Adidas Ultraboost

The design of the Ultraboost came after a statement made by Matthias Amm, adidas' Running department director. "We knew we had to create an upper that could enhance the underfoot feeling to create a holistic, exciting comfort experience. Our Futures team started to work on enhancing this concept with more Boost, a better transition, and an amazing, superior fit on the upper," he stated. Although there was an issue with production of BOOST, with adidas only rumored to have one factory optimized for the production, they soon switched over a multitude of factories to keep up with the demand.[1] With adidas working with NASA to develop an outsole that would return the most energy and become the most optimal for running, they came up with the Torsion System outsole, adorned with Continental-branded rubber.[1] Eventually, the Ultraboost was created by the Futures team in January 2015, with it being available to the public in February 2015.

The Ultraboost 1.0 "OG" colorway was the first model to be sold, and with the endorsements from names such as David Villa, a soccer player, and sprinter Yohan Blake, it was labeled "the best running shoe of all time". When it was first revealed, most consumers believed it to be a performance shoe for athletics, as it was being endorsed by many popular sports players.[2] As more and more colorways became available to the public, including collaborations from Stella McCartney, Kris Van Assche, Junichi Abe, and kolor. These colorways sold out almost immediately, driving up a high resell price which caught the eye of many.[3] A few more colorways made their debut at the December 2015 adidas fashion show in New York City, along with the NMD, later referred to as the NMD R1.

Adidas headed into the 2016 year with a few colorways of the Ultraboost, with one drop being the long awaited collaboration pack with Parley for the Oceans, an ocean conservancy group.[1] They also dropped the Uncaged Ultraboosts, in which the company had removed the thermoplastic polyurethane cage from the shoe. These had the biggest selling numbers ever for the Ultraboost, with eleven thousand pairs being sold in the first hour of availability and the whole collection selling out entirely within a day. These Uncaged Ultraboosts were "revolutionary" because they were the first pairs of shoes with colored BOOST.[2][3][1] The long awaited "Triple Black" colorway was dropped later in 2016 as well, which sold out very soon after release.[1] Adidas had a landmark number of collaborations as well, with the Consortium Ultraboost, the KITH x Ultraboost "White F&F", the Ultraboost Uncaged "Solebox" and the Parley for the Oceans "Recycled" colorways.[3]

The 2017-2018 year had a few new iterations of the Ultraboost revealed, with the Ultraboost DNA, the Ultraboost 2.0, and the Ultraboost 3.0. All three of these different models had updated specifications, like bigger energy return and more comfortable fit. The cage was updated for the 3.0 as well. adidas dropped the "ZX" pack, which had a few colorways that resembled the ZX 420 and 10000 shoes that they had designed.[4] The adidas SPEEDFACTORY line was also announced, with a new Torsion System design which seemed to be targeted at a more premium audience than the Ultraboost. The adidas SPEEDFACTORY Ultraboost had a few collaborations, such as the likes of MARVEL and Game of Thrones.[2] The Ultraboost also had a few more collaborations with KITH, A Bathing Ape, Nice Kicks, HYPEBEAST, and Undefeated (stylized as UNDFTD).[4]

The Ultraboost 19 was another milestone for adidas in progressively designing the Ultraboost, moving away from the traditional 2.0 & 3.0 models. As Matthias Amm states, "“We found out quickly that running is changing faster than ever before, so we needed to question everything about the shoe, forget everything we knew about running, and start from the beginning." They redesigned the Ultraboost to include a "new 3D-printed heel frame, a thicker material for the lace cage, and more BOOST material for the midsole."[3] More collaborations happened between adidas and A Bathing Ape for the Ultraboost 4.0.[4]

The Ultraboost 20 looked almost identical to the Ultraboost 19, with a thicker BOOST midsole and more lateral support due to a newly redesigned cage.[3] There was a 2 colorway NASA-themed pack, but didn't get the same amount of reverence as the other collaborations.[4] There was a heavy-duty model of the Ultraboost 20 called the Ultraboost CC_1 which had a thicker outsole and more cage support.

The 2021 and 2022 iterations of the Ultraboost were redesigned for running, with more BOOST in the midsole and a thicker heel, with a new tread design on the outsole. The outsole had been the same until the Ultraboost 19, and then the new design carried over from the Ultraboost 19 into the 20. adidas claims that the Ultraboost 22 has 4% more energy return than the '20 and '19 models of the Ultraboost. Parley for the Oceans also had a collaboration for the '22 model of the Ultraboost.

At the beginning of the Ultraboost's life, the quantity of BOOST produced was less than optimal for adidas. This, in turn, made the shoes more limited during the first few years of release. As more and more BOOST was produced because of a larger number of BOOST-producing factories, the resale value of Ultraboosts began to decline. In 2016, the resell price of Ultraboosts was averaging $290 USD, and the average price premium for the shoe was over 50%. "As a subcategory where you’ve got dozens of [in-line] sneakers and the average for those is more than 50 percent, that’s really high," states Jesse Einhorn, senior economist at StockX, a reselling site. From 2018 onward, the average resell value of Ultraboosts were -22%, for an average resell value of $146 USD.[4]

There are expected to be new models of the Ultraboost in late 2022, with the past half-decade's release schedule. Based on last year's release schedule, adidas could be releasing the Ultraboost 23 in mid-late autumn of 2022. There are already leaked photos of the Ultraboost 23, and are expected sometime in 2022. The Ultraboost blends the toebox of the 1.0 and the 2.0, and a new outsole. adidas also added more BOOST to the midsole.[5]

The BOOST sole is an innovative technology that was created in 2013, after an exclusive partnership was created between Adidas and BASF, a German material manufacturing company. When Puma and BASF's partnership terminated in 2011 for unknown reasons, Adidas saw an opportunity to create a new midsole material. In 2013, BASF and Adidas unveiled Infinergy (later known as BOOST), the world's "first expandable midsole with the most optimal energy return" (as per an Adidas statement). The first shoe utilizing the new Infinergy midsole, the Energy Boost, was revealed on February 14, 2013. The Energy Boost was made available to the public two weeks later.[3] In 2014, adidas also revealed and sold the Pureboost, the first shoe made by adidas to feature a full-length BOOST midsole.