Adidas Handball Spezial review

We recommend the Adidas Handball Spezial as an excellent choice for: 

• Sneakerheads looking for a reliable and retro blast from the past
• Those with a preference for minimalist sneakers
• Thrifty shoppers in the market for a long-lasting and high-quality shoe from Adidas that won’t break the bank
• Fashionistas looking for a neutral shoe that will fit most outfits and comes in many color options

The Spezial is a little snug and not the best choice for those with broad feet. Instead, check out the roomier New Balance 574. 

While it looks incredibly cool, the Spezial is hard to keep clean. For another versatile sneaker that can be paired with most looks and also comes in various colorways, we recommend the New Balance 480 which is much easier to keep spotless. 

Featuring an old-fashioned rubber-based sole, the Handball Spezial provides cushioning only through the compressible hollowed sections inside it. And a little bit through its foam insole as well.

However, it's not the same level of impact protection as you would get in a thick-foamed sneaker. This Adidas kick returned some of the lowest shock absorption readings of 50 SA, making it less than ideal for all-day wear.

If you want lasting cushioning and reduced load on the joints, it's better to opt for more comfortable sneakers.

We also measured the shoe's energy return at only 44%, which is below the average of casual sneakers. Expect a flat and planted experience in the Spezial.

The Spezial is an old-school low-profile kick that’s only 25.1 mm high at the heel based on our caliper measurements.

This is lower than average and gives us a good sense of the ground below while still providing adequate impact-dampening courtesy of the cutout sections of the outsole rubber. 

These portions allow the outsole to compress under our weight which, in turn, serves to cushion our landings as we walk.

Moving up to the forefoot, we found the Handball Spezial’s stack to be significantly lower than average at only 10.7 mm thick according to our caliper.

This is very close to the ground which gives us an extremely well-planted and stable sensation in the shoe. 

The difference in our stack measurements leaves the Spezial with a drop height of 14.4 mm. This is steeper than average which means that the heel is significantly elevated compared to the rest of the foot. There is no real right or wrong when it comes to heel drops and sneakers, only a matter of personal preference. 

With its striking similarity to Sambas and Gazelles, the Handball Spezial proved to be just as close-fitting as its Adidas counterparts. But not too snug to feel restricting on a medium-width foot.

We used a custom gel to create a mold of the Spezial's interiors and measured them with a digital caliper. Just as we expected, the widest part of the mold showed a pretty low reading of 89.5 mm. Not a ton of wiggle room for long hours of walking.

There is some mild tapering in the toebox shape of the Spezial, which is reflected in its width near the big toe. It showed a narrower-than-average reading of 67.1 mm.

The vertical space of this Adidas shoe is not very abundant either with a toebox height of 26.2 mm. But luckily, we didn't find it constricting on top of our toes. But if you struggle with black or painful toenails, you may want to consider a roomier option.

With its pedigree in handball, the Spezial features a gum rubber outsole with a matching tread pattern. But contrary to the Samba and Gazelle, this silhouette showed a notably more reliable grip!

We were pleasantly surprised by the shoe's solid coefficient of friction. At 0.43, its traction is on par with most other sneakers we've tested. So you can expect very confident steps on concrete, asphalt, brick, granite, and even some dry and smooth surfaces like subway tiles. But do be careful in particularly slippery areas (i.e. wet cobblestone) as the Spezial is not the tackiest shoe either.

The tread pattern on this Adidas kick is merely symbolic and decorative. It pays homage to the shoe's handball past with abstract lines and a pivot point in the forefoot as well as tiny trefoils in the rest of the outsole.

The Spezial is an extremely flexible shoe, requiring only 5.8N of force to bend by 30 degrees. This is one of the lowest readings we ever recorded on our shoe flexing tester.

This Adidas kick bends and flexes with foot beautifully with almost no resistance which factors greatly into the Spezial’s comfy and forgiving ride. Even after extended periods of walking and being up on our feet, we still felt fresh and ready for more!

The Handball Spezial is quite a bit lighter than average, weighing in at only 12.2 oz (344g).

As such, the shoe feels easy on the foot and doesn’t weigh us down throughout our day-to-day activities. It’s also nimble enough to comfortably take on gym days and other fitness activities. 

To see how well-ventilated the Handball Spezial is, we pumped the shoe full of smoke in order to see how easily it escapes. As we can clearly see from the footage, smoke immediately billows out, though this is localized to the shoe’s tongue which acts as a sort of chimney while the rest of the shoe remains well-insulated. This is no surprise for a suede shoe and, on balance, leads us to give the Spezial a breathability score of 3 out of 5. This means that it should be comfortable all year round, though it will certainly feel a little toasty come summertime. 

Low-stacked shoes tend to feel very stable and the Spezial is no exception. This old-school kick had us feeling well-planted, nimble, and ready for anything

We were faced with almost no resistance as we bent and wrung the shoe in our hands, leading us to give it the most flexible torsional rigidity score of 1 out of 5. Since stability isn’t really an issue with this shoe, this level of pliability is purely comfort-based as it allows the shoe to twist and contrast along with the natural movements of our foot. 

The heel counter has a little more structure to it and thus gives a little more pushback against our manual manipulations. It’s still moderately flexible and earns a middle-of-the-road score of 3 out of 5.

In practical terms, this means that we can get a good rearfoot lockdown that is secure and somewhat firm but not too restrictive. 

The Spezial feels quite minimal on the foot, and this is thanks in part to the narrower-than-average platform which is only 104.3 mm wide at the forefoot. 

Conversely, at 78.2 mm wide, the Handball Spezial’s platform is right within the average range for sneakers we’ve tested so far. 

Using our little blowtorch, we gave different sections of the Handball Spezial the creme brulee treatment to test whether or not they are genuine. The suede upper proved to be real as it merely got scorched by the flame, with its ashy residue easily scraped off. Both the outer and inner overlays, on the other hand, are clearly synthetic based on how they combust into flames and melt onto our awl. 

To see just how tough the Handball Spezial is, we fired up our Dremel to 5K RPM and applied it to the toebox with 3.2N of force which immediately casts up a flurry of suede. 

While our tool’s abrasive element did do some damage over the course of the four-second test, the result isn’t nearly as devastating as the footage implies. With only a smoothed-out area of suede at the point of contact, the Handball Spezial earns an excellent toebox durability score of 4 out of 5.

Next, we set upon the Spezial’s heel counter with our Dremel under the same parameters as the former test. We again see a fiery start, with chunks of the synthetic lining material being cast aside followed by some shreds of padding. 

However, once the four seconds were up we found that we had barely done any damage whatsoever; merely piercing a slit in the lining while leaving much of the padding within intact. This earns the Handball Spezial another impressive 4 out of 5 for heel padding durability and gives us a good impression of the quality of the materials and construction of this shoe, which could foreseeably go years before being worn enough to retire.

The Spezial boasts a harder-than-average outsole that gives us a durometer reading of 87 HC. This usually denotes a healthy balance of grip and durability, the former of which is undeniable upon first wearing the shoe while the latter will be tested in the next section. 

We fired up the Dremel one last time, this time spinning at 10K RPM, and pressed it against the Handball Spezial’s outsole. This seems to have little effect on the shoe, with our tool’s grinding element impotently skating off the outsole rubber.

After twenty seconds, we used a tire tread gauge to assess the damage and found that we had only lopped off 0.53 mm of material from the outsole. This is less than half of what the average sneaker loses in this same test. One thing’s for certain, the Spezial can take a hell of a beating for miles on end before being forcibly pulled out of circulation.

At 5.3 mm thick according to our caliper measurements, the Spezial’s outsole is just shy of our current lab average. This is more than enough rubber to give us no cause for concern regarding the longevity of the outsole. 

At 5.5 mm according to our caliper, the Handball Spezial’s insole isn’t quite as thick as our current lab average but still provides an adequately soft platform within the shoe. 

The Spezial’s insole isn’t glued in and can therefore be replaced with custom orthotics if necessary. 

Don’t expect any added nighttime visibility as the Handball Spezial doesn’t feature any reflective elements whatsoever. 

We measured the Spezial’s tongue to be 3.8 mm thick, making it less padded than our current lab average.

Nevertheless, we were able to lace up the shoe securely and comfortably without the laces feeling too apparent across our instep. 

The Handball Spezial’s tongue is non-gusseted, so it has a tendency to move outwards slightly, though the ridged edges prevent it from sliding too far. 

The Handball Spezial doesn’t have a heel tab per se, but the heel itself flares upward in a way that’s conducive to holding onto as we slide the shoe on.