adidas Ultraboost 1.0 DNA 'Black Better Scarlet'
Colorway: Core Black/Better Scarlet/White · Style code: ID2388 · Release date: May 8, 2023 · Price: $266 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: adidas UltraBoost 1.0 DNA 'Nerf' (GX2944) · adidas UltraBoost 1.0 DNA 'Grey' (HQ4200) · adidas UltraBoost 1.0 DNA 'Carbon' (GY7486) · adidas UltraBoost 1.0 DNA 'White Black' (GV8763) · adidas UltraBoost 1.0 DNA 'White Black' (GZ0449)
adidas launched the Ultraboost in February 2015 as the shoe that would carry Boost to a wide audience. The midsole material itself had appeared two years earlier, developed with the German chemical company BASF: thermoplastic polyurethane expanded into small pellets and fused into a block, giving a springier, more temperature-stable ride than the EVA foams the industry ran on. The shoe wrapped it in a Primeknit upper and clamped the midfoot with a plastic cage that also carried the lacing and the Three Stripes.
That cage became the model's most argued-over part. Runners found it restrictive, and adidas answered in 2016 with the Uncaged, which removed it entirely. Later generations reshaped the whole shoe (the 19 stripped the construction back to four components, the Light reformulated Boost to cut weight), which is precisely why the DNA versions exist: they put the 2015 silhouette back into production unchanged while the performance line keeps moving. This one reads almost monochrome, black knit against scarlet hardware.