Nadeshot Is Thrilled 100 Thieves Has Its Own Adidas Mobster Tracksuit (2024)

As hyped as pro gamer Nadeshot is to have his own sneaker, he knows there's a line he can't cross. Nadeshot, who was born Matthew Haag, is elated to have his name on a pair of Adidas. His face? That’s an entirely different story.

"I'm not buying a f*cking sneaker with my face on it," Haag says.

Haag founded the esports company 100 Thieves in 2017 with the mission to be “the premium lifestyle brand for the gaming generation.” Alongside fellow gamers Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, and Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, Haag is joined by Drake, music industry mogul Scooter Braun, and Cleveland Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert as the owners of the company.

In 2022 and 2023, 100 Thieves earned recognition for its clothing, winning Esports Apparel of the Year back to back, and now the gaming giant is teaming up with Adidas for the first time on a new eight-piece collection. The duo’s collaborative capsule is highlighted by a Rivalry Low “Nadeshot” with co-branded heels, tongues, and lace dubraes. It also features a gaming jersey, tracksuit, and more.

“The tracksuit itself, to me, that is what Adidas is in my head, and I can't believe we have our logo on it,” Haag says. It's f*cking crazy."

At first thought, the sneaker and gaming communities might not seem to have much in common. But they each come with rabid fanbases, collectors, and cultural tastemakers that help the niche industries crossover and reach more mainstream audiences.

“Gaming is kind of just a background and a combination of so many different cultures,” Haag says. “It's not like one person or one thing that defines the people that do this thing. That's just kind of what everybody does. It's like the through point, the thread that everybody's a part of.”

This is far from the first time that the world of sneakers and gaming have crossed over. Most notably, Adidas also partnered with iconic gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins in 2019, Nike has a deal with FaZe Clan, and we’ve even seen the Swoosh appear in the wildly popular game Fortnite with Air Max skins and specific game modes.

The 100 Thieves x Adidas collection is available now at Adidas.com, the 100 Thieves online shop, and other select retailers.

Check out our full interview with Nadeshot below for more on the capsule, the future of 100 Thieves x Adidas, and more. (This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

Can you take me through the early stages of this partnership, and how 100 Thieves x Adidas happened?
You know what's wild is that we've been talking with Adidas for two years, but I actually don't even know where that intersection actually was. We have investors that had a relationship with Adidas, but then I meet this guy Ben [Asquinth], who's been with us since the beginning of the project, and this kid is so tapped into Call of Duty, the world that I come from.

I was like, "Holy sh*t. Who is this kid?" Because he is in the thick of it. I don't even know how to compare it to traditional sports, but it's like he's an inside reporter. And so it made it easy for us to get along and for him to fight the good fight for 100 Thieves internally with Adidas, because it's a big company.

It's a complex situation with a really big collaboration. So it was actually great because I've gotten to hang out with him in LA now a couple times as we were going through the designs of the sneakers and the whole collection. And this was the first time where I got to hear the backstory of his part where it was like he told me he felt like he was putting his career on the line by pitching such a niche gaming team like ours. So that was really where everything started. I'm grateful for it because it kind of turned into some of the coolest products we've ever made at 100 Thieves.

Would you ever have thought that something like this would have been possible when you first started the brand in 2017? You have a sneaker with your name on it.
In gaming, it's only been done once or twice. So just comparatively speaking, I'm like, "How in the world is this the reaction when in all actuality, this is really the first or second time that's happened in gaming?" So just a wild circ*mstance for me, and I don't even know how we ended up here. Truly, I have no idea.

You mentioned the couple other times that happened—Ninja had his Adidas stuff, FaZe has done things with Nike. I feel like the worlds of sneakers and gaming aren't as unique to each other as people think they are. Can you talk about the crossover between the two worlds?
So we had the Ninja sneakers. We had the Nike LeBron that they did with FaZe Clan, and then the only other ones that I saw were Cloud9 and Puma. And the problem that I've always had, and which is why 100 Thieves started in the first place, was that when I was 16 or 17 years old, I was all-in on gaming, but gaming was something that I was doing that I was trying to hide away from high school. I wasn't athletic, I wanted to play all the sports, but I couldn't. And this was just something that I did to pass the time, something that made me happy.

And so for us to travel down 15 years later and for this to be something where people just react to it like it's a common thing. It's just bizarre to me. I just always wanted to have something that was wearable, and that's really the inception of 100 Thieves. Because I wasn't going to go to school wearing my gaming team's T-shirt or a jersey or anything like that. If some kid shows up in a football kit, it's a totally normal thing, or an American football jersey. And that just didn't exist for gaming. And so as we went through the initial start of the sneaker. To be honest with you, I didn't even care if my name was on it. No bullsh*t. At one point, they pitched my face being on the tongue for probably one of the family and friends collection, and I'm just like, "Yo, listen, we have to make it wearable."

So your face isn't wearable for a sneaker?
Hell no, what the...I'm not buying a f*cking sneaker with my face on it. And so with Ninja, it was a really big deal because this was such a massive moment, but it was for a very, very specific audience. But for me, I'm 31 years old, I want the kids that I grew up with to have a seamless transition as like, "Yo, if you know, you know, and that's why it's dope," but if you don't know, you can still walk down the street wearing it. So that was the whole objective and the goal for me at least.

I feel like even beyond that, the fans of sneakers and the fans of gaming, they're pretty similar. There are the gamer nerds, there are the sneaker nerds, they're just very avid fan bases.
Man, I don't even know how to approach that one because my YouTube channel back when I first moved from Chicago to LA and my YouTube channel started popping, this was right when the Ultra Boosts 1.0 [were popular], I started unboxing these sneakers on YouTube and then you'd have NMDs, and then Yeezy, obviously, blew up. But gaming is kind of just a background and a combination of so many different cultures. It's not like one person or one thing that defines the people that do this thing. That's just kind of what everybody does. It's like the through point, the thread that everybody's a part of. So I don't even know how to approach that topic if I'm being honest. Everybody has different tastes. It doesn't matter if you're a part of gaming or a different hobby or a different world, just sneakers are just a consistent common thing that we all love and appreciate.

You used the word appreciation a few times. Did you grow up with an appreciation for Adidas specifically? And if so, what were some of your favorite models from then?
Brother, for me, actually, I wasn't even really that... There was only one point in time, and I don't want Adidas to get mad at me. I was walking through the mall when I was nine years old, I passed a Foot Locker, and there was a pair of Phat Farm sneakers. Bro, this is before they really blew up. And I was like, "Yo," I don't know why, but I'm looking at this thing, I f*cking love it. But my brother had the original Adidas Superstars, and I think he had a pair of Sambas.

He was two years older than me. I didn't know anything about it. This is before the internet. I mean, it's just like, Adidas is a cornerstone in sneakers. So obviously I appreciate them, but I don't have a visceral memory of anything with Nike, Adidas, Reebok. It was actually AI Reeboks, the Allen Iverson. That sh*t was crazy. But for me, it's just Adidas being a household brand and I obviously had an appreciation for it without even realizing it.

Adidas, as you said, is such a household name, but they're also partnered with Lionel Messi, Anthony Edwards, Jerry Lorenzo, and now Nadeshot and 100 Thieves. What is it like to be in the same company as guys like Messi?
I don't even know how we got here. To hear that lineup, I feel a little bit self-conscious about the situation. I was talking to Ben, the guy that I alluded to at the beginning of the story, I'm like, "Yo, so can you tell me the genesis of this?" Because I really was at the beginning and at the start of competitive gaming in my own way. I don't know, it's like when you live your own life and you're walking into your own path, you don't really ever view yourself as being in a situation where a brand like Adidas would ever tip the cap and be like, "Hey, your legacy needs to be cemented within our brand." So I feel lucky. It's just like, I had this hobby as a kid and I got to the right place at the right time, and it kind of just continued to grow.

So I certainly don't ever compare myself to the likes of Lionel Messi or f*cking Anthony Edwards under any circ*mstance. But if Adidas is championing me to be a part of gaming and their initiative, I'm just happy to be here, legitimately, dead ass, no bullsh*t, no PR. I'm just like, somebody must have had a drink before they signed off on this. I'm like, "Okay, come on, let's roll. I'm not going to stop nobody."

You have a room full of your peers in there. A lot of them are wearing your sneakers. Jack [CouRage] there. Scump is in there, he got to unbox the shoes on his stream. Being able to send Scump a pair of your shoes and see him unbox them on his stream, what's that like?
Dude, it's hard to describe because when I think about Scump, I'm like, "This guy's otherworldly." I teamed with him for so long. I'm like, "This guy should be in this situation." He's fresh off his career, but it's kind of just like, I don't know, I'm not trying to sound too spiritual or too dramatic, but life takes you different paths and you end up in situations that you would least expect.

And again, going back to your original question about being compared to other folks, I just feel lucky to be here and to have people that I know and love that have been with me since I was a kid, supporting it, no matter how big or small they actually are in the gaming community. It's pretty special, man. Me and Seth [Scump] and all these guys at OpTic, we've been a part for a long time, we're obviously boys, but to have them show out, and Seth take the time to do that on stream, it just means that we're doing something right together and it's incredible.

How hands-on were you with the actual design of the shoe and putting together the collection and things like that?
So we got a great team at 100 Thieves apparel. And for me, with 100 Thieves, I've always really been a tastemaker. Dude, I grew up in the Midwest wearing a white T-shirt and And1 shorts to school. It's the first day that it's above 32 degrees, everybody's wearing shorts at school. I had no style. I had no taste. But like I told you, going through this sneaker unboxing, it's like somebody can hear about Ultra Boost and NMDs and those had a time and a place on the internet, and I was kind of like, "Yo, I can tip my cap. These are sick enough to wear. I'm going to make my entire YouTube channel about this."

And obviously, different trends come and go, and people fall in and out of love with the things that they enjoy. But I just feel like I've gotten lucky where I have been around incredible designers that have their own unique perspective. I'm not sitting here in Illustrator doing the designs myself, brother.

I kind of just describe when we started our energy drink that's not with us anymore, I'm like, "Yo, listen, you know what I want this logo to look like? I want it to make me feel the same way that I did when I was watching Lion King. No bullsh*t. With the—I forget their names. Pumbaa and—

Timon and Pumbaa.
Timon and Pumbaa. I'm like, "I want this logo to make me feel like when I saw the insects that they would eat," I wanted to jump through the screen and eat them. So listen, I'm not the guy that's going to sit here and be the visionary for where every thread should be and what color should be, but a slew of options and we kind of refine it together as we go. I'm not going to tell a designer how to do their job, but I can do my best to paint my own image through it.

So obviously, like we said, this shoe literally says your name. So outside of that, because that's certainly your favorite piece, but besides the shoe, what's your favorite piece of the collection?
Honestly, bro, the entire tracksuit. I grew up watching my favorite movies. I don't mean to sound like the on-the-nose, quintessential, Goodfellas like Italian mob, and I don't even know if Adidas likes to be associated with that, but it's just like, bro, an Adidas triple-line tracksuit, it's just unbelievable. The way that I described it on my stream when we had this quarter zip released along with the sneakers, it's like if you saw a photo of your dad holding you as a kid in the '90s and he held onto this sweater for the rest of his life and he still owns it to this day, and it's just like you remember it in such a special way, that's legitimately how the tracksuit makes me feel. I blast AC in our house in my bedroom at 67 degrees and sometimes it's way too cold when I get up in there and I'm wearing the quarter zip to bed. I'm not kidding.

So that entire collection, it's like socks are great, the towel is great. I'm going to throw that on my golf bag. But the tracksuit itself, to me, that is what Adidas is in my head, and I can't believe we have our logo on it. It's f*cking crazy.

What's in store for the future of 100 Thieves and Adidas?
So that's the tough part. I actually don't know what I'm allowed to talk about and spoil just because I've been in and out. I had a baby.

Let's make some news.
Listen, all I know is that I feel very lucky that Adidas committed to a longer-term partnership than what you would normally see. And with lead times in apparel... You know ball probably better than I do, you plan these things very far out ahead and the fact that this is dropping now, there's continuity to it and there's more coming, and I think the storyline gets even better as we keep continuing down the calendar.