Kit & Gear

FIRST LOOK: adidas Solarglide 5

Built with every day running in mind, the adidas Solarglide 5 is the latest addition to the popular Solarglide franchise. Designed to provide runners with the perfect fit, the shoe features a Bubble Boost midsole consisting of hundreds of Boost capsules which are fused together and ready to explode with energy in every step. Working in tandem with an updated LEP, which fits between the Bubble Boost platform and the Control Platform, the shoe provides a super-smooth ride for runners.

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Our SportsShoes ambassador Ben Mounsey, interviewed adidas Category Director Footwear Si Lockett to find out more about this latest shoe release.

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BEN: Hi Si, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions about the exciting new adidas Solarglide 5 running shoes. Firstly, can you give us a product overview in terms of design and specification.

SI: Yeah sure! Essentially, we have a number of technologies that we have sandwiched together, so I’ll start from the ground up. Firstly, we have a full Continental outsole, stripped back in areas where we don’t need rubber and where we felt we needed less traction, through both the midfoot, forefoot and mainly because strike patterns mean you’re not going to use all of the outsole for ground contact. Not only does it look good, most importantly we’ve reduced the overall weight of the shoe by removing some of the rubber. Obviously, we have kept this in the key areas - heel crash pad and toe off etc.

Then from a tooling point of view we move up into 1G Boost, which is the same compound that we’ve featured in other models, however, the main thing we’ve done with this shoe, certainly more than others before, is start to play around with geometry. So, when you look at the shoe from a side profile, you can already see the difference in bubble geometry as we are really trying to maximise the Boost technology. The 1G Boost is known for being propulsive, cushioned, high-energy, but we thought as this is a daily go-to running shoe we really wanted to maximise the construction to allow more and more runners to experience this technology. One of the main ways in which we have done this is with the crash pad underneath the heel of the shoe, so the rear foot bubble is slightly extended compared with other models in the Solarglide range and other franchises.

We all have different points of contact when we run, regardless of experience or ability e.g. either midfoot striking or heel striking. As we begin to tire during a run our strike pattern will change, slowly moving further backwards towards the heel. So, we wanted to ensure there is more foam underneath the heel to compensate for this shift in movement of the foot strike.

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Aside from Continental outsole and Boost technology, the second thing you may be familiar with in other adidas models is LEP in the midsole. LEP in the Ultraboost is only present in the forefoot (forefoot wings and slightly in the midfoot), designed to enhance propulsion and increase energy return as you strike and move forward. But in Solarglide 5, we have added a rear fork, on both the lateral and medial sides. Because this shoe is for daily use and suitable for all different levels of runner, we wanted to provide as much rear foot stability as we possibly could through different geometries and different constructions. So, instead of ripping up LEP and starting again, we took what we already had and thought about how can we make this better.

What is also different about the Solarglide 5 is that LEP isn’t on the bottom of the shoe. With previous versions of Solarglide, Adios and Ultraboost, for example, everything is bottom loaded - all torsion bars and LEP’s, which increases ground control and makes them more direct, fast and snappy. But what we wanted to achieve by moving LEP into the middle of the shoe for the Solarglide 5 was to create a slightly smoother ride. So, you still have the energy return and the effects of LEP in the midfoot and forefoot, but it’s just not as snappy and feels much smoother. This relates back to the previous point I made about this shoe being for daily use and explains why we have made these changes and additions.

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Am I correct in thinking that this change in LEP has increased the stack height of the Solarglide 5 compared with its predecessor?

(Solarglide 5: 10mm drop - 36mm Heel, 26mm Toe

Solarglide 4: 10mm drop – 32mm Heel, 22mm Toe)

Yes, but the increased stack height isn’t just because of the LEP, it’s because of the EVA frame that sits on top of the midsole. On Solarglide 4, we had an EVA rail for stabilisation around the shoe. On this shoe, the EVA frame is a full-length platform and this essentially means you have two midsoles in one. So, there is a Boost platform, LEP and then this top layer of EVA which is designed to provide a little bit of extra support and a little bit of extra stability because the side walls wrap slightly higher up. But ultimately, we added the EVA frame to help create an even smoother running experience and for an easier daily glide.

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So, just to be clear – the Solarglide 5 is an everyday shoe aimed at a wide audience from beginner to elite?

I see this shoe as providing a progression through running. It’s relative - it could be for someone who runs a few kilometres every week, or when you think of getting to that 3-4 hour mark in a marathon – it’s an all-round shoe that would be perfect for both.

One of the biggest things we did with this shoe is come at it from a dual-gender perspective. We didn’t want to go down the route of creating an 8.5 all the way through and then think OK, now we need to build it out in different sizes. We wanted to make sure that we had both male and female insight from the very beginning. So, when it came to the upper choice for example, we had different materials – we had an engineered mesh and we had a circular knit (used in the final design). The shoe was on the feet of both male and female runners so we could get feedback on levels of comfort, fit and visual perspective. Most importantly, we also made sure that the shoe has a women’s last* which means there’s slightly more room in the forefoot and slightly less room in the heel. Based on foot scans that we’ve collected over a number of years, this is the general average and pattern that we see between male and female runners. By taking all these insights into consideration, we have accommodated and represented both genders equally.

*Shoe last is the form that shoemakers use in shoe moulding and is designed to be an anatomical copy of our feet.

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I know that one of the main aims and targets for adidas is to create more sustainable products. How have you done this with Solarglide 5?

Yes, the upper material is made from 50% ocean plastic. It’s worth pointing out that we have recyclable uppers across all of our tech platforms. But in certain material forms and mixes we have the opportunity to use ocean plastic and that’s where it comes in with this shoe.

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That’s great to hear. What’s been the feedback so far from athletes?

Through testing it has been extremely positive. We set out to make this shoe our front door hero - something trustworthy, reliable and faithful and that’s exactly the feedback we’ve had. The shoe goes to market very soon and then we’ll have consumer feedback, which for me is obviously the most important thing. So, firstly do people like it? and then secondly, can our creation team use this feedback to inform the next generations of adidas footwear?

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