Adidas Ultraboost Light Review | An almost everyday city road running mate

Adidas’s Ultraboost Light offers solid heel cushioning and a stable ankle support to help you run effectively on city roads

When I was first asked to review Adidas’s Ultraboost Light, several thoughts crossed my mind. That’s because of Boost technology’s ten-year-long history. So, I thought I could delve a little into how the tech changed the company’s fortunes.

A decade ago, when Adidas unveiled its then latest cushion technology, the company was trying to corner a larger share in the sneaker market from Nike. And that’s when the paradigm-changing cushion technology made an impact on the EVA foam-based sneaker market. Boost did not just win the brand more buyers; it also changed the company’s celebrity endorsement style.

In 2015, it entered into a partnership with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West (and now known as Ye), to make Yeezy Boost shoes. This helped the brand move out of the athletes-only circle and chart a new path in athleisure wear.

While the sportswear maker did not reveal how much it makes from sales of the Yeezy brand shoes, it admitted in 2016 - a year after starting the collaboration with the rapper - that the tie-up was “the most significant partnership ever created between a non-athlete and an athletic brand.”

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Boost gave the German brand a new soul (can be read as sole) to its shoes. Interestingly, the company did not need any performance improvement in its shoes at that time as just a year ago, in 2012, Kenyan runner Patrick Makau set the world marathon record wearing a pair of Adidas’s Adios 2s.

Despite that success, Nike’s rival went scouting for a cushion technology that would disrupt the sneaker market, and go beyond athletes. That was when it found a secret ingredient in another German company.