After multiple collaborations touching on tennis, Japanese wrestling, and iconic adidas silhouettes, Brain Dead and adidas Originals are back this December with a head-to-toe capsule inspired by bold 2000s sports and video game energy.
The collection features standout apparel, sneakers, and accessories, each packed with retro-futuristic flair.
Key pieces include a Japanese Noragi-style Climacool track top with matching pants, a metallic football-style jersey and shorts, a bold printed goalkeeper jersey, plus a graphic tee, track pants, and a track top—all finished with Brain Dead crests and artwork. Accessories include a beanie and a sling bag.
On the footwear front, the drop includes two archive-inspired silhouettes:
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Climacool 2: Originally released in 2003, now updated with metallic vents, reflective green mesh, and yellow accents.
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Taekwondo Mei: Styled in black with white stripes and an off-white sole, this version adds Brain Dead’s signature look to the lightweight silhouette.
This nostalgic collection merges adidas’ rich archive with Brain Dead’s bold design language—bringing back futuristic vibes from the early 2000s.
Look out for the Brain Dead x adidas collection to release on Thursday, 18 December 2025 at:
- Online adidas.co.za
- adidas Originals stores
- Shelflife
About Brain Dead:
Brain Dead is a creative studio with deep ties to the fringe. It is a global collective of artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers, and general creatives. Brain Dead is not a single person, nor is it a single idea. It sits in the space between people, culture, entertainment, and product. The initial ideas for Brain Dead were conceived in 2015, when CEO and Creative Director, Kyle Ng, quickly recognized a hole in the contemporary apparel market for presenting the culture he cared for purposefully. The “culture” of streetwear of the day had become too masculine, contemporary luxury mens and womenswear too plagiaristic; while the leading successful brands in the marketplace had turned to pumping out mundane fast fashion that lacked any meaningful purpose. To create an impactful brand that truly represented Kyle’s interests meant creating apparel that was secondary to the culture that informed it. In most instances, that meant building the surrounding culture first; from the campaigns surrounding the product, events coordinated for launches, and graphical references chosen, everything needed to speak to the intersection of a hodgepodge of subcultures in art, music, literature, sport, and cinema that became foundationally “Brain Dead”. Brain Dead is at its best an occupation of a space one step inside the fringe of subculture; a willingness to share the outsiders’ influence with a broader audience and stand proudly for it.
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The post adidas Originals and Brain Dead drop nostalgic 2000s-inspired collection appeared first on YOMZANSI. Documenting THE CULTURE.
