The Torsion Artillery is a 1991 adidas basketball high-top from the era when the cut still came well over the ankle, and it came back in 2020 as a Kid Cudi collaboration tied to the Bill & Ted films. This is the white pair: white leather through the upper with an off-white band sweeping across the quarter, grey nubuck at the collar and under the tongue, and three glossy black rubberised stripes laid over the midfoot. Black leather windows are cut into the forefoot and again into the ankle collar, a large black Trefoil sits off-centre on the heel, and the oversized tongue carries the Trefoil and the adidas wordmark. The laces are flat green. Underneath is a cream Torsion midsole on a grey rubber outsole with a toothed toe tread.
The label inside the collar reads MADE IN CHINA, US 8½ UK 8 FR 42 JP 265 CHN 260, APE 779001 10/20, MALE/MALE, ART FZ0884, #126658680, and the licence label stitched below it reads Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey characters and images ™ & © 1991, 2020 Creative Licensing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure characters and images ™ & © 1989, 2020 Creative Licensing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. FZ0884 is the Kid Cudi × adidas Torsion Artillery Hi in Crystal White / Core Black / Off White, which carried a $160 retail when it landed in October 2020. Listed as a US 8.5.
Condition: the cream midsole carries grey scuffing along both sidewalls, heaviest around the toe, and the grey outsole is soiled across the tread. Both toe boxes show soft creasing. The leather itself is unmarked, the three stripes lie flat with no lifting at the edges, the collar cut-outs hold their shape, and the green laces are intact with their aglets. The tread is still sharp, with no rounding at the heel edge.
