Source: adidas Consortium UltraBOOST Mid
Riding the wave, or staying with the trend is something that is very hard to do long term in fashion. adidas has been riding a wave caused by the perfect storm and an earthquake which made a wave so large the brand didn’t know when to try and jump off or adjust. I recognized this last year when everyone was touting adidas jumping over the Jumpman.
In the above post I made a statement that adidas is performing very well, but the issue with their growth was one that won’t be noticeable until late 2018 heading into 2019. I’ve always stated that a brand’s heat can be measured via resale. While resale is typically associated with high end/limited release footwear that isn’t commercial, the interest in a brand rises and falls in conjunction with the desire associated with that brand. In other words a year ago an adidas general release shoe could garner resale. By the end of 2017 adidas general release footwear performed like a general release that had seen too many releases of the same models. I discussed this in a post on how adidas had beaten the design elements of its UltraBOOST and NMDs into the ground creating fatigue for the brand.
This reality began to play out over the holiday season and into Q1 of 2018. Today, the promotional environment has a grip on the Three Stripes and the result is disturbing, at least it should be. Many of adidas’ flagship models and new releases are being marked down after only weeks on the shelf. The Holi Pack of Pharrell’s Tennis HU are already marked down to 69.99. High end models like the EQT Support 93/17 are down to 69.98 in places and still sitting. The Deerupt has been released in several colorways and my daily visit to the mall and talking with sales leads about different shoes gives me all the information I need to know about the Deerupt. It hasn’t disrupted anything and has very few broken sizes.
Now an announcement today by popular Twitter account Yeezy Mafia states that the brand will drop one million pair of Yeezy 350 V2s which will officially end resale of adidas footwear if it is true… and if it is true then the remaining amount of brand heat for adidas will be a flicker of a flame on the last piece of wood on a fallen building with only a wisp of smoke remaining.
Now that I’ve spelled gloom and doom for adidas, today I visit the site and run across a shoe I’ve seen on a few other blogs, the Consortium MidProto. A shoe that was the UB before the UB was finally released in its full Primeknit glory. The prototype still has a PK upper, but if you took a moment to look at the post I created on adidas’ silhouette problem you’ll find that this “prototype” does something that I have long thought was needed for the UltraBOOST and it’s contemporaries to remain relevant. The Consortium utilizes elements of classic adidas materials on runners. Primarily suede. This has happened before with the UB Mid in a Consortium, but this shoe is slightly different. I will discuss this in a moment. Suede is not quite on trend as it relates to performance as fashion.. Right now shoes are all about minimizing the footprint of a brand.
I realize that the Parley campaign is about sustainability and that’s important, but fashion will only care so much about a brand’s support of the environment before those same people begin to request more “premium” materials for their dollar, and suede is a material that meets the quota for both style and premium.
One of my critiques of silhouettes was the absence of shape and form in the toebox of all of adidas’ shoes. The Deerupt has this problem as well as the latest NMD release from adidas, the Racer. In the MidProto the shoe features premium suede around the toebox giving the shoe a premium look and an additional design element that is attractive while also delivering a complimentary balance to the heel counter. As I said above this has happened on previous Consortium models. However the toebox was the only place that suede was utilized. On other shoes the medial and lateral midfoot was wrapped in a fused Primeknit that wasn’t noticeable and didn’t really connect the shoe in a seamless design. On this new model the fused section has been replaced by suede and it’s a game changer. The shoe will retain its shape over time as opposed to the stretching that inevitably occurs with primeknit and mesh uppers on the UB and NMD which lack any structure at the toe.
The Consortium takes a heel counter that we’ve seen on far too many shoes in the last year and connects it to a medial and lateral suede section that stabilizes the shoe and honestly makes this shoe one of the dopest models to possibly arrive out of the Three Stripes performance category in a while. This model makes three shoes that could right the wrongs of the brand (Kamanda and Atric). The problem is this release arrives along with a Parley Deerupt and an NMD Racer and without any marketing or storytelling around the shoe which was a staple of the success adidas had in the last couple of years.
The adidas Consortium UltraBOOST Mid is a highlight and I hope that it is something that becomes implemented in more of the footwear released this year. A healthy adidas is good for the market.