The best squash shoe on the market? Adidas Crazyflight review

Retailing at £120, the Adidas Crazyflight shoes don’t come in cheap. Far from it, in fact. As one of the biggest brands on the planet, how does Adidas’s top of the line squash shoe hold up on court? We’ve put these shoes through their paces to bring you our latest squash shoe review.

The short answer: In most aspects these are hands down the best squash shoes I’ve ever tested. In other aspects, there’s some flaws with the shoes that really need addressing.

Introduction to the Adidas Crazyflight

Take a quick look at the product page for the Crazyflight, and you’ll see Adidas primarily market this as a volleyball/netball shoe. Don’t let this sway you though – plenty top of the line squash shoes from other brands are advertised as such. The similarities in movement in the sports means that, generally speaking, certain shoes work really well across these sports. In fact, if you search ‘squash shoes’ on the Adidas website, these appear as the top result.

Purchase links:
Amazon UK
PDH sports
Adidas

A solid ten in the looks department

The Adidas Crazyflight can be picked up in two versions, either low-top or high-top. Fans of the tremendously popular Adidas Stabil X will love the high-top versions, as they look to be the ‘spiritual successor’ to these shoes (as opposed to the radically overhauled Stabil Next Gen).

For this review, I’ll be focusing solely on the low-top versions.

Straight off the bat, they look brilliant. Gone is the traditional clunkiness of squash shoes, instead these have a much cleaner silhouette and a more modern-yet-functional look. Easily one of the best looking squash shoes you’ll find.

The shoes I tested were the all white versions, which look clean and timeless. Suffice to say they didn’t stay particularly white, thanks to a few questionably dusty and dirty squash court floors, but that’s something that can’t be helped. They’re currently available in four colourways, with my pick of the bunch being the black pair.

Adidas’s Boost Sole is as good as it gets

Readers of squashgearreviews.com will know my affection for Adidas’s Boost soles. Once you’ve tried a shoe with Boost, everything else falls in comparison. This material has tremendous energy absorption and rebound properties, cushioning severe movements and absorbing impact with ease.

The Crazyflight has a generous helping of boost material underneath, covering the majority of the heel to mid-foot area. This made lunging around the court an altogether more comfortable experience – I was even able to forego the plantar fasciitis insoles that I usually put in my shoes.

One of the most comfortable fitting squash shoes on the market

The Crazyflight features a lightweight stretch mesh upper, along with a moulded sockliner and suede-lined heel. Alongside this, the shoes feature ‘TPU midfoot reinforcements’.

In simple terms, this means that the Adidas Crazyflight shoes are stretchy in the right places, and supportive where they need to be. The laces go up to the very top of the shoe, allowing for a very secure on-foot feel. The shoes also feature high-quality Ortholite insoles, which is a really nice touch from Adidas.

They’re not the lightest shoes (when compared to something like the Asics Gel Fastball), but they’re far from what you’d call ‘heavy’ either.

Overall, they’re undoubtedly the most comfortable squash shoes I’ve ever tested, and are therefore likely to be one of the most comfortable shoes on the market.

It’s worth noting that Adidas shoes run slightly small. Thankfully their shoes go up in half sizes – I’m usually a 9, so opting for a 9.5 was the correct choice.

Excellent levels of durability

I have an innate ability to absolutely destroy my squash shoes. Especially on my left toes. Thankfully, these shoes are holding up tremendously well to the punishment they’ve endured.

The thick rubber toe-protection has really served its purpose. My only wish is for it to go a little higher up on the toes, as I quickly wore through the thinner material that sits above it. No big issue as they’re still in mostly good shape, but something I’d like to see.

So, what’s not to like?

Well, this is where things get a little…painful.

While reviewing these shoes, I found three main faults with the Adidas Crazyflight.

Issue #1 – a sharp edge that runs around the ankle area

If you run your finger around the ankle section of these shoes, you’ll feel a surprisingly sharp edge. So sharp in fact, that they cut into my feet during the first wear. I’d heard of players sanding this down, which seemed ludicrous, but now is completely understandable.

Issue #2 – another sharp edge, this time behind the lace eyelets.

Look behind the lace eyelets on these shoes, and you’ll find a really sharp ridge. This dug right into the top of my feet and once again, caused my foot to bleed. I found not fastening the laces all the way to the top completely eliminated this issue, but it shouldn’t have to be this way.

Issue #3 – slippery when wet

I found on a number of occasions my foot slipping from underneath me when I lunged. This is something I’ve never experienced before, and very nearly led to an injury.

The pattern on the grip underneath the heels is unlike any other sports shoe I’ve tested, and I’m really not sure whether it’s great for squash. It only happened on a small handful of occasions, but it’s something worth noting. If the pattern from the toes extended all the way to the heel, this issue probably wouldn’t exist.

Overall

The Adidas Crazyflight squash shoes are brilliant. They’re supremely comfortable, they’re durable, the boost sole is unreal, and it doesn’t hurt they look great either.

If Adidas were to soften the edge of the material around the ankle, fix the eyelet issue and address the grip pattern underneath the shoe, these shoes would literally be faultless.

On the whole, the issues noted above are only mild issues and in no way have spoiled my enjoyment of the shoes. I still continue to wear them as my favourite pair of shoes.

Officially, the Adidas Crazyflights retail for £120 on the Adidas website (as at August 2021), however if you shop around, they can be picked up for less.

So, if you’re in the market for a well rounded, comfortable, durable and stylish shoe, and can stomach the higher price, these shoes should serve you very, very well.