Source: adidas Originals EQT Refill Pack
adidas has been on a roll. The brand has taken over the premier wall space in retail outlets and in sneaker circles the resale on an adidas BOOST product outpaces Jordan Brand. Collector’s continue to get excited by GR drops like the black Japan NMD and the brand believes so heavily in NMD that they have created the NMD tag as a subdivision with apparel in a similar vein as Nike and Jordan Brand.
So why is this Refill pack important? The shoe above is the EQT Cushion ADV. This new model doesn’t feature BOOST. Interestingly enough the most recent BOOST 93/17s are not selling through as quickly as more limited styles. The same can be said about the EQT Support BOOST versions which I found last week at City Gear for 99.99 a pair; almost a 50% drop for a BOOST related sneaker. I guess I can continue and add that at Foot Locker for the first time in a year other BOOST related shoes are on sale. The NMD XR1 Camo is 99.99. The newer version of the NMD, the R2, is 99.99 on certain models and 129.99 on other versions. The NMD R1 Primeknit white/gum was reduced in price to 109.99 at DTLR and to 119.99 at City Gear. I even found a multicolor Uncage UltraBOOST last week for 84.99.
What does all of this mean for the latest pack dropping from adidas tomorrow September 7th? The Refill Pack needs to perform because if it does not it could signal a shift for adidas’ momentum.
When a brand gains the coveted first spot on the wall in retail outlets there is pressure on that brand to perform. The company has to increase inventory to account for the interest. With Foot Locker adidas’ growth resulted in multiple versions of the AlphaBounce, Tubular Shadow, Tubular Doom and a number of Stan Smith and Superstar adidas being added to the inventory. The result has been discounts across the board on adidas products. If BOOST is no longer a driving force behind adidas, as much as I love the marketing by the brand, nothing will help the shoes to move.
This brings me back to the original point of this article. The EQT Refill Pack features the latest cushioned runner for adidas. It’s a shoe that hits all of the targets: on trend, stylish, black, looks like an updated version of the performance model and the Cushion tech is just as comfortable as BOOST. The shoe should garner a lot of interest from sneakerheads and from the mainstream market. The entire pack should be well accepted, but if it isn’t this could be the shoe that tells adidas to take a beat and develop a product that inspires the same fanaticism that UltraBOOST and NMD has. Fashion is fickle and all it takes is one bad month and the cool factor diminishes… Which is crazy, but it is true.
