Rare Adidas Manchester 1/500 Trainers

Sneaker heads, trainer collectors, whatever you want to call them, will all know about the Adidas Manchester (X-Anniversary Edition) 1/500 and how hard they now are to get hold of. The reason why they are so elusive is that, like the name points out, there was only ever five hundred pairs made / released. And people who own them won't part with theirs unless they fall on hard times or decide to sell part or all of their collection. Each pair should have a number assigned to it. Such as No. 45 out of 500 etc.

I would imagine that certain numbers would be more desirable to collectors and command much higher prices to serious collectors. Like 1 out of 500 and 500 of 500. Actually, even each whole hundred number would be more sought after than the others.Sadly, this is me just daydreaming as they are not individually numbered. The good news for some, and bad news for people who own genuine 1/500's, is that recently there was huge new release of Adidas GT SPZL (Spezials) Manchester and they are basically identical to the 1/500, give or take a few of the unique details that make up the true originals.

A few of these details are the embossed 1/500 numbering at the back, different side wording and tongue detail. But from a distance it would be hard to tell the difference. But for collectors, these little details mean everything, and the die hards would rather pay much more money and have the rarer, more exclusive pair than buy the not long released GT SPZL which are right now flooding eBay.

Have the originals lost their appeal due to the dilution of the design from the GT's being so available, and with them now widely for sale at around £150.? I would say yes. But some would argue that the X-Anniversary Edition are now more desirable and sought after. However, regardless of whichever way you look at it, they are still a really nice pair of trainers. And the new release give people the chance to own a pair, rather than just the five hundred who own the limited editions. The rarer ones are still more special though, and always will be.