Adidas Samba

A pair of blue suede Adidas "Samba" trainers.

The Adidas Samba is an indoor soccer training shoe. It has been among Adidas' most popular, bestselling shoes in recent times. It is produced in a variety of color schemes, yet the classic black with three white stripes is the most popular. The shoe features a tan gumsole that distinguishes it from other Adidas shoes.

The shoe was first produced in 1950 to enable association football players to train on icy hard ground (hence the suction on the gumsole). Its original design featured the classic three stripes, as well as the gold trefoil on the foldable tongue. As years progressed, the Samba evolved into the Samba Millennium (which was made without the extended tongue) and the Samba '85. Classic models of the shoe are still in production, under the name Classic M. While the original model is sometimes used for training, street play, and futsal, it is more popularly worn as a casual wear shoe much like the Chuck Taylor All-Star.

In popular culture

• Owen Wilson's character Randy Dupree wears a pair of adidas Samba K (a classic model that uses kangaroo leather) virtually the whole time in the 2006 film You, Me, and Dupree.
• In the Video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the character "Ryder" is seen wearing black Samba like shoes.
• Several of Coldplay's members have been known to wear 'well loved' pairs of adidas Sambas.
• Ewan McGregor wears a pair of burgundy adidas Samba Super sneakers in the movie "Trainspotting".
• The song Olé by The Bouncing Souls features the lines: Lace your Sambas, get on out/Off we go to kick it about
• In Donnie Darko, the title character played by Jake Gyllenhaal can be seen wearing a pair of black 1970s style Adidas
• In Team Fortress 2 the scout class wears a pair of black Samba shoes.
• Shia Labeouf wears a pair of black Sambas in the yet to be released film "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".
• The shoe was a favorite in the the 1970s Liverpool football casuals/scally subculture; indeed the shoe is an icon in the UK along with Reebok Classics.
• Every football player in the classic "Remember the Titans" can be seen wearing Sambas either on the field or around.
• Glasvegas lead man, James Allan is often seen wearing Adidas Samba's
• In the 1975 movie adaptaion of The Who's album Tommy, lead singer Roger Daltrey can be seen wearing a pair of white Samba's with black stripes during the scenes at Tommy's Holiday Camp.
• Noel Gallagher wore a pair of Classic Black Sambas in the Oasis music video for 'Live Forever'.