Review: LEGO x Adidas ZX 8000 Sneaker

October 5, 2020 | 17

Never in my wildest dreams would I think that two of my favourite hobbies (and brands) would collide to produce the LEGO Adidas ZX 8000.

This limited-edition sneaker caused quite the ruckus in the LEGO community (and beyond), judging by the interest in my launch guide which has received over 50,000 views (!!) and is still climbing.

When news of the LEGO Adidas sneaker dropped without even seeing it, I made it my mission this year to get a pair. At all costs.

And I’m so fortunate and glad that I did. It wasn’t the toughest shoe drop to hit, but it was still a pretty formidable challenge, which I’m sure many of you experienced for the first time.

In the spirit of trying out something new, I decided to also do a video review, where I unbox the shoes, put them on for the first time and show how they look on feet!

I’ve been experimenting with a lot more video on my Youtube channel, and would love to hear if you’d like to see more video content, or even video set reviews!

If you don’t like videos, here’s a comprehensive review of the LEGO Adidas ZX 8000 in my usual style.

The box is easily the most disappointing aspect of the shoe – it’s a stark white cardboard box, with the A-ZX series logo lockup embossed faintly in several spots.

I think Adidas might’ve been wanting to go for a “blank canvas” look, but for a series celebrating the Adidas ZX, I’d really have liked a shoebox with more personality – this one feels sterile and empty, and didn’t really make unboxing fun.

Here’s the shoes peeking out for the first time.

I love surprises, and nothing surprised me more than discovering that Adidas snuck in not one, not two, not three, not even four but FIVE extra pairs of laces in red, blue, black, green and red.

Extra laces are quite common when buying sneakers as a little bonus to instantly change up the look of the shoe, but 5 is pretty much unprecedented so this was an incredible surprise.

With the laces also come matching-ish (there isn’t a green option) lace dubraes. I accidentally spazzed in my video and called them lace clips, but they’re actually called dubraes.

I really like what Adidas did here, which is to pay homage to the creativity that is fuelled by LEGO, allowing you to transform and customise the shoe to make it truly yours.

Here’s a look at the LEGO ZX 8000. The first thing that hits you – wow, this sure it a colourful shoe.

The liberal usage of primary reds, blues, yellows and greens instantly make this a loud and playful shoe, also hearkening to common LEGO brick colours.

The silhouette is your classic ZX 8000, which takes inspiration from the retro ZX runners from the 80s. It looks kiddy by design, almost like a toy shoe.

Now let’s look at some of the details in close-up.

I also really like the treatment of the three stripes, which has a yellow and black outline that borrow from LEGO’s logo.

Moving up to the laces is where the shoe gets interesting – the middle three eyelets are held together by red plastic brackets, which have 3 LEGO “studs”.

Moving on to the dubrae, which is also created in the shape of a 2 x 3 brick (3 because of Adidas’ three stripes) which also has studs on them.

The upper is made out of nylon, which have a bit of a reflective metallic sheen to it, and vertical stripes.

Here’s a look at the blue heel cup, and the green plug beneath it. The plug is there for added stability for your heel, and I really like the contract against the bright yellow midsole.

Let’s zoom into the heel cup. When photos of the shoe were released, fans got really excited thinking that these studs would be compatible with actual LEGO bricks, but sadly, the diameter of these studs are too small, and are just got aesthetic purposes.

Adidas aren’t experts at plastic injection moulding techniques, so I think it’d be a huge ask to get them to incorporate LEGO compatible studs to the shoes, but at the very least, they did manage to get the tiny LEGO words stamped into each stud.

Here’s the sneaker from the back, which is the most unflattering angle,

There is a sliver of reflective 3M above the suede – it’s reflective material that bounces lights off and commonly used in shoes to light them up in the dark if a car’s light shines on them.

Useful to avoid getting run over if you enjoy jogging at night.

Another nice surprise was the bright yellow insole which has the LEGO and Adidas logo printed on them. Enjoy them while it lasts because they’ll surely fade after repeated wear.

Just in case the bright primary colours, and studs weren’t enough to identify this as a LEGO-branded sneaker, there’s also the LEGO logo displayed prominently on the tongue.

On the inside of the tongue is the Adidas torsion branding, and the shoe’s model name, as well as some legal fine print which is a really odd addition, but I guess LEGO’s lawyers really wanted in there for legal purposes.

All right, now to the fun part, how they look and feel on-feet! These aren’t usually my preferred style of sneakers, so I was very surprised by the cushioning and padding in them.

There’s a LOT of padding on the inside, which makes them very comfortable, although I haven’t really put them to the test. If you like your sneakers snug, these might not be to your style.

As a retro runner, I think these look great with long socks but they’re pretty versatile.

They’re not the most supportive sneaker, and the foam midsole, and fabric uppers really make this pair feel like a pair out of the 1980s when sneaker and performance sports technology was all but primitive.

It does include the torsion bar, which at the time was a a game-changing innovation (which is still in use in modern running shoes today), but it lacks stability.

The materials also don’t benefit from modern techniques such as Adidas’ primeknit, and as someone who lives and breathes Adidas Boost technology, these definitely don’t feel like you’re walking on clouds.

That said, I love how colourful these are. I have a soft spot for brightly-coloured sneakers that look like a clown threw up on them, so these are something I’d have no problem incorporating into my rotation.

The colours are incredibly vibrant, and make no mistake, this is a very loud shoe that will draw a lot of attention to your feet with how playful and “toyish” they look.

For me, I’d pair these with neutral and subdued colours like grey or black, as I think they work best as a statement piece, but hey, if you want to rock a full LEGO outfit (which you can with the Levi’s collection), you absolutely can.

Here’s how they look in-full!

Final Thoughts: I really love the LEGO Adidas ZX 8000. These are literally a dream come true for me – I’ve been playing with LEGO and religiously wearing Adidas sneakers since I could choose my own shoes as a teenager, so the thought of these two brands coming together to produce a sneaker is just mind-blowing to me.

As a sneakerhead, I think Adidas hit this one out of the park, striking the right balance between an homage to LEGO, a retro runner and celebrating the heritage of the ZX silhouette.

I do wish they would’ve picked a much more exciting silhouette like an Ultraboost, NMD (which has LEGO-inspired plugs) or even given it the 4D treatment, but here’s hoping this isn’t the last we see of a LEGO x Adidas collab.

Judging by how well this sold (it’s the only A-ZX model that sold out instantly), I daresay LEGO and Adidas would be foolish not to plan more in the future.

As a LEGO fan, it’s slightly disappointing that the studs are just for aesthetic purposes, but the real miss in my books is the lack of an exclusive LEGO minifigure with the Adidas trefoil logo printed on it!

The shoelaces and extra dubraes were a nice touch, but man, if LEGO had included an Adidas minifigure, I would’ve absolutely lost my mind.

Unfortunately, the limited-edition nature of this shoe meant that plenty of LEGO fans missed out, which isn’t great and I think both LEGO and Adidas underestimated the impact this collab would have on the LEGO fan community.

There is a lot of resentment from LEGO fans, who I think, were unprepared and thrown into the lions den when it came to purchasing the shoes, especially with all the hype and marketing put behind it.

I would love to see LEGO take this up with Adidas, and maybe commission another run (it’ll likely never happen) that gets made available exclusively to long-standing LEGO VIP members.

If you like sneakers, and like LEGO, this pair is a no-brainer. If you missed out, you can still get your hands on them from established sneaker marketplaces like GOAT or Stockx, or even eBay where thankfully, prices have started to level down.

Expect prices of these to stay low for the next few months, before they start to go up as less and less pairs are available on the open market. Thankfully, resell isn’t ludicrous for this pair, as demand is mostly coming from LEGO fans, not sneakerheads.

If you want to nab a pair, I’d suggest getting them online before Christmas, as prices will likely go up higher the longer you wait. This time next year, I can easily see the price of the LEGO ZX 8000 double.

Thanks for reading (and watching) my review of the Adidas LEGO ZX-8000! I’d love to know what you think of this collaboration, and if you were lucky enough to cop a pair, let me know what you think of them!

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