u/TacoDeliDonaSauce

I recently picked up a couple pairs of the Glenburn to try them out, here are my initial thoughts.

The good:

First of all, they look great. They did a knockout job with the design and the colorways here.

Second, the sole unit is nice, you can feel the slight bounce from the EVA cushion in the heel. And while it looks sleek, it’s not as narrow as the Samba or the Gazelle. The sole looks a bit cheap in my opinion, but for $75 some things are worth the trade off.

Third, if you like arch support you will love the Glenburn, it has slightly more than the Handball Spezial!

Fourth, there’s decent room in the toe box.

The drawbacks:

Materials. These are not the highest quality suede and leather but again what do you expect for $75? Not a big deal, they still look great!

Laces. For some reason adidas cannot get lace length right on US 10.5 shoes. I’ve experienced laces that were too short on the BW Army, the Gazelle Indoor Pro, and now the Glenburn. This doesn’t happen when I size up to 11 or down to 10. Yes it’s easy to fix, but annoying especially if you’re trying to keep the colors matched. And since this is a skate shoe it’s got a long tongue, and you kind of need that last hole laced to keep it from looking too goofy.

Heel slippage. This is the deal-breaker for me. The heel has nice structure but it’s short and my heel slips out. This might be fixed with appropriate-length laces, I don’t know. The short heel isn’t so bad when trying these on barefoot, but that’s not a sustainable solution. YMMV, depends on the shape of your foot and your wear preferences.

Aspden SPZL, Handball Spezial in collegiate green and cloud white, Messi x Samba in halo mint and lucid pink, Retropy e5 in olive, Campus 80s in Mesa, and Gazelle Indoor Pro in victory red.

Wow! So nice. The leather lining and trefoil heel are my favorite parts.

Missed these when they were on the adidas site, found my size at Up There Store.

This is a good looking shoe, but one of those rare instances where I prefer the online image to the real thing.

adidas continues to impress with a steady release of tumbled leather handball Spezials.

This one mimics the Messi x Samba colorway.

Five bucks off appetizers. New Orleans BBQ Shrimp (10 pieces) $11 after discount. Pork pot stickers (6 pieces) $7 after discount.

The counts don’t match the photos because I ate some first, sorry.

I’ve never seen handball in the US, but these are classified as performance so might very well be what’s used in the modern sport. Pretty interesting in that it’s a boost midsole wrapped in a gum sole, would probably be good for people who are on their feet all day.

I was curious about these last year but they came and went pretty quick.

Has anyone tried these out?

Love this colorway. Got it for 1/2 off after they exited the tournament, and got triple AdiClub points along with it.

It’s wild that the partnership between adidas and German football has ended!

Custom designed with leather trimmings. These are an older pair, almost a decade old - they are my beaters now.

Brought them back out for World Cup season. ⚡️🇦🇷

adidas IH8159

I think they could be good for work wear - both are a leather and suede mix.

The brown is LB5654 and are a little different than the ones offered by Size? in that they don’t have white laces or heel lining. The cardboard colorway LA3396.

The GOAT 🐐⚽️

Released January 2024, these are the first Samba collabs he did with adidas, featured in Argentina blue and white, a translucent sole, and a gold heel accent representing the World Cup trophy. And they are such an attractive variant on the standard white Samba!

adidas ID3550

We are about halfway through the year, and what a great one for adidas. What are some of your favorites so far?

For me the standouts are the World Cup collection (especially the Belgium, Columbia, Italy and Japan away kit Spezials), followed by the Napoli pack - Europe gets so many better releases than we do in the US.

My personal favorites, all pictured here, are variants of the Gazelle Indoor pro, the newest Messi x Samba in aqua and pink, and the tumbled leather Handball collection (which actually came out at the end of 2025, but is still going strong).

But there have been so many other good releases, just a sample includes:

Tobacco Super
Mendecino SPZL
Kicks lab tobacco
BW Army by Hartcopy
The Marbella
The Bob Marley collection
The Galapagos
Melbourne by UpThereStore
Bad Bunny collection
Adistar by Unheard of
Loafers