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 claim to deliver technology rather than just shape. The ZX 8000 goes first.

Its contribution is called Torsion. A TPU bar sits under the EVA midsole and links heel and forefoot so that the two 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. The system is still in adidas models today.

In the four-digit line 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 landed at acid house parties in Manchester. The Torsion bar was meant for long distances and held up to hours of standing just as well. The wall came down that 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, plus 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 at the heel. Item number KI5673. 109 €, US 8.5 to US 12.