The ZX line starts in 1984 with the ZX 500. Three-digit numbers, running shoes, designed by Jacques Chassaing and Markus Thaler. In 1989 the four-digit generation arrives, and with it the ambition to deliver technology rather than just shape. The ZX 8000 goes first.

Its contribution is called Torsion. A TPU bar sits beneath the EVA midsole and links heel and forefoot so that both can move independently. Before that a running sole was one rigid piece and the foot had to adapt to the shoe. With Torsion it was the other way round. The ZX 8000 was the first shoe built with it, and the system is still in Adidas models today.

Within the four-digit range every number had a job. The 8000 was the cushioned one. The 9000, from the same year, was built for maximum stability.

It ended up being stood in more than run in. In 1988 and 1989, during the second Summer of Love, the ZX 8000 turned up at Manchester acid house nights. The Torsion bar, meant for long distances, held up to hours of standing just as well. The Wall came down the same year, and in East Berlin the shoe took on a status nobody had designed it for.

Adidas has brought it back regularly since: the OG colourway through Consortium in 2019, the A-ZX series in 2020, and a pack naming Chassaing and Thaler.

We have it in Footwear White / Dark Blue / Grey One. Mesh with suede overlays in Grey One, dark blue on the three stripes and the heel. Item number KI5673. 109 €, US 8.5 to US 12.