adidas NMD_R1 'Black Clay Strata'
Colorway: Core Black/Carbon/Clay Strata · Style code: HQ4561 · Release date: April 16, 2023 · Price: $119 · Availability: Available now
Carbon is the very dark grey in the adidas range, a shade off true black, and pairing it with Core Black on the same knit upper produces contrast you can only see up close. The sidewall reads as one dark mass from a distance and resolves into two tones when the light moves, which is a deliberate way of building depth without spending a colour on it.
Clay Strata is what breaks it. A muted terracotta with a good deal of grey in it, it is warm where everything else on the shoe is cold, and it works as an accent precisely because it is not bright. That places this pair closer to outdoor and workwear palettes than to the athletic ones the line usually draws on. Construction is unchanged: a one-piece knit with welded Three Stripes, a sock collar, a full-length Boost midsole with inserts moulded into its sidewall and a segmented rubber outsole. It released April 16, 2023 at $160.