About

adidas Forum

In 1984 adidas released the most expensive basketball shoe on the market to date. The Forum was intended as a flagship, named after the arena where the big games were played, and it looked like it wanted to justify that price tag.

The strap is the whole idea

Across the instep lies an adjustable strap with Velcro. It wasn’t there for show: on the court it provided extra grip for lateral movements, on top of what the laces already did. Notably, that strap also stayed on the low version, where it adds little functionally. It has turned from construction into trademark — you recognize a Forum by it, and that’s why it remained.

Stripes with holes in them

Beside the laces the three stripes run as separate bands with perforations in them, a solution adidas often used to save weight and allow air through. The surrounding leather is thick and stiff, the collar is padded, and on the side of the midsole the brand name and the trefoil are embossed.

Where it stands among the rest

Within adidas the Forum is the loud family member: where the Superstar places its strength in one detail and the Campus sticks to suede, the Forum stacks strap, panels and volume on top of each other. That made it in the eighties a status symbol and forty years later usable again, precisely because it never tried to be subtle.

On this page you can see which versions of the adidas Forum are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from what price they can be found and how many shops have them in stock.