adidas Consortium Adios 2: Performance Meets Luxury

Since its inception, the adidas Originals category has honored the brand’s storied history by taking classic adi models and reintroducing them, not only in their original form and colorways, but also in bold new new make-ups that have given them a brand new context and identity. adidas Originals has expanded considerably since its initial introduction by releasing some brand new designs as well as classic models, but perhaps its most intriguing offering has been the Consortium imprint.

Through carefully chosen collaborations and in-house efforts, the Consortium program has yielded some of the brand’s most memorable concept and material executions to date, and from a look at their latest endeavor, we’ve only scratched the surface of what may be to come.

It’s not an entirely new idea to create a luxury version of a performance shoe, but adidas has explored it less than you’d think. While the adidas Originals catalog is plentiful with lifestyle spins on older models, we haven’t seen them apply that same formula to current silhouettes very often. While, they’ve dabbled a bit with this concept in the basketball category, the Consortium Adios 2 marks a significant milestone for adidas runners.

The first adidas Adios model became an undeniable favorite for competitive runners, especially after marathon marvel Haile Gebrselassie wore the shoe for his world record performances. The revamped Adios 2 followed in 2012 with some performance upgrades and a more street-wearable look to boot. The shoe has gone on to huge popularity in the running world, but the minds at adidas decided that the shoe deserved a crossover to the lifestyle world as well.

As part of the revered Consortium family, the Adios 2 gets a luxurious makeover courtesy of a high contrast snakeskin material covering the rear two-thirds of the shoe. Initially releasing in two colorways, these snake installments of the Adios 2 will not only catch eyes, but they will also introduce an amazing shoe to a completely different market that may not have been aware of its existence and accomplished backstory. Making it part of the heralded Consortium series only solidifies adidas’s pride and confidence in the model and co-signs its arrival into the lifestyle realm. We threw some questions out to Christian Otto and Daniel Bauer of adidas Consortium and Originals, respectively, to get the full scoop on the Adios 2’s foray into the “sneakerhead” world and what it could mean for the future of the Three Stripes landscape.

Sneaker News: The adidas Adios line has an impressive track record with marathon runners. Can you give our readers a little background on the shoe’s resume and history?

adidas: The Adios line was developed by adidas’ Japanese pattern master Mr. Omori, a pioneer and expert. Since its debut as the adios 1, the line has gone on to win over 100 major races on the feet of our sponsored athletes. The adiZERO adios 2 is the fastest shoe in world, and holds the current marathon world record. Patrick Makau won the Berlin Marathon in 2:03.38 wearing this shoe.

SN: What made this model a good candidate to transform into a lifestyle shoe?

adidas: Adios has iconic history and the shoe has a modern, classic design. In sneaker design, there is a tendency to take a classic silhouette and execute it in a modern technical way. For this project, we thought it was more interesting to reverse this technique and take a modern technical silhouette and execute it through a lifestyle-driven lens.

SN: Are there obstacles in transforming a performance-focused model into something made for casual wear?

adidas: Consortium versions of sneakers are visual statements, so the challenge with this project was to find an execution that separated it from the high performance runners in the family, while still celebrating the technical features of Adios 2.

SN: Can you give us a breakdown of the materials used on the Consortium version of the Adios 2?

adidas: For the first release, we place a luxurious leather around the toe and lining, and contrast this with performance mesh. The statement material on these shoes is the high contrast snakeskin. A second version of the shoe, which will release later this year, will use true performance materials, but develop the flip through printing techniques—an all-over camo print will define the second Adios 2 lifestyle execution.

SN: Is there any significance behind the heavy use of snakeskin on the uppers?

adidas: adidas was the first brand to use snakeskin/reptile on a sneaker back in the ‘80s. This was the inspiration to again create something special.

SN: The Consortium line carries a weight and prestige within the release hierarchy and usually receives some special attention. Is positioning the Adios 2 as part of Consortium adidas’ way of introducing it to a different consumer and making a statement on the shoe’s importance in the adidas archive?

adidas: Technical trainers have become an essential part of the wardrobe, and adidas has technical shoes that work on the streets. A Consortium make-up helps steer people towards our technical offerings, so yes, having this release does generate awareness of our runners.

The advantage of the Adios 2 is its neutral midsole. It has more cushioning than others, but is also clean and versatile. The shoe works on the street from both a comfort and an aesthetic point of view, and the Consortium execution takes it one step further.

SN: adidas Originals is obviously no stranger to re-purposing silhouettes originally designed for performance into casual styles, but in most cases, they’ve been older models from the 70s, 80s and 90s. We recently saw adidas release a Jeremy Scott-designed edition of Derrick Rose’s shoe and now the snakeskin Adios 2. Will we be seeing more contemporary performance styles starting to cross over into the lifestyle category?

adidas: As a brand we have so much more to give and explore. With all the different assets, icons, technologies and style we have across our brands and their portfolio, it would be shame not to use the full potential. There is more to come.

SN: Is there anything else people should know about the Consortium Adios 2?

adidas: This shoe is an amazing runner, created by the guys in Performance Division. A lot of the Originals team wears the shoe for running, but we also wear it as a casual shoe. The Performance team focuses on a specific consumer, and by teaming up, we’re able to open the silhouette to another set of users. We were

excited by the opportunity to give it a new context through material and fabric executions for the street, but at the end of the day, we want a full performance runner built to lifestyle specs that our friends and colleagues want to wear.

RELEASE INFO

Look for the adidas Consortium Adios 2 to arrive in limited quantities on August 31st at global Consortium accounts.