Pokémon x adidas Superstar “Pikachu” Is Not Actually Called a Superstar

Every outlet covering the Pokémon collection is calling this shoe a Superstar. adidas is not. On its own product pages and in its only corporate announcement of the collection, this is a Superstar II, and the yellow pony hair Pikachu that the entire sneaker press has filed as a Pro Model is listed as a Superstar II Mid. The brand quietly put the numeral back on the model in February 2025 and nobody updated their style guide.

The naming is not pedantry, because the history behind it explains why everyone guessed wrong in the same direction. The Superstar exists as the low-cut version of the Pro Model. That is what it was built as, a basketball shoe with a molded rubber shell toe, and the two have always been the same shoe at two heights. So when a mid-cut shell toe turns up in a collection, reading it as a Pro Model is a reasonable thing to do. It is just not the name adidas printed.

The dates are contested in the usual way. Wikipedia puts the Superstar at 1969, adidas’ own pages have said 1970, and the sneaker internet has followed Wikipedia for years. What is not contested is what happened next. By 1973 the shell toe was reportedly on more than three quarters of NBA players. Then Run-DMC wore Superstars on stage as street clothes rather than costume, put out “My Adidas” in 1986 as an answer to an anti-sneaker record, and adidas signed them to what is generally described as the first endorsement deal between hip-hop artists and a major corporation. The II itself is real history too: adidas released a Superstar II and a Pro Model II around 1976 with revised builds, both eventually dropped the numeral, and the 2025 decision brought it back.

This pair is KI2858 in Yellow, Yellow and Core Black. adidas describes a prominent graphic across the upper, detailing on the tongue, and two different collectible lace jewels in the box. Its companion, KI2857, runs Cloud White, Core Black and Gold Metallic, with Pokémon graphics applied both as print and as a deboss into the leather, printed black laces and a set of decorative laces alongside. Note the wording there, Cloud White rather than the Footwear White that has been circulating.

Look at how the characters are distributed and the interesting decision appears. Mewtwo is spread across a Samba OG, a Handball Spezial and a ZX 8000. Rayquaza gets an F50, an Adistar Control 5 and a ZX 500. Gengar, Gastly and Haunter run down the Adistar family. Pikachu, the most recognisable character in the franchise and the one on the most merchandise, does not leave the Superstar at all. Three shoes, two low and one mid, one silhouette. The mascot got put on the model adidas can sell the most of, and the experiments went to the characters with smaller followings. That is a commercial instinct rather than a creative one, and it is legible only if you map the whole collection.

One more thing this collection does badly, and it is a shame given the care in the rest of it. adidas has not published a single character attribution on its own product pages. Nothing on the KI2857 page says Pikachu. The mapping of shoes to characters that every outlet is running, including this one, comes from release reporting, and it has already proved wobbly once on the mid. The shoe descriptions themselves are precise about pony hair and lace charms and debossed leather. The thing a Pokémon fan actually wants to know, which creature is on which shoe, is the part adidas left to the internet. The mid is covered separately here.

Pricing is reported at $110 for both low-tops in the United States, but that is not what Japan pays. adidas.jp lists KI2857 at ¥16,500 and KI2858 at ¥17,600, which are not the same number, so either the American prices genuinely flatten or one of the dollar figures is wrong. The mid sits at ¥24,200, roughly half again as much as the low-tops, and no dollar price for it has been announced at all. Anyone quoting $110 on that one is guessing.

Japan already has the collection. It released there on September 15, the same day adidas Japan issued the announcement, through adidas stores, adidas.jp and select retailers. The American date is reported as September 22 at adidas.com. Worth saying plainly: adidas’ global newsroom has published nothing about this collection, and the only corporate announcement of it anywhere is a Japanese language filing from adidas Japan. That is why the American coverage is working from retailer listings rather than a press kit, and it is why so much of it disagrees with itself.

Written by

The Sneakers Team

The Sneakers Team is the editorial desk behind becausesneakers, founded and edited by Nick Engvall. Nick has spent more than two decades in the sneaker industry. He built the original Eastbay Blog, led the first dedicated sneaker team at Complex, ran the first UGC and seeding programs at Finish Line, was employee number nine at StockX, and served as Senior Director at Stadium Goods. He hosts the Sneaker History podcast, and his first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, arrives in October 2026 from Motorbooks. Release details on this site are checked against the brand's own product information before publication, and anything we cannot confirm is labelled rather than stated.

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