Overkill x Adidas ZX 10000 Release Date
Written by SOURCE on February 8, 2019
Adidas is selling sneakers this weekend that comes with three shoes in the box. A pair of mint green shoes in included plus either a right or left of an aqua and yellow sneaker. The project is with Berlin’s Overkill, and it’s introducing the ZX 10000 model to the public, which is based off the original versions of the ZX 8000 and 9000 sneakers.
The ZX 10000 is an interesting model in itself. It’s a continuation of the Adidas ZX thousands series, which went from 1000 to 90000 and released in the late ’80s. The brand enlisted the original designer, Jacques Chassaing, and had him answer one simple question: What would the ZX 10000 have looked like?
The first release of the shoe isn’t another O.G. model, although the version of the shoe was premiered at a ZX exhibition in London in late 2018 and accompanied with a book, but rather through a collaboration. If you know a few things about Adidas and its running shoes, this all makes sense.
Marc Leuschner, co-owner of Overkill, is one of the most prolific collectors of ZX and its closely related EQT series of sneakers, and he was given the opportunity to interpret this offering from the brand with the help of Adidas Consortium designers George Griffin and Charles Lovett, who previously worked at Overkill.
“My first memory of ZX was around ‘98 or ‘99, when they had a retro of the ZX 9000 “Aqua” O.G. There was also another colorway that close to the German flag,” says Leuschner. “I was part of the football culture. The big guys [at the match] were wearing Adidas EQT or Torsion.”
The most interesting part of the collaboration, aside from the nerd factor of seeing a ZX 10000 shoe for collectors, is the mismatch shoes that come in the box.
“We took the DNA from the OGs and then mixed it up. My plan was for two different shoes, but we talked about a friends-and-family version, but Adidas said it wasn’t so easy. If we came up with two different versions, other stores would want it,” says Leuschner. “George and Charles came up with the idea of coming up with one shoe. Gary Aspden, who designs Adidas Spezial, also helped out with the project. The Mint version is similar the O.G. 9000 version. Then we came up with the idea to come up with three shoes in the box.”
Not only does the design of the shoes take a bit of history from the path, but the shoe is called “I Can If I Want,” which is a play on the original ZX motto of “I Want, I Can,” and the design is inspired by the Kith x ASICS “Homage” shoe and the Nike “What The Dunk.”
The sneakers themselves have gotten co-signs from the current gatekeepers in the sneaker culture, including Kith’s Ronnie Fieg and Round Two’s Sean Wotherspoon.
“Sean Wotherspoon shared it on his Instagram story the other day,” Leuschner says. “Ronnie Fieg didn’t know I was Marc from Overkill. He thought I was an Adidas designer. Then he found out who I was and asked if he could leak it, because he liked the silhouette. I was surprised and I was shocked, because I wanted to make it big in the U.S., but I said no, because we wanted it to be connected to us.”
Grab a pair this weekend for 220 Euros from Overkill, but you might have to fight off a crowd of up to 1,000 collectors who have flown in from as far as Bahrain.
