Anyone looking down, literally, at the runways in recent seasons couldn’t miss high-fashion’s new favourite shoe: the no-longer-humble sneaker. Of course, humility officially went out the window earlier this month, when Adidas unveiled its latest collaborator, Kanye West and his Yeezy Boost shoe.
In that swaggy spirit, trend-watchers and sneakerheads should take note that Adidas has actually saved its full braggadocio for an entirely different shoe: the Ultra Boost, which the company is calling “the greatest running shoe ever” and is confident will prove desirous to both athletes and aesthetes.
How, though, do you satisfy the needs of two wildly different niches, while still producing a must-have sneaker that hits all the marks? Let us dissect the ways.
THE TECHNOLOGY
The shoe is an easy sell for runners: It, theoretically, will help you run better. Boost is what Adidas calls the unique textured foam that forms the all-important midsole of the shoe. The Ultra Boost contains 20 per cent more of the stuff – and, perhaps, 20 per cent better marathon times – than its predecessors.
THE DESIGN
But personal bests aren’t what Adidas thinks will get sneaker devotees to put away their Stan Smiths and Air Jordans and slip on a pair of runners’ runners – they’ve got to look good, too. Adidas designers created a shoe upper made of a grey-black knit-mesh fabric that imparts a sporty-futuristic chic. We put it to Odessa Paloma Parker, Globe Style’s fashion editor, for an aesthetic assessment: “This shoe has a very Alexander Wang, downtown vibe,” she said, giving it an ultimate thumbs up.
THE CELEBS
Fashion’s sneaker obsession is fuelling healthy secondary buzz for performance footwear, but it won’t last forever. One way Adidas plans to prolong the courtship: Get Stella McCartney involved.
Ahead of launch, the company announced the Ultra Boost Collective, a limited-edition collection set for May. The group is headlined by McCartney, a long-time Adidas collaborator whose women’s sportswear has become the apparel of choice for many pros. Along with Belgian designer Kris Van Assche, Junichi Abe from Japan and two well-regarded in-house creative directors, this fashion-focused collaboration is the clearest indication that shoes for play and shoes for pleasure are becoming one and the same. (At press time, the collection won’t be available through official channels in Canada. However, any good sneakerhead knows how to navigate the resale market for deadstock.)
THE CONSUMER
The X factor in Adidas’s fashion-forward push for the Ultra Boost: How large is the market for high-style, high-priced sportswear?
Nathan Clark, owner of Courtside Sneakers, which has boutiques in Charlottetown and Moncton, sees two very different audiences for the Ultra Boost and its Collective iterations. The basic shoe, he says, should take care of itself. “Functionality comes first. If the shoe is good, it will sell.”
But when it comes to the collaboration, it may be worth considering what Kanye has taught us. The rapper/artist/pop-culture monster’s foray into sneaker design showed the industry what consumers are willing to pay for his name on their feet – about $350 (U.S.).
“I’m mostly positive about sneakers in high fashion,” Clark says. He has stocked – and sold – many of the edgy shoes that Jeremy Scott has designed for Adidas, which average $200. “But unless you’re Kanye West, you can’t charge crazy amounts of money for a sneaker.”
The Adidas Ultra Boost is available for $210 at adidas.ca.