Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`February 1, 2018
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`Back in 2012, if you asked anyone what the hottest sneaker brand in the world was and they didn’t immediately say
`Nike, you’d have thought they were either insane or lying. Nike's stiffest global competition, Adidas, wasn’t so much a
`distant second as an almost non-existent one. In the United States, Nike’s home base, the Swoosh was even more
`dominant. Its market share of athletic footwear was hovering around 60 percent, and it had just introduced the most
`groundbreaking sneaker technology of the millenium in Flyknit, the godfather of knit upper running shoes. On both mass
`market and limited-edition level, from Air Maxes to Air Yeezys, Nike looked unstoppable.
`
`A little over five years later, though, Adidas is not just more competitive than it was a half-decade ago from a financial
`standpoint—with reported increases in revenue and market share—but it’s also made up serious ground in innovation
`Skechers U.S.A., Inc. v. Nike, Inc.
`and style. What sparked the turnaround? A few things.
`IPR2021-00159
`Patent No. 10,098,412
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`Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`In 2014, Adidas reissued its legendary Stan Smith tennis sneakers behind a massive marketing campaign, helping make
`them the coolest shoes among both fashion designers and brunch-going bros. They also signed Kanye West, whose Yeezy
`line of sneakers pushed Adidas to the top of the hype conversation. But Adidas also owes much of its recent success to a
`white foam sole called Boost, which set a new standard in comfort and cool in the sneaker market. (So much so that we've
`started referring to Adidas's history in terms of B.B. [Before Boost] and A.B. [After Boost]). Five years after the first
`Adidas Energy Boost hit shelves, it’s worth breaking down how Boost, well, boosted Adidas to the top of the sneaker
`game.
`
`Here’s the first thing to know about Adidas’s premier running shoe technology: it’s not actually made by Adidas. What we
`know as Boost is actually made by a German chemical company called Badische Anilin & Soda-Fabrik (BASF for short),
`and the Three Stripes just pays BASF for the exclusive rights to this technology. BASF first developed what became Boost
`in 2007. At the time, it was nothing more than tiny little white particles the company called “energy capsules” (which
`basically look like squishy Tic-Tacs). Later, BASF’s scientists realized the particles were useful when welded together
`with steam into one solid piece. The first time Adidas saw Boost, it was via a small, tennis-sized ball that was used as a
`demo to show just how bouncy the material is. “We could not believe how higher the ball bounced back compared to EVA
`foams which were the standard material at that time. We could not stop watching this video and imagined what we can
`do with that material: we could revolutionize the running industry with that material,” says Matthias Am, the Category
`Director of Global Running at Adidas. By 2012, the company was testing prototype shoes with Boost.
`
`But what makes Boost genuinely innovative? It’s all about what running shoe designers—and marketers—call “energy
`return,” which is what Am was talking about with the Boost bouncy ball. When it comes to wearing the shoes, it’s one of
`the first things you notice—they feel not unlike a very nice memory foam mattress. “The thing about Boost is that the
`minute you put it on, you know it’s a completely different experience than anything else out there. The comfort is
`something everything gets,” says Andy Barr, Adidas Director of Global Creation for the brand’s US Running Footwear
`division. The first Ultra Boost also looked different than anything else on the market. “It’s easy to forget that in 2013,
`most running shoes didn’t look like [the Ultra Boost]. They were [made of] a bunch of pieces and bright colors and
`bulky,” says Barr.
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`Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`In 2013, Adidas’s running shoes weren’t in need of a performance overhaul. In 2012, the year before Boost hit shelves,
`Kenyan Patrick Makau set the world marathon record while wearing the Adidas Adios 2, which, while lightweight,
`doesn’t pack any squishy sole units. But while the brand had success among the world’s most elite runners, everyday
`runners—especially in the United States—simply didn’t care. In 2013, Adidas only held two percent of the U.S. market
`share in the running shoe category, a number that remained stagnant until 2015. Today, that number is more than nine
`percent, according to Barr.
`
`“We knew we had to do something completely different to what everyone else was doing,” says Barr. “No one was
`wearing running shoes casually at the time, either.” Barr is right: Today it’s hard to imagine a sneaker market, athletic or
`casual, without Boost. That’s thanks to not only great tech, but great marketing. Boost may very well have been a
`runaway success on its own, but Adidas also has the greatest one-man marketing machine on the planet on its team:
`Kanye West.
`
`Over the last decade, Kanye West has been arguably the most influential person in sneakers. He sold $900 sci-fi
`inspired Louis Vuitton sneakers in 2009, at a time when streetwear and high fashion still felt like different style
`universes. At Nike, he created two of the most coveted sneakers of the decade in the Air Yeezy 1 and 2. And since he
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`Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`joined Adidas, the brand’s ability to generate hype for its Boost-adorned products—from West’s Yeezy Boost styles on
`down—has never been greater.
`
`West has his naysayers in the industry who, understandably, question whether one man’s limited-edition kicks can
`influence an entire market. But ask those at Adidas, as well as some industry analysts, and they’ll tell you West’s halo
`effect on Adidas’s entire business is legit. “When you have a product with scarcity [like Yeezy], it puts people in a more
`premium mindset, which means they’ll be more willing to pay full price for other categories,” says John Kernan, an
`analyst at financial services firm Cowen who covers Adidas.
`
`But even before West’s own line of shoes had expanded beyond the high-top, boot-like 750, he was putting Boost on
`people’s minds. In May 2015, a month before the Yeezy Boost 350 “Turtle Doves” dropped, West was spotted in a pair of
`all-white Adidas Energy Boost ESM sneakers. Days later, he wore the triple white Adidas Ultra Boost. A few days after
`that, both pairs were gone from the market, and could only be found on eBay and Flight Club for as much as $600. (Both
`have since been re-issued several times.)
`
`Barr cites West’s powerful connection with his fans as the reason he moves the needle, especially when it came to the
`Ultra Boost. “[When Kanye wears something], it’s an authentication,” he says. “What’s interesting is that Kanye picked
`up the shoes on his own for the same reasons anyone picks them up. The performance, the comfort, the sock-like feel.
`And so we were all excited to see him wear it.” Kernan, meanwhile, specifically cites the Ultra Boost as the most
`successful Boost sneaker to date, in part because it has a profit margin “several hundred percent more” than other Adidas
`sneakers. But it wouldn’t be farfetched to assume that many customers were willing to pay full price for the $180 style
`(which again as Kernan says is a big deal) because Kanye West wore them first.
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`Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`Beyond Adidas running shoes, West’s own line of sneakers—including the insanely popular low-top Adidas Yeezy Boost
`350—all feature Adidas Boost in the soles save for the new Adidas Yeezy 500. Design-wise the 350 feels like an extension
`of the Ultra Boost’s sock-like proposition, albeit a slightly more futuristic version. More than two years after the first 350
`dropped, Adidas released the gray Yeezy Boost 350 V2 “Beluga 2.0,” the most widely available Yeezy Boost to date, which
`reportedly sold upwards of 200,000 pairs upon its release. So with Boost technology adorning each Yeezy 350 sold, it’s
`no wonder that the tech has spent the last three years trickling down from sneakers that kids sweat to get to ones even
`your uncle can pick up at the mall.
`
`And here’s the kicker: West joined Adidas in late 2013—after the first Boost release—and didn’t issue his own sneaker
`until early 2015. But this fact actually supports the claim that West’s own Boost shoes aided the tech’s mass adoption.
`Until 2015, Adidas’s U.S. market share was still declining, but between 2016 and 2017—when Adidas ramped up
`production of Yeezy Boost sneakers—that number nearly doubled.
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`Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`Concepts, a sneaker shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts that’s both a boutique and a frequent collaborator with brands
`like Nike, Adidas, and New Balance, isn’t where local Boston Marathon runners go to shop. Rather, it’s the kind of place
`that’s popular with kids looking for new limited-edition releases and the kinds of sneakers that turn heads on city streets
`(slash get a ton of likes on Instagram). That’s why, co-owner Deon Point says, the running-first Ultra Boost wasn’t even
`initially offered at Concepts when it dropped. But once it hit Concepts’ shelves, the style’s popularity in 2014 and 2015 as
`an everyday shoe signaled a turning point for Adidas’s business at Concepts. “Before Boost, Adidas was relying on its
`classics,” like the Stan Smith and Superstar, Point says, “but frankly it was kind of hitting a wall. When Ultra Boost came
`out, it was sort of the perfect combination of technology and style. Moments like that are few and far between.”
`
`Point is careful not to give all of the credit for Adidas’s success to Boost. Styles like the Stan Smith and more recently the
`Adidas Gazelle and Superstar were major catalysts, though today they seem to have cooled off. (On the company’s Q3
`earnings call in 2017, Foot Locker executive Lauren Peters noted a slowdown in sales of the Adidas Superstar, which was
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`Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`the best selling sneaker of 2016 in the United States.) While this might not be great news for Foot Locker and Adidas in
`the short term, the trend suggests that Boost-adorned kicks will soon be doing most of the heavy lifting for Adidas.
`Which, in all likelihood, means more shoes than ever designed with—and retrofitted to include—Boost.
`
`Today, Point says collaborations with the likes of Pharrell and skate brand Palace have helped Boost stay relevant. These
`shoes don’t do major volume for Concepts, but they’re a reason to come into the store—and a reason to shop Adidas. In
`Point’s estimation, Concepts’s Adidas business is 10 times what it was in the pre-Boost era. And while Nike is still the
`store’s number-one brand in terms of volume, Adidas is making up ground. “Adidas really took over the place of the six
`or seven brands that all used to be behind Nike. Now it’s really just Nike and Adidas,” he says.
`
`Adidas’s United States HQ in Portland, Oregon is just a 17 minute drive from Nike’s global campus, a distance that
`feels awfully close for two companies dedicated, Spy vs. Spy-style, to keeping secrets from one another. But even if
`proximity weren’t a factor, there’s no way the folks at the Swoosh could have avoided Boost’s wild popularity. Nike has
`long been the king in the United States, and it won’t give up the throne easily. Most recently, that means introducing two
`different sole technologies that feel like a direct response to Boost. Nike’s first shot at Boost was ZoomX, which was
`created to help runner Eliud Kipchoge break the 2-hour barrier in the marathon. But for much of 2017, ZoomX was only
`available in hard-to-get high-performance sneakers like the Nike Zoom VaporFly 4%—an achievement in design that has
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`Adidas Boost: the Sneaker Technology that Changed a Company's Fortun...
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`https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-boost-history-yeezy-sneakers
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`yet to realize its mass-market potential. The more immediate threat to Boost was unveiled just last week: Nike’s React
`foam. Early reviews of the shoe note that React is has the goods stuff in terms of comfort and running performance, but if
`social media is any indication, Nike may have come a little too close to the Ultra Boost—the sock-like upper, the foam
`sole. All of that makes sense on paper, but considering the Ultra Boost is already three years old, one has to wonder if
`Nike is a little late to the game. So with the foam sole market now officially crowded, Adidas is in need of its next big idea.
`
`One way to keep attention on Boost is improving it. “We are not stopping with Boost. We are innovating within Boost, as
`we showed with the launch of Boost Light last year,” Adidas’s Am says. But like the original Boost, Boost Light—which is
`exactly what it sounds like—is currently only use for its top-line marathon shoes. In other parts of Adidas’s business,
`Boost also gives Adidas an advantage when it comes to actually making shoes faster than the competition, particularly at
`its new Atlanta “Speedfactory.” But making Boost lighter and faster isn’t the game-changer Adidas will eventually need to
`keep making up ground.
`
`Enter Adidas’s Future division, which, like Nike’s Innovation Kitchen, is a department whose sole goal is to think up
`game-changing ideas That branch recently conceptualized and developed the FutureCraft 4D sneaker a style that is
`
`is still years off. But most of all, the Futurecraft 4D
`in under a week and eliminating months off the production process
`sneaker is significantly heavier than a pair of Ultra Boost sneakers, and its soles are stiffer and less bouncy than Boost. In
`other words, they don’t provide much in the way of an improvement to the person actually wearing them.
`
`But the answer might be right under their Adidas’s nose: Boost may not even be close to reaching its potential. John
`Kernan estimates Boost-adorned sneakers currently make up less than 25 percent of Adidas’s overall footwear business,
`but he predicts that number will only grow. Yeezy Boosts are obviously the most hyped of the Boost line-up, but data
`shows all Boost sneakers generate buzz on the aftermarket. According to StockX, which acts as a middleman between
`buyers and sellers of rarified sneakers, Adidas sneakers with Boost make up 97 percent of all Adidas shoes sold on its
`site. Adidas owns just about 12 percent of the U.S. athletic footwear market—but it currently has 51 percent of the resale
`market on StockX.
`
`Hype is good for a brand's perception in the marketplace, but Adidas doesn't make any money when some reseller turns
`a 500 percent profit on a pair of Yeezys. The fact remains that at the primary retail level, Nike’s market share is still four
`times that of Adidas, and more if you count Jordan Brand as part of the Swoosh’s portfolio. Adidas might be on the right
`track thanks to Boost, but it’s going to need to find what’s next if it wants to keep the Sneaker Wars interesting. But
`there’s a mighty good chance that whatever’s next involves Boost.
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