Adidas Five Ten Trailcross GORE-TEX 'Black Grey'
Colorway: Core Black/Grey Three/Solar Red · Style code: IF4941 · Release date: July 2, 2023 · Price: $2832 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Adidas Five Ten Trailcross 'Orbit Green' (GZ9849) · Adidas Five Ten Trailcross 'Black Grey' (GZ9848) · Adidas Five Ten Trailcross 'Beige Tone' (GZ9851) · Adidas Wmns Five Ten Trailcross 'Black Grey' (HP9931) · Adidas Five Ten Trailcross LT 'Black Grey' (IF4947)
Charles Cole's Stealth rubber came out of climbing: a compound formulated in 1985 to hold friction on rock where harder soles skated. The approach shoe he built around it, and the C4 compound that followed two years later, made Five Ten the default choice for climbers and then for mountain bikers, who found the same grip locked a flat pedal underfoot.
adidas agreed to buy the company in late 2011 for twenty-five million dollars, and said plainly that the rubber technology was the point, useful well beyond the outdoor division.
The Trailcross sits at the adventure end of the resulting line, aimed at riders who expect to walk some of the route. The dotted Stealth outsole is broken up with ridged grip at the toe and heel for hiking, and this version wraps the upper in a waterproof membrane rather than the ventilated mesh the range usually favours.