Adidas is getting in on the Cyberpunk hype with the release of two different limited edition sneaker variants. Designed in collaboration with CD Projekt Red, the shoes are set to be available from November 11 in select Asian countries only, according to CDPR Biz Dev Director Rafal Jaki. The X9000L4 (roughly $250) features the Cyberpunk logo at the bottom and comes in four different colours—grey as shown in the picture above, as well as black, white and a leopard pattern. Each shoe has its own snazzy accents in colours such as red, turquoise, gold, purple and silver.
The hypebeasts meanwhile can't seem to warm up to either model. Still smarting from recent collaboration shoes such as a really questionable Lego shoe that could at least work for kids, the community doesn't seem all that hype. Reactions are mixed to say the least. Over on Hypebeast twitter, some people are calling the shoes ugly, while one unsurprising issue is the price, with a user saying "for $200 I'd never wear them". The main problem across channels seems to be that rather than designing something unique that fits the brand Adidas collaborates with, the company uses its existing shoe models, hikes them up in price and adds a few brand-adjacent colours.
Speaking as a non-hypebeast, I don't think they're bad, but they're also strongly reminiscent of Adidas' other attempt at a gamer shoe for the cool crowd, namely Ninja's Adidas collaboration, released in December 2019. It's the Ninja logo I can't get over, which was tactically placed on the inside of the shoe, likely by someone who wanted to hide it.
Then there's the second Cyberpunk shoe, the X900L4 (around $190). This is a black shoe with mesh accents, and comes with a yellow sole, yellow laces, and a yellow Cyberpunk logo running across it. While the X900L4 is supposed to be more of an everyday shoe, this model is made especially for running. Some people will be rightly thinking, "why doesn't this glow in the dark?". Glow-in-the-dark is literally the cyber in Cyberpunk.
The shoes join a long line of Cyberpunk 2077 merch, which by now has got to make you wonder—the genre itself is supposed to be an expression of the pitfalls of capitalism, yet we're asked to buy large amounts of stuff that varies wildly in quality and actual usefulness. It's all part of Cyberpunk 2077's ongoing marketing offensive, but at this point I'll be glad for the game to release before someone starts selling me a Cyberpunk 2077-branded stressball.
