adidas Skateboarding

adidas Skateboarding is the skate line of adidas, the German company with the three stripes. It’s not a new or independent brand, but it has its own team, pro models, videos and a way of seeing skating that doesn’t look like Vans or Nike SB. Its Samba, Campus and Superstar were shoes from other sports that skaters were already wearing, and the brand has been adapting them.

Here you have the history of adidas in skating, who skates for them, what ADV means, what the Samba ADV, the Campus ADV and the Busenitz are like, and which shoe fits which type of skater.

Where does adidas come from and who owns it?

adidas AG was registered on August 18, 1949 in Herzogenaurach, a town in Bavaria. It was founded by Adolf “Adi” Dassler, and the brand comes from his name: “Adi” plus “Das”, the first syllable of Dassler. His brother Rudolf, with whom he had previously run a shoe factory, created Puma in 1948. The two ended up on opposite sides of the same town.

Today adidas AG is a publicly traded company, so there’s no single owner, and adidas Skateboarding is one of its lines. So don’t expect the garage story of a board brand: this is a multinational with a design department, a global team and a budget for videos, tours and collaborations.

How adidas got into skating

Before it had its own line, skaters were already wearing adidas. The Samba, which Adi Dassler designed in 1949 so soccer players could train on frozen ground, showed up on the feet of skaters and BMX flatland riders in the 90s. The same happened with the Superstar and the Campus, basketball shoes: cheap, flat, with suede or leather that held up.

The skate line is usually dated to 1998, with Mark Gonzales as its face. The serious push came in 2006: adidas put together a global team with shoes designed for skating and signed Dennis Busenitz in September of that year. Busenitz was the first one with a pro model. A former product manager has said that shoe “put the three stripes in skaters’ heads”.

adidas’ strategy was not to imitate the dirty aesthetic of late 90s and early 2000s skate brands. Instead it leaned on its own classic silhouettes, on the performance that comes with its sports background and on the crossover with the street and fashion.

adidas Skateboarding timeline

Mark Gonzales, the face of adidas Skateboarding

Mark Gonzales, Gonz, is the person most tied to the line. He has worn adidas shoes since the late 90s, and when the brand talks about its skate history it starts with him. He appears in its videos since A Five Day Excursion To Paris (2008) and also has a collection with Snoop Dogg, “L.A. Stories” (2016), based on what the two of them live in Los Angeles. His art shows up on lots of garments and collaborations.

In Away Days he doesn’t have a classic part: the director, Matt Irving, spread his tricks and his antics before, during and after everyone else’s parts. Gonz is also the founder of Krooked, with his own path outside adidas.

Dennis Busenitz and the Busenitz shoe

Dennis Busenitz signed with adidas in September 2006 and was the first rider on the line with a pro model. The Busenitz is adidas Skateboarding’s key shoe. Its tongue is inspired by the Samba’s, and there are versions like the Vulc, the ADV, the Pure Boost and the Vulc RX, the last one released in December 2016 with the Samba as its reference and built to last.

In 2016 Busenitz hit ten years on the brand. adidas celebrated it with the documentary Up To Speed and a black and gold Busenitz Pure Boost, with “‘06” embroidered on one shoe and “‘16” on the other. When Away Days came out that same year, his part closed the video and at the New York premiere it got some of the loudest reactions of the night.

Away Days: the first full-length

Away Days premiered in May 2016. It’s adidas Skateboarding’s first full-length, directed by Matt Irving, and it was shot over three years in more than a hundred cities. The title comes from a British soccer term, the match you play away from home. The premiere was a tour: Los Angeles on May 12 (at the Orpheum), New York on the 14th (at the PlayStation Theater, in Times Square), London on the 17th, and Tokyo and São Paulo on the 20th.

The New York one has been described as a huge premiere, with thousands of people, folks lining up from mid-afternoon for a screening that started at 7:30 pm, and kids getting detained for skating in the street afterwards. In the film, Tyshawn Jones, Na-Kel Smith and Miles Silvas were already among the strongest on the team, and Lucas Puig, Mark Suciu and Rodrigo TX stood out on ledges. Daewon Song and Marc Johnson had joined shortly before.

Before Away Days, the brand’s best-known video was A Five Day Excursion To Paris (2008), with Busenitz, Nestor Judkins, Lem Villemin, Benny Fairfax and Gonz. After that came series and shorter videos: Broadway Bullet, Mid-City Merge, London, Meantime (2017) and more recent ones like Momiji (2024), the first full part from Momiji Nashiya.

What does ADV mean on adidas shoes?

ADV is the tag adidas puts on its skate versions of classic models: Samba ADV, Campus ADV, Superstar ADV. They keep the look of the original shoe, with the three stripes and the suede or leather, but change what matters for skating: more reinforcement in the wear zones, more cushioning and a cupsole.

There’s no single spec, because each model is built differently, but here’s what they tend to share:

adidas Skateboarding shoes, one by one

Samba ADV. It came out in 2017, after a December 2016 video in which senior designer Scott Johnston went over the Samba’s history and explained the redesign: comfort, stability and board control. It keeps the gum rubber sole and is one of the thinnest shoes in the line. A wear test in Arizona, with Thomas Turner, Shylio Sweat and Iggy Lopez, introduced it in February 2017.

Campus ADV. Cupsole, not vulcanized. It’s usually described with a Geofit collar and tongue, Adiprene insole, Geoflex sole and a double-layer reinforced toe, although the details change from colorway to colorway.

Superstar ADV. The shell-toe shoe, adapted to skating. It was introduced in September 2015 with a campaign featuring Tyshawn Jones, Chewy Cannon, Benny Fairfax, Raúl Navarro and Miles Silvas, filmed in New York and Miami.

Puig and Puig Samba. Lucas Puig’s model has a very distinctive wavy sole. The Puig Samba, from 2025, mixes the Samba’s upper with that sole: semi-transparent rubber, cupsole, removable insole and suede toe. adidas made it with Palace, which sponsors Puig’s boards.

Tyshawn II. Tyshawn Jones’ pro model, introduced in May 2024 with a video narrated by his mother and Na-Kel Smith. It has a double-layer toe and a sole with lugs in several directions. In 2025 a version came out in Zach Saraceno’s colors.

Matchcourt. A tennis-inspired line. Marc Johnson has the Matchcourt Mid, launched in 2017 with an episode of his series “On Your Marc”.

Others. The Centennial 85 Low ADV (2024), based on a 1985 track model, with split suede, nubuck and mesh. And historic models like the Silas SLR, the City Cup, the Lucas Premiere or the Suciu ADV.

Which shoe is for whom?

• If you skate stairs and gaps: the Busenitz or the Campus ADV, more padded and with more impact protection.
• If you skate ledges and technical street: the Samba ADV or the Puig, thinner, with better board feel.
• If you want a toe that holds up to flips all day: the Tyshawn II, with its double-layer toe.
• If you’re coming from Vans: keep in mind that almost all adidas are cupsole, so the board feel is different from a vulcanized shoe.

One tip that keeps coming up among people who wear them: the Samba’s sole rubber grips really well, and a cupsole tends to last longer than a vulcanized one, although you feel the board less. If it’s your first adidas, start with the Samba ADV or the Campus ADV, which are the easiest to find. In our guide to the best skate shoes we compare them with other brands.

The adidas Skateboarding team

The regulars: Mark Gonzales, Dennis Busenitz (2006), Lem Villemin, Britain’s Benny Fairfax, Nestor Judkins and France’s Lucas Puig, who got his first pro model in 2012 with the Lucas shoe, during his first year on the brand. Rodrigo TX and Mark Suciu have also played a big role.

The 2014 generation: in September 2014 Tyshawn Jones, Na-Kel Smith and Miles Silvas joined, with a welcome video called “New Stripes”. Jones, born in 1998 in the Bronx, is today the brand’s most visible face, with a pro model. In December 2022 Jones founded King Skateboards.

The 2016 and 2018 signings: Daewon Song and Marc Johnson came around the premiere of Away Days. Jason Dill joined in October 2018, after more than ten years at Vans.

Today: Tyshawn Jones, Heitor Da Silva, who has his own ProShell jacket, and Miles Silvas. Also Zach Saraceno, Nikolai Piombo, Lil Dre, Kader Sylla and, on the women’s team, Maité Steenhoudt, Nora Vasconcellos, Breana Geering, Vitória Mendonça and Momiji Nashiya, who have had full parts and collections of their own.

Raúl Navarro and Spanish skaters

Raúl Navarro, from Barcelona, got the adidas Ronan, his custom model, in 2013. It was the first time a Spanish rider had his own pro shoe at adidas. Navarro picked pigskin leather for the upper, classic black and white, a sole a bit thicker than a vulcanized one and reinforced at the heel, and put the graphic from his “Western Edition” board on the tongue. He has said he chose the Ronan for its toe, which worked well for kickflips and flatground tricks. The designers traveled to Barcelona for two days to fine-tune the model with him.

Navarro was also Spain’s rider on the 2014 Skate Copa shirts, a tournament with soccer jerseys by country, and he appeared in the 2015 Superstar ADV campaign. Barcelona also hosted one of the Skate Copa stops in 2015.

In 2024, adidas ran an action in Madrid called BUILD, together with skate shops from Madrid, Malmö, Stuttgart and Paris, to install 3D-printed concrete ledges in public spaces, with Heitor Da Silva, Busenitz and Mark Suciu.

Collaborations and projects

For a multinational, adidas Skateboarding has a track record of collaborations with small and street brands: Palace, Magenta, Long Live Southbank, Hélas, Alltimers, Hardies, photographer Ari Marcopoulos and rapper A$AP Ferg. In 2017 the Skate Copa Court tournament reached twelve cities, with a custom obstacle in each one. If you’re interested in the Spanish scene, check our roundup of Spanish skate brands, with Jart at the front.

adidas compared to other shoe brands

• Versus Vans: Vans is the classic skate brand and its Old Skool is a vulcanized shoe. adidas arrived with shoes from other sports and tends to bet on the cupsole, which protects more and weighs more. If you want board feel, the vulcanized one wins; if you hit a lot of stairs, adidas’ cupsole.
• Versus Nike SB: Nike SB is the other big sportswear brand in skating. adidas competes with classic silhouettes, ADV and collaborations with street brands.
• Versus others: for a full rundown, check the guide to the best skate shoes.

When it comes to real-world wear, the difference depends more on the model than on the brand.

Who is adidas Skateboarding for?

For anyone who likes the classic silhouettes, the Samba or the Campus, and wants to wear them at the spot without destroying them in a week. It works well if you like street and ledge skating, and also if you skate stairs with a padded cupsole. If your priority is feeling the board a lot, look mainly at the Samba ADV or the Puig. If you want what the team wears, the Tyshawn II and the Busenitz are the two with their best-known riders behind them. To learn to ollie in them, check the ollie entry in the dictionary.