Today, if you were to go up to any random person in any major city across the world to ask them, "What's the first shoe that comes to mind when I say 'adidas'?," you'd likely hear "Superstar," "Anthony Edwards 2," and "Samba."
If you traveled back in time to any point between Fall 1996 and Summer 2001, and tried the same exercise, there's a high chance all of the footwear named would have one thing in common: Feet You Wear technology.
Now largely housed under the adidas Originals umbrella, Feet You Wear (FYW) was once the brand's marquee performance platform. Developed by Frampton Ellis & Anatomic Research in the early '90s and exclusively licensed to the Three Stripes by '94, the innovation sought to closely resemble the foot itself. Inspired by Ellis' own woes with ankle injuries from running and basketball, FYW—originally called "barefootwear"—provides a low-to-the-ground experience and stabilizing setup achieved by tapering off the sole unit around the side of the shoe. The Brand with the 3-Stripes bet big on Feet You Wear, reimagining classic styles with the tech, as well as launching whole new franchises across basketball, cross-training, hiking, running, and tennis. Some of the names associated with the experimental tooling during its heyday include: Antoine Walker, Tracy McGrady, Tim Tomas, Keyshawn Johnson, Steffi Graf, and Kobe Bryant.
Licensing disputes ultimately put an end to adidas Feet You Wear by 2003, but the platform returned stealthily in 2010 through the likes of Derrick Rose; in 2018, adidas Basketball kicked off a series of Boost You Wear (BYW) models built in the same spirit of their predecessors from the '90s. The adidas YEEZY 500 gave Ellis' invention its biggest look since its original run to close out the 2010s, seemingly setting in motion Feet You Wear's biggest comeback.
Throughout 2025, numerous adidas products donning FYW tech have launched—both inline and collaborations. A number of rumored and confirmed projects launching in 2026, however, suggest the soon-to-be-30-year-old innovation will be a focus for the company in the new year. In anticipation of the moment, here's a brief overview of Feet You Wear.
Shop all available FYW product via adidas.com.
The Beginning: adidas EQT Top Ten 2000 (1996)
Before getting into the silhouette that introduced Feet You Wear to the masses, it's important to touch on some specifics about Ellis' invention and its application across the adidas catalog.
FYW mimics the foot's natural curves and sections off traction across forefoot, mid-foot, and hind-foot. Despite its varied appearances, the technology contoured similarly across models in order to deliver enhanced stability, lateral movement, and other performance benefits.
Footwear featuring FYW sole units were denoted with a playful foot-inspired logo.
What better way to introduce an industry-shifting innovation to the public than by getting one of the NBA's most-promising talents to wear it on-court? That's exactly what happened throughout the 1996-97 season, Bryant's rookie year.
Straight out of Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania, the 20-year-old guard positioned himself as one of the most-exciting forces in the adidas Basketball roster of athletes. The Top Ten 2000 kicked things off, following in the legacy of the original Top Ten from 1979 by propelling performance footwear into the future. Other NBA players the likes of Jermaine O'Neal and Detlet Schrempg also wore the Top Ten 2000, but Bryant starred in ad campaigns that read, "Kobe's Feet Work. We Copied Them."
Here to Stay: adidas EQT Top Ten 2010, EQT Elevation, KB8 (1997-98)
As Bryant cemented himself as a key player for the Los Angeles Lakers, so did adidas Feet You Wear amongst serious hoopers. Different robustly-built silhouettes appeared across all levels of the game, all donning a tooling solution that enabled a certain nimbleness that had quickly proven itself in the NBA.
The Top Ten 2010, Elevation, and KB8 presented FYW in three distinct packages that shared one common goal: protect athletes while unlocking natural movement.
With the KB8, Bryant received his own signature model. Upon his split with the Three Stripes, the design was renamed to adidas Crazy 8, modified to exclude any nod to Bryant, and has enjoyed a steady retro cycle. The Crazy 8 has even been offered in a low-top version. The Elevation was renamed to the Crazy 97.
A Diverse Showing: adidas EQT GameSpeed, EQT Katamai, EQT Salvation, EQT Ultimate, EQT Integral (1996-99)
As aforementioned, FYW tech appeared across a multitude of product categories, bringing the same performance benefits enjoyed by Bryant and other NBA athletes to the likes of Keyshawn Johnson in the NFL, professional hiker Adam Heaney, U.S. 10,000 meter champion Todd Williams, and 1996 U.S. Open winner Steffi Graf.
Johnson, a one-time SuperBowl winner, endorsed Feet You Wear with models like the EQT Forty Lo before receiving his very own signature styles à la Kobe Bryant. His Key Trainer returned through Originals in 2014—complete with a key-shaped hang-tag—while his GameSpeed silhouette is positioning itself for a return in 2026.
You may have noticed that many of the FYW offerings from the Three Stripes included "EQT" distinctions in their names. These three letters reference adidas Equipment, a platform born in 1991 with the mission of creating and releasing product that strips down performance-wear to only the essentials. EQT introduced the brand's Badge of Sport logo, which differentiated products from those donning the trefoil emblem.
EQT and FYW worked in-tandem across different disciplines to enhance athletic experiences in ways that competition simply wasn't.
Ahead of Its Time: adidas KB8 III (1999)
Confusingly, Bryant's third adidas KB8 model was also known as the EQT Responsiveness during its inaugural year. Somewhat of a mix between its immediate predecessor and the Antoine Walker-endorsed AW8 of '98, the KB8 III helped the young guard on his way to his first NBA ring—though it's important to note that Bryant switched over to a new franchise (The Kobe, now Crazy Infinity 1)—by the time Playoffs rolled around.
Oft-overlooked, the silhouette shares its tooling with two other designs that've experienced sizable popularity over the years.
The re-named KB8 III—Crazy 3—is expected to return in February 2026, likely as part of the Three Stripes' plans for NBA All-Star Weekend 2026.
Another Take: adidas Intimidation (1999)
Straight from the mind of Shane Ward, the Intimidation was a short-lived hoops shoe that shared the same Feet You Wear setup as Kobe Bryant's final KB8 model.
The original Intimidation's history hasn't been as well-documented as other footwear styles of its era, but the design returned in all its white, yellow, and navy-glory in October 2020. Perhaps only appreciated by those who were around for its debut run, the reissue reminded the public that the peculiar sole unit proposal had had its history well-before any Kanye West co-sign (more on that in a bit).
A Blast from the Past: adidas BYW LVL 1 (2018)
The likes of Derrick Rose and John Wall were exciting figures for adidas Basketball at the start of the 2010s. The brand's design team experimented with similar organic lines promoted by Feet You Wear a decade earlier atop models like the TS Supernatural Creator, but attention was swiftly shifted to other platforms.
As 2018 approaches, however, the German sportswear juggernaut revisits the innovative FYW invention through its Boost You Wear (BYW) line. Switching adiPRENE and adiPRENE+ cushioning with the industry-shifting BOOST foam, adidas BYW footwear paired the best of both worlds: modern, responsive midsole tech with an outsole platform that allowed wearers to feel the full extent of BOOST without sacrificing court-feel. Nick Young and Brandon Ingram were two names associated with some of the earliest BYW styles—specifically the fine-tuned-for-performance BYW X.
Collaborators like Pharrell Williams and Y3 injected a street fashion-approved cachet into a number of Boost You Wear offerings. Both, however, arguably fell short of what Mr. West accomplished with his use of Feet You Wear tech.
YEEZY Taught 'em: adidas YEEZY 500 (2018)
The artist formerly known as "Kanye West" join Team adidas in late 2013. The public didn't get access to the first batch of adidas YEEZY products until 2015. By 2018, everything co-branded between both institutions instantly sold out.
In December 2017, Ye offered fans a chance to pre-order an all-new footwear design named YEEZY 500. Shipped out by March 2018, the silhouette became one of Mr. West's most popular. It offered a much more robustly-built proposal than the 350 series. The late DJ Clark Kent famously lauded the 500 because it was built like a serious basketball shoe—both in its standard low-top form and High edition. A footwear-savant, the Brooklyn legend was on to something as the 500 utilized the same FYW sole unit as the KB8 III and Intimidation from more than 15 years earlier.
Feet You Wear technology's appearances across the YEEZY imprint forwent any overt reference to the past, but savvy sneaker enthusiasts recognized the retro platform. (A similar occurrence took place with the debut of the YEEZY 700, which bears semblance to the EQT Solution from '98.)
adidas explored performance and lifestyle options rooted in FYW heritage, but all were trumped by the work of Mr. West and company.
The adidas YEEZY relationship concluded in October 2022.
Playing with the Past: adidas Intimidation Low (2024-Present)
Style trends changed in the early 2020s, with a select segment of consumers gravitating towards thin-soled silhouettes from the adidas Originals catalog. Models like the Samba and Gazelle Indoor took off, leading the charge for other bring-back efforts like the Tokyo and Taekwondo Mei.
The folks over at Packer Shoes, however, revisited Shane Ward's Intimidation design from '99 to give its low-top edition its biggest look to date. The masses overlooked the limited collaboration, but those with an affinity for the niche helped the project sell out quickly.
John Bouquet's HAL STUDIOS DESIGN THINKING (HSDT) followed with an interpretation of their own. Inline models clad in original color schemes followed, as did a laceless edition of the retro product.
The adidas Intimidation Low revival formed part of a larger movement from the company's hoops-obsessed team to celebrate its past, present, and future. Jerry Lorenzo's Fear of God Athletics partnership has also contributed to this strategy.
Throughout 2025, the Intimidation Low has emerged in numerous styles—most recently a college-inspired collection. The design is positioning itself to continue indulging in the spotlight in 2026 via a number of makeovers through other sports categories.
Could other Feet You Wear designs return? Given that '26 marks the 30th anniversary of the technology's debut, it's possible. Only time will tell.