Jabba the Hutt Altitude Hi Sneakers from Adidas

When I first posted about these shoes back in August, I said that I couldn’t believe they were actually making them, and it’s still a little hard to believe. The shoes in this series are like grown-up versions of the kinds shoes we might have worn as kids, which I love. Some people have dismissed them as being childish, but I’m not above having a little fun with something like this. The $140 price tag is not so fun, but this type of shoe isn’t cheap to begin with and these are made in relatively low quantities so maybe that’s unavoidable. I bought these back when they first became available on the Adidas website in October, but I ended up having to make them a Christmas present to myself in order to appease my wife, so I’m only just now getting to open them. 😀

The shoes in this line come in pretty simple packaging. It’s very reminiscent of an action figure on its card. I’m not entirely sure if that was intentional or not, but you do certainly get that vibe. You can slide the card out quite easily, allowing you to access the shoes without destroying any of the packaging. The Jabba ones come with a card that has a cool blue-toned image of Jabba and Leia that I intend to keep and display with the shoes.

Some of the entries in the Adidas Star Wars line have been better than others. Much of the clothing is forgettable, and some of the shoes look ridiculous. But some of them have really hit a sweet spot between Star Wars geekery and coolness. Maybe I’m biased, but I think these fit into that category quite nicely. For one thing, the design manages to be attractive on its own, without being overpowered by the character it represents. I don’t think wearing these would immediately brand you as a Star Wars geek, and in fact I could see some casual fans wanting to wear them, partially because Jabba has a sort of “gangster” cred that other Star Wars characters don’t. The colors they chose go well together as well, while still being appropriate for Jabba.

Both of the shoes have a little metal plate on the laces that reads “GANGSTER.”

There’s a nice image of Jabba, along with the “Jabba the Hutt” name on the tongue of each shoe.

Jabba’s tattoo is on the side of each heel, and the leather around the ankle is wrinkled in a way that is very similar to Jabba’s skin.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think these were designed to go with the New Era Jabba the Hutt fitted baseball cap. They both share a lot of similar design elements, and I think they’d go pretty well together, at least on the kind of person who could get away with that sort of thing. Aside from the price, I can’t really think of anything that I would do differently if I had to sit down and design Jabba sneakers.