Adidas UltraBoost 1.0 S&L 'Collegiate Navy'
Colorway: Collegiate Navy/Legend Marine/Gold Met. · Style code: EF0725 · Release date: April 15, 2019 · Price: $141 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: adidas UltraBoost 1.0 'Oreo' (IH4924) · Adidas UltraBoost 1.0 'Navy' (S77415) · adidas UltraBoost 1.0 'Alumina' (JQ2270) · adidas UltraBoost 1.0 'Linen Green' (HQ2199) · Adidas UltraBoost 1.0 'Solar Orange' (S77413)
Adidas launched the UltraBoost in February 2015 with running claims attached, but the shoe's real career happened off the road. Boost foam, developed with the German chemical company BASF from expanded thermoplastic polyurethane pellets and first put into adidas running in 2013, gave the midsole a bounce that ethylene-vinyl acetate could not match, and the Primeknit upper made it look like nothing else on a shelf. By the time adidas began building premium versions of it, the running argument was secondary.
S&L stands for suede and leather, and it is the version of the UltraBoost that stops pretending. The signature midfoot cage, normally a welded plastic frame, is cut from leather here, and suede lands at the toe and heel. Underneath, the Boost midsole is unchanged, because that part was never the problem.
This April 2019 colorway runs Collegiate Navy with darker marine tones and a metallic gold accent, at $180.