adidas Believe That 1 review

Do your feet a favor with this not-so-much-of-a-takedown version of the Anthony Edwards line and let them enjoy:

• Its exceptional containment and lockdown, featuring a solid desgin with rubber reinforcements and a semi-gusseted tongue.
• Its excellent outsole, made using durable and tacky rubber in a pattern ready to play on dusty courts and outdoors.
• Its stable, yet flexible and lightweight structure, which feels engineered for hoopers who want the best of both worlds.

Owning up to everything we've said, there is one aspect where adidas definitely didn't invest in that much: this hoop's foam. It features a Dreamstrike midsole that not only felt firmer, but also way less bouncy. Consequently, its energy return was clearly lacking to be a top performer. If that's what you're looking for, these are the basketball shoes with the highest energy return we have analyzed.

Also, while we've recommended this adidas pair to play outdoors because its outsole design is superb, we gotta say its upper materials are definitely not the most durable. If you're looking for an equally cheap adidas pair to play streetball but you need some extra wear resistance, the Dame Certified might be your cup of tea.

On par with its non-takedown siblings, the Believe That 1 shocked us (no pun intended) with an average shock absorption of 103/79 SA. We can't say its Dreamstrike foam is otherworldly when it comes to impact protection, but we never felt it was lacking either.

Nevertheless, this adidas hoop's cheaper soul just manifested when we measured its energy return. Standing at a lower-than-average 51.1% at the forefoot and 49.8 % at the heel, we can't say it felt crazy bouncy during our wear tests.

Following its family's standard height, the Believe That 1 has a 29.9 mm heel stack, which felt neither too close nor too far from the court.

The forefoot follows the very same philosophy, as our caliper returned 19.7 mm. Even though this score is below our lab standard, we never felt unprotected.

The previously mentioned height difference leaves us with a 10.2 mm drop, which is slightly higher than this category's average. But don't worry, this won't feel gamechagingly different; it's basically your heel sitting slightly higher, that's all!

We found the Dreamstrike foam to be way firmer than average, as our durometer returned 46.5 AC. Even though this adidas pair didn't feel like a brick underfoot, please don't expect to be walking on clouds either... or you're in for a disappointing treat!

We were pretty surprised when our caliper returned 95.1 mm when we measured this shoe's width. But our gel method doesn't like! The thing is: during our wear tests, we didn't feel like the Believe That 1 was wider than other hoops, and our next test explained why.

Just by looking at our freshly made gel cast, we could see that this hoop tapers quite a bit. Our caliper confirmed it when it returned 68.3 mm, a lower-than-average number.

In its official product description, adidas already warns hoopers about the Believe That 1 snug fit, and they'd better listen! At only 22.5 mm, this shoe's upper sits quite low, so our toes didn't really have a lot of vertical space to stretch out.

We couldn't even believe our eyes when this adidas hoop scored an outstanding 0.82 in our traction test, which translated into an insane grip on court that let us safely perform daring layups and dribble quickly towards the rim.

The simple yet incredibly efficient pattern of the Believe That 1 left us speechless. It features thick and sharp lines that, luckily, deal pretty well with dust!

But like, as pretty much any experienced hooper knows, some outsole wiping is just unavoidable. It is what it is, dear ballers.

Though this adidas pair offers great containment, its design is pretty pliable. In fact, we only needed 14.7N to bend it all the way up to 30 degrees!

It was hard to hide our excitement when our scale confirmed this takedown version had taken some of its siblings' weight down (yes, pun intended this time!). At 388g, it's definitely not the lightest and fastest basketball shoe out there, but an improvement is an improvement!

This shoe's flexible forefoot wouldn't trick us, as its solid structure and materials offer great containment and lateral support. As you can see in the video below, our feet couldn't overextend themselves, which helped us perform better. Confidence is key!

Once again, our lab and wear tests have proved that a flexible design doesn't always equal instability! Our machine returned 17.8 Nm, a lower-than-average result.

Apart from its solid design, materials, and rubber lateral reinforcements, the Believe That 1 features a top shank that improves its overall support.

With a fantastic 4/5 on our heel counter stiffness test, adidas shows that they care about our Achilles, offering both support and comfort in an equalized design.

A wider base also contributes to the overall stable feel we enjoyed in every wear test. Showing off a solid 117.6 mm at the forefoot, it easily surpasses our current lab average!

The same goes for the heel, which levels up the balance game even more! At an amazing 100.9 mm, somehow adidas managed to make it feel wonderfully supportive yet not clunky at all.

This shoe's upper looks and feels sturdy, but our Dremel is a merciless tool, and it managed to leave more than just a merely aesthetic scratch. The Believe That 1 earned a good-enough 3/5 in our toebox durability test.

The generously padded heel managed to withstand wear and tear just enough to get another 3/5 on our durability scale.

With a dent of only 0.8 mm, it's getting increasingly harder to believe that the Believe That 1 is a takedown model of the Anthony Edwards line. In fact, the pattern and durability of its outsole make it a great choice for playing outdoors!

After checking this shoe's rubber resistance, we can totally see why adidas didn't put as much material as this category's current average: our caliper returned only 3.1 mm.

With only a 1/5 on our breathability test, there's no way this hoop would let our feet breathe during our games.

As you can see, the Curry 11 would beat it regarding ventilation any day, any time!

But, you know what, after having a quick look at its thick upper materials, we totally understood why! After all, its solid support does make some sacrifices; there's no way around it.

Cutting down on production costs but not on comfort, the Believe That 1's tongue stands proud at 7.3 mm. Being lower than average means nothing in this case, as its protective nature was not altered.

We really appreciated the fact that, even though this is a takedown version, it still features the collection's semi-gusseted tongue that improves lockdown and surefootedness so much.

This shoe's insole is slightly thinner than average at 4.1 mm, but it's still pretty standard, so there's nothing to worry about.

And if you want to change it, you won't have any problems, as it's removable! Nevertheless, you should take into account that this adidas hoop doesn't have a lot of vertical space, so trying to fit a very thick insole might cause discomfort.

We also loved the name of the shoe and the encouraging message it shows!

Breaking with the long-lasting clean heel aesthetics, the Believe That 1 features a finger loop that you can easily grab to put it on.

This adidas hoop comes with so many positive, performance-improving features that it's hard to believe it's out there for only $100. No tricks! We believe it's a total bang for the buck, and based on our testing, we can confidently say it definitely doesn't feel like a takedown iteration... at all!