The Best adidas Shoes Under $100
The under-$100 band is where adidas is at its strongest. The models that built the brand were indoor sport shoes with simple tooling: a suede or leather upper, a flat rubber sole, three stripes down the side. That construction never needed to get more expensive, which is why the Handball Spezial, the Superstar, the Gazelle Indoor and the Tokyo all still land here while the foam-heavy running models sit well above.
Below are seven pairs worth your attention, with materials and fit notes taken straight off each product page. The live list of everything that qualifies sits in the Under $100 collection, which rebuilds itself as the catalog moves. For the version covering every brand we carry, read Shoes Under $100: The Sneaker Sweet Spot.
adidas Handball Spezial, Core Black (DB3021)
This is the pair we point most people to first. Black cow suede through the upper, white leather 3-Stripes, gold Spezial branding along the sidewall, and a gum rubber outsole under a low, flat profile. The T-toe overlay is a holdover from 1979, when the Spezial was built for elite handball players.
The Spezial has the roomiest fit of the classic terrace models, so it is the one to reach for if a Samba has ever felt tight across the forefoot. The thinner tongue and collar also make it softer on day one.
adidas Handball Spezial, Night Indigo (IF7087)
The same shoe in deep Night Indigo suede with cream leather stripes, serrated 3-Stripes, a synthetic lining and a darker gum sole. The darker gum is the practical detail. Gum rubber picks up color as it wears, and a darker starting point means that change reads as patina rather than grime. Navy also behaves like a neutral, so this pair covers more outfits than black does.
adidas Superstar II, Core Black (JI0079)
Smooth black leather, white serrated 3-Stripes, and the hard rubber shell toe that has defined this silhouette since 1969, when it was added for protection on a basketball court. Underneath is a rubber cupsole. Inside is a textile lining with a padded tongue and collar that give the Superstar II a fuller early-2000s shape than the slimmer recent Superstars.
The leather makes this the most structured shoe here out of the box, and the cupsole makes it the most durable. If you want one pair to survive daily wear, this is it. The Superstar 2 buying guide covers the other colorways.
adidas Stadt, Bliss / Carbon / Gum (JQ9012)
The Stadt is the least obvious pick here. The name is the German word for city. The build combines leather and synthetic through the upper, with adidas branding and Stadt lettering on the side panels, a textile and synthetic lining, an EVA outsole for cushioning, and a gum sole under the neutral brown palette.
One honest note on sizing. adidas lists the Stadt as a regular fit, while customer reviews on adidas's own product page frequently report that it runs large, several recommending a half to a full size down. Those two things disagree, so treat your usual size as the starting point and expect some room. We put the Stadt against the bigger seller in adidas Stadt vs Handball Spezial.
adidas Tokyo, Core Black (JI0183)
A suede upper over a leather lining, serrated 3-Stripes running toward a flat rubber outsole, and the T-toe construction the archive models share. The Tokyo is the most streamlined shape in the terrace lineup, and a leather lining is a level of finish you rarely get in this band. It sits in the same lane as the Samba while being the far less common choice, which is the argument for it. Our adidas Tokyo review goes deeper on fit.
adidas Gazelle Indoor, Red (JI2063)
Soft suede upper, gum rubber outsole, Three-Stripes and Trefoil branding, lace-up. The Gazelle Indoor is the slimmest and most court-shaped of the suede low profiles, and red is the color it wears best. It runs narrower than a Spezial, so wide feet should read the Gazelle Indoor sizing guide first.
Toy Story x adidas Samba Jane (LA1428)
The Samba Jane replaces the laces with a single strap. This Toy Story version builds on Jessie: a white leather upper with denim Three Stripes, cow-print overlays wrapping the T-toe, and red stitching at the heel that references her hat. The gum rubber outsole keeps the low court profile the Samba has carried since adidas's indoor training line in the late 1940s.
Because the strap replaces the laces, you cannot open the throat to buy yourself room, so the sizing note below matters more here than on any other pair. The Samba Jane guide has the full breakdown.
Do adidas shoes run true to size?
It depends on the model, which is why a single answer is always wrong. Across these seven:
- Handball Spezial: true to size, and the roomiest of the terrace models, so it is the pick for wider feet.
- Superstar: true to size.
- Samba: runs slightly long and narrow, so most people size down a half. Wider feet stay true. Women's to men's, subtract 1.5.
- Tokyo: true to size despite the slim shape.
- Stadt: the open question described above.
The full ranking is in Do adidas Run Small?, and the Spezial gets its own sizing guide.
How to shop this band
Pick the material before the model. Suede reads warmer and hides scuffing, which is the right call for the Spezial, the Tokyo and the Gazelle Indoor. Leather holds its shape longer and cleans up faster, and that is what makes the Superstar II the workhorse here.
Then let width decide. The Spezial is the widest, the Gazelle Indoor and the Samba the narrowest. Browse by model in Handball Spezials, Superstars, Sambas, Gazelles and Tokyos, or across everything in adidas Originals. How these land under retail in the first place is covered in why everything here is under retail every day.
Every pair is brand new and deadstock, ships in its original adidas box, and gets authenticated in house before it leaves the building. Orders go out same or next business day from our warehouse in Portland, Oregon. Verified and shipped, every time.
— Anthony from West Coast Deals