Adidas is turning one of its best-selling lifestyle silhouettes into technical climbing footwear. The Samba Climbing Shoe releases October 6, 2026, through adidas, pairing the sneaker's classic upper with Five Ten's STEALTH rubber outsole — the compound Five Ten built its reputation on for grip in climbing gyms and on rock.
The upper keeps the Samba's signature details intact: a leather base, serrated Three Stripes branding, gold Samba script on the lateral side, and a close-fitting neoprene-style collar that mimics the look of the original terrace shoe. Oversized pull tabs at the heel make the shoe easier to step into and remove, a nod to its lifestyle roots even as the bottom half gets a full technical overhaul.
The real change is underfoot. Instead of the Samba's traditionally flat gum sole, adidas replaced it with a curved outsole built from Five Ten STEALTH rubber, the material the brand uses across its dedicated climbing shoe line. That rubber extends around the toe box and climbs up across the heel, adding traction and protection for stepping on climbing holds — something the standard Samba sole was never designed to do. Five Ten branding appears on the heel to mark the collaboration between the two adidas-owned labels; adidas has owned Five Ten outright since 2011, making this less a third-party collaboration and more an in-house crossover between its lifestyle and outdoor-performance divisions.
Two colorways are confirmed for the October 6 launch: a Black/White/Orange pair and a White/Black/Blue pair. Pricing has not been published by adidas ahead of release, which is typical for performance-adjacent Samba spinoffs until the shoe lands on the brand's site and app.
The release lands in a year where the retro-silhouette market has leaned hard into reworked classics, with brands increasingly using heritage shapes as a base for functional updates rather than pure colorway rotations. For adidas, folding Five Ten's climbing pedigree into its most recognizable terrace shoe is a way to stretch the Samba's relevance beyond streetwear racks and into outdoor retail — without touching the silhouette's core identity.
Source: Captain Creps
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