shape of the heel patch are the three tells that separate a real pair from a convincing photo. We wrote a full legit-check guide for exactly this reason.
Every pair that leaves our floor in Portland, Oregon is authenticated in house before it ships, and pairs go out same or next business day. That is what Verified and Shipped means on our listings. You are getting brand new deadstock in the original adidas box, checked by a person, not sorted by an algorithm.
If you are still deciding between colorways rather than versions, the Superstar 2 buying guide walks through the current lineup color by color.
— Anthony from West Coast Deals