Adidas Is Making Game Of Thrones Sneakers

One of the main criticisms levelled against Adidas’ Dragon Ball collaboration was that the shoes were all trash, and didn’t feature the company’s more popular models like the Ultra Boost. Those, it turns out, were being saved for something else: A line based on HBO’s Game of Thrones.

[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/07/adidas-first-two-dragon-ball-sneakers-are-goku-frieza/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/o7cw1m6oe4yuiw8ltsvu.jpg” title=”Adidas’ First Two Dragon Ball Sneakers Are Goku & Frieza” excerpt=”OK, we’re pretty much done with leaks. these are some of the first official shots of Adidas’ anticipated upcoming collaboration with Dragon Ball Z, and they show the first two pairs are running with a Goku vs. Frieza theme.”]

Although teased/announced months ago, complete with supposed mockups of designs based on the series’ great houses and factions, it’s only now that we’re getting actual photos of some of the shoes.

Every shoe in the line is going to be an Ultra Boost, and the first two pairs released are based on House Targaryen. In these official shots from Adidas, one has a fiery design:

And the other has a white-on-white design, which I guess is based on Daenerys? Official pics of this one haven’t been released yet, but solebyjc got his hands on a pair early:

In addition to the Targaryens, solebyjc also copped an early pair of White Walker sneakers:

As someone who actually collects Ultra Boosts, these aren’t terrible. I kinda wish they were based on the Ultra Boost 1.0 model instead of the newer 4.0 (I hate the “ribbing” on the knit pattern), but the designs themselves are striking about the right balance between “subtly including references to Game of Thrones as the licence would dictate” and “not looking like a shoe for five year-olds with plastic dragons all over them”.

The only differences between these and regular Ultra Boosts are the addition of a small “flag” on the heel, which will carry a name or slogan associated with the theme, as well as custom aglets and tongue tabs. The only overt branding is on the insole, which have giant Game of Thrones logos on them.

Indeed most folks probably won’t even know these are Game of Thrones sneakers at all unless you point it out to them, and I guess sneakerheads could be looking out for some of these even if they don’t like the show/books, since there’ll be some nice colourways on the way if the earlier leaks are anything to go by.

The black & red pair will be out in January, with others rolling out over the year.