Adidas has gone emo. Well, sort of. The German sportswear giant has taken the Forum – the chunky basketball shoe that’s spent the past four decades bouncing between the court, hip-hop, skateboarding, and streetwear – and made it look like something you might find lurking at the back of Camden Market.
Released in 1984, the Forum was originally designed for basketball, with a full leather build and a criss-cross ankle strap that gave players extra support on the court. It went head-to-head with the Air Jordan 1 during the golden age of ’80s basketball shoes, and has remained one of Adidas’ big, beefy staples ever since. It even made a little cameo in The Bear.
Adidas Forum SQ ‘Cheetah’
Adidas
But things have evolved. At the end of 2025, Adidas unwrapped the Forum SQ (“SQ” meaning square, FYI), which rebuilt the OG with a blocky toe, deconstructed leather upper, angular rubber tooling, and a beefed-up sole. It looked less like something designed for shooting hoops and more like something you’d find in a particularly scary Berlin shoe shop.
Now, Adidas is pushing it even further. The Forum SQ ‘Cheetah’ covers the tongue and toe in fuzzy cheetah print. And while the rest of the silhouette is dressed in black leather, it’s accented with shiny gold hits throughout. Add in that thick, squared-off sole and the Three Stripes has basically made… a creeper.
Creepers have been knocking around since the ’40s, but became particularly associated with Teddy Boys in the ’50s. Punks, goths, and rockabilly kids later claimed them as their own, and labels such as T.U.K. and Underground have spent decades making versions with thick platform soles, animal-print uppers, and enough weight to do some serious damage to a shin.
Adidas Forum SQ ‘Cheetah’
Adidas
And this isn’t the first time the sneakerverse has tried to bring them back, either. In 2015, Rihanna and Puma transformed the classic Suede into the Fenty Creeper, stacking it on top of a massive ridged sole. It sold out almost immediately and was named Shoe of the Year by Footwear News in 2016. Puma eventually revived it as the even chunkier Creeper Phatty in 2023.