adidas Samba vs Gazelle vs Campus 00s: fit, price, and which is on sale now
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Samba vs Gazelle, and now the Campus 00s too: three adidas Originals shoes keep coming up side by side. They look alike at a glance (low profile, suede or leather, three stripes) but they come from three different sports, they’re built differently, and the sizing advice for them doesn’t agree. Here is what separates them, what adidas itself says about fit, and which ones are actually discounted right now.
The short answer
- Samba: the slimmest of the three, leather with a suede toe and a gum sole. Pick it if you want a narrow, low shoe that goes with almost anything.
- Gazelle: all suede, a little softer and roomier in the toe than the Samba. The Gazelle Bold is the platform version.
- Campus 00s: the chunkiest, with a thick sole, padded collar and wide laces. Pick it if you want a skate-style shoe with more room.
- Sizing: adidas says all three fit true to size. Independent sizing guides disagree, mostly about the Samba (narrow) and the Campus 00s (roomy). Details below.
Where each shoe comes from
The Samba is the oldest. adidas made it in 1949 as a football training shoe for frozen, hard ground, which is where the gum sole and the reinforced suede “T-toe” over the front come from. It later became the indoor football shoe most people picture today.
The Gazelle arrived in 1966 as a training shoe and was one of the first adidas shoes made in suede rather than leather or canvas. That suede upper is still its defining feature.
The Campus started in the 1970s as a basketball shoe (originally called the Tournament) and took the Campus name in the 1980s. The Campus 00s, released in 2022, is a deliberately chunkier take on it, borrowing from 2000s skate shoes: thicker sole, more padding, wider stripes and fat laces.
Samba vs Gazelle vs Campus 00s, side by side
| Samba OG | Gazelle / Gazelle Bold | Campus 00s | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper | Leather, suede T-toe overlay | Suede | Suede |
| Sole | Thin rubber (gum on most colours) | Low rubber sole; the Bold is a stacked platform | Thick rubber cupsole |
| Profile | Slim and low | Low (Bold: raised) | Chunky, wide |
| Feel | Snug through the midfoot | Softer, a little roomier in the toe | Most padding and most room |
| Originally for | Football training (1949) | Training (1966) | Basketball (1970s); 00s version 2022 |
Sizing: what adidas says, and what buyers say
On each of the product pages we checked on October 12, adidas gives the same guidance: “True to size. We recommend ordering your usual size.” That holds for the Samba OG, the Gazelle Bold and the Campus 00s.
Independent sizing guides and retailer blogs are less uniform:
- Samba: the most consistent advice is that it fits true to size but runs narrow, so people with wide feet often go up half a size.
- Gazelle: advice splits. Some guides call it narrow; others say the toe box is roomier than the Samba’s and suggest half a size down. Suede also gives a little as it wears in.
- Campus 00s: usually described as the roomiest of the three. Some guides suggest half a size down; others say true to size, with the extra padding making it feel snug at first.
Our take: start with your usual adidas size, as adidas recommends. If your feet are wide, the Samba is the one most likely to feel tight. If you’re between sizes, the Campus 00s is the one most likely to feel big. Check the return window before you order two sizes.
Which ones are on sale right now
These are the pairs on our list, each checked at adidas.com and graded the way we grade every deal: Real deal, Ordinary or Skip. Every price below was re-checked on adidas.com on October 12.
| Shoe | Price at adidas | Was | Off | Our verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| adidas x Coca-Cola Samba OG Shoes | $65 | $130 | 50% | Real deal |
| Gazelle Bold Shoes | $60 | $120 | 50% | Real deal |
| Campus 00s Shoes, Semi Lucid Blue | $55 | $110 | 50% | Real deal |
| Campus 00s Shoes, Better Scarlet | $55 | $110 | 50% | Real deal |
| Campus 00s Shoes, Core Black | $77 | $110 | 30% | Ordinary |
Checked Oct 12, 1:40 PM ET on adidas.com, all five pairs.
Four of the five pairs are real deals by our rules; one is ordinary. Our price history backs that up: we have checked the three Campus 00s pairs on 21 days since September 23, 2026, and none of their prices has moved; the Gazelle Bold has been $60 on all 12 checks since October 2, 2026.
Why each got its verdict, and the catch to know before you buy:
- Samba (Coca-Cola): real deal. Half off a Samba is rare; standard Sambas tend to hold their price. The catch: this is a collaboration pair (adidas x Coca-Cola), not the standard Samba OG.
- Gazelle Bold: real deal at half price. The catch: it’s the platform version, and adidas’s page says promo codes are excluded (adiClub member vouchers can still apply).
- Campus 00s, Semi Lucid Blue and Better Scarlet: real deals at half price. The catch: colourways sell through at different speeds, so sizes come and go.
- Campus 00s, Core Black: ordinary. 30% off is a real cut against adidas’s own former price, but the same shoe is $22 less in Blue or Scarlet. Buy it only if you want black.
- adidas prints no end date on any of these, so we re-check them every morning and take a pair off the list when the discount ends.
Also from adidas, if you want something similar: the Superstar II Shoes and adidas x Coca-Cola Superstar II Shoes, both about half price when we checked. See every adidas deal or the full list.
Which one should you get?
- Narrow feet, or you want the slimmest look: Samba.
- You want suede and a slightly softer, roomier fit: Gazelle. Want height too? The Gazelle Bold.
- Wide feet, or you like a chunkier skate shoe: Campus 00s.
- Price matters most: whichever is half off in your size today. On the pairs above, the discount is measured against adidas’s own former price, not an “estimated value”.
What we left out
- The standard Samba OG (the plain white or black pair with the gum sole): not discounted on our checks, so it isn’t on our list. It was $100 with no former price shown when we checked on October 12.
- Resale listings (StockX, eBay and similar): other sellers’ prices for these shoes vary a lot. We only list adidas’s own price, against adidas’s own former price.
Questions people ask
Do adidas Sambas run small? adidas says they fit true to size. The common complaint is that they run narrow rather than short, so wide feet often go up half a size.
Samba or Gazelle: which is more comfortable? The Gazelle is softer and a little roomier in the toe because the upper is all suede; the Samba is snugger through the midfoot. Comfort comes down to foot width more than anything.
Is the Campus 00s bigger than the Samba? It feels bigger. It’s wider and more padded, which is why some guides suggest half a size down. adidas itself says true to size.
Are adidas sale prices real discounts? On these pairs, yes: the discount is measured against adidas’s own former price, not an “estimated value”. adidas prints no end date, so we re-check every morning and remove a pair once the discount ends. How we check a deal.
We check the price before you do. See every adidas deal we’ve checked or today’s full list.
Sources: adidas.com product pages for the adidas x Coca-Cola Samba OG (KH6893), the standard Samba OG (B75806), Gazelle Bold (IH4212) and Campus 00s (H03471, H03474, HQ8708), first checked October 1 and re-checked October 12, 2026, for price, former price and adidas’s fit guidance; shoe histories from the Wikipedia articles on the Samba, Gazelle and Campus and Sneaker Freaker; sizing views from SizeChartGuru and Hibbett, read October 1, 2026. Prices and sizes change; follow the links for today’s price.