Header: Courtesy of adidas
The Adistar Jellyfish, a chunky trainer with a mesh upper wrapped in a sculpted outer cage, which reminds one of the movement of a jellyfish, has just gotten an upgrade. adidas Originals and Pharrell Williams have now added two new colours to the line, “Red” and “Storm”. The shoe was named VIRGINIA, Pharrell’s creative platform covering fashion, design, music and community.
From the Adistar Cushion to the Jellyfish
The Jellyfish was built on the Adistar Cushion 3, an adidas running shoe from 2005, keeping its cushioning, a mix of the brand’s standard AdiPRENE foam and the more advanced AdiPRENE+. The top half of the shoe, on the other hand, was redesigned by Pharrell and his team.
The shoe was first seen on Pharrell’s feet at Paris Fashion Week in January of 2025, in white with black and orange, with that same pair going on sale later that year. Since then, the Jellyfish has come out in a long series of colourways, from triple black and royal blue to triple white and “Crystal Sand”, some of them released worldwide and others only in small numbers through raffles and events.
The jellyfish shape
The Jellyfish was given exaggerated proportions and many layers. The upper is made of engineered mesh, a fabric made specifically for the shoe, and a cage of sculpted panels surrounds it, giving the shoe its volume. The midsole, meanwhile, has a flowing shape based on the way a jellyfish moves through the water, and on both new pairs, some of the details glow in the dark.
“Red” and “Storm”
The “Red” pair has an upper that is almost entirely red, with the Three Stripes in black, while its moulded overlays, made of TPU, a tough and flexible plastic, are blue and glow in the dark. As for the “Storm”, it is dressed in several shades of grey, with black, steel blue and volt green, a bright yellow-green, used for the details.
Both pairs are sold through the CONFIRMED app, adidas’s app for limited releases, as well as the adidas app and selected shops around the world. Sign-ups for the release opened on the 19th of October, five days before the shoes went on sale.
