The Adidas Dame 8 is the newest Damian Lillard signature sneaker. Featuring Bounce Pro foam in the midsole, Adidas has made an all-around good basketball shoe. This is a volleyball review, but luckily this sneaker works great for both sports. Read on for the full performance review of the Adidas Dame 8, and you can also check out our list of the best volleyball shoes overall.
Adidas Dame 8
Price: $130
Release Date: 2022
- Rundown: The Dame 8 is a good all-around sneaker that shows the value of good shoe design is about more than just tech. Read on for the full performance review.
Pros
- Traction
- Stability
- Cushion
Cons
- Bulk/Stiffness
Pros
Traction
Let’s start with an Adidas Dame 8 feature that is definitely great, the traction. I played in these shoes on both wooden laminated courts and plastic sport courts. The Dame 8 had good grip on both. It wasn’t a very squeaky grip, but the traction was definitely there. On dusty floors, I did notice that the outsole would grab the dust, but a quick wipe was plenty. I’m a habitual shoe wiper anyway, so this didn’t bother me. I felt confident moving around in these, which is what good traction does.
Stability
Volleyball is a mix of lateral movements combined with jumping and landing. All of these put stress on your ankle joints. I’ve said it in my reviews multiple times but I’ll keep saying it until announcers stop blaming low tops for every ankle sprain: shoe stability doesn’t come from high tops. The wide, flat outsole on the Adidas Dame 8 is a perfect example of how to actually aid stability with a sneaker. The shoe’s bottom stays flat on the ground when moving around and landing. With no extra crazy features and no stiff high-ankle collar, the Dame 8 is still an extremely stable shoe.
Cushioning
The Adidas Dame 8 has a full-length Bounce Pro foam midsole. This is Adidas’ most popular foam for volleyball or basketball shoes. I’ll add it doesn’t feel as noticeably soft as something like Nike’s Cushlon, but it’s still soft enough that landing doesn’t hurt. So while the impact protection is what I would call adequate, the foam leans more toward a responsive setup. The midsole isn’t the bounciest that you’ll find, but it’s not completely dead either. The Dame 8 finds a middle ground where you don’t really feel the foam so much when you’re jumping, but it’s still responsive enough that you feel quick and know you’re getting the most out of your jumps.
Cons
Bulk/Stiffness
The Dame 8 is a great sneaker and every time I play in them I like them. But every time I put them on to test them I was expecting not to. For volleyball, I prefer a lighter, more minimal shoe (usually). When you put on the Dame 8, it feels bulky. The materials and the outsole are thick and stiff. They’re a little heavier than most of the other shoes that I’ve liked. The Bounce Pro foam feels just a little dead compared to some of the other high-end foams from other brands. The weird part is that once I’m playing in them, they’re great again and none of these problems bother me.
Adidas Dame 8 Summary
The Adidas Dame 8 is a classic jack of all trades, but master of none. It’s good at everything, but not the best at anything. The full version of that quote ends with “but oftentimes better than a master of one”. That describes my thoughts on this shoe perfectly. If you’re playing volleyball, you need a shoe that is going to provide all the features that we talk about so much on WearTesters, not just one or a few. The Adidas Dame 8 does all of that and is therefore definitely worth the pickup.
