Header: Courtesy of adidas
adidas Basketball has introduced the BB.01, the first performance basketball shoe to come out of Project: R.A.P. (Radical Athlete Perception), an innovation programme set up to make footwear that can be tailored to an individual athlete and the demands of a specific sport.
The shoe is made through additive manufacturing (the industrial name for 3D printing), in which material is built up layer by layer. The shoe is due to make its debut at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on the feet of adidas athlete Mikel Brown Jr. as he plays his first game there.
“We built Project: R.A.P. around a simple belief that athletes are capable of more, and the right technology can unlock it.”
Alexander Taylor, SVP Innovation Design and Concepts at adidas
More than a product
The BB.01 replaces the usual layers of textile, foam and glue with a shell printed from resin as a lattice, an open mesh of interlocking struts that wraps the whole foot. To ensure the perfect support, the printer varies how tightly the mesh is packed depending on what each zone of the foot needs. The lattice is denser and firmer around the toes, heel, and midsole, which are the areas where a player lands and pushes off; along the sidewalls, the more open lattice allows the shoe to flex with the natural twisting of the foot.
Underneath, the printed midsole is engineered to absorb impact and keep the player steady through cuts and landings. Inside the shell is a soft padded bootie, a sock-like inner layer that holds the foot in place and keeps the hard structure off the skin.
The famous three stripes are not stitched or glued on but printed into the structure itself, rising from the heel towards the collar. The shoe comes in a unique combination of an Orbit Grey base with a Solar Red outer cage.
Fifty pairs in Las Vegas
adidas is keeping the first run small, only offering 50 pairs at the adidas flagship store in Las Vegas on the 10th of July. There, the brand will host an “in-store activation” that gives visitors a live look at how the shoe was developed and made. A further limited release follows on the 14th of the same month through the adidas CONFIRMED app. For adidas, the drop is one step in a longer plan for Project: R.A.P., with more sports and more athletes to come in the future.
Project information
Design Company: adidas
Collection: Project: R.A.P. (Radical Athlete Perception)
Production: 3D Printing
Date: July, 2026
Price: $250
