Adidas Brings Back Barricade Tennis Shoe With Modern Technology

Adidas final produced its long-standing Barricade tennis shoe in 2018. After a break, the Barricade is again. And modernized. Whereas borrowing cues from iterations for the reason that Barricade first launched for the U.S. Open in 2000, the brand new 2021 model brings with it a brand new slate of applied sciences and a recent aesthetic. 

“We needed to reside as much as the wants and adjustments within the sport, the velocity, the drive,” says Carly Tatibouet, Adidas vp of specialist sports activities. “We need to get impressed by the heritage however iterate with probably the most up to date elements and compounds. We needed to offer it a few of these references within the visible id, however don’t desire it to really feel like it’s one thing we introduced straight out of archives.” 

The Adidas Barricade tennis shoe provided one of many longest-running franchises in tennis, a gentle presence on the professional tour and recreation courts the world over ever since Marat Safin received the 2000 U.S. Open within the shoe’s skilled debut. Since then the silhouette—recognized for its stability, sturdiness and girth—remained a relentless till the German footwear big stopped producing it in 2018. The pause allowed designers to “take a break” and recharge the silhouette to check athlete footwork, courtroom floor and create a brand new match and with recent supplies primarily based on the “science of something we may study,” Tatibouet says.

Crafting a recent iteration begins with the midfoot shank. The funky 3D TPU piece builds torsion potential with a pure twist whereas stabilizing the midfoot. The piece leads to a place to begin for the whole lot on the sneaker, from the design to the perform.

The outsole will get cut up by the shank and makes use of a herringbone sample engineered primarily based on the footwork of the trendy sport to supply areas centered on serving to gamers slide and sections with a grippy compound within the newly devised Adiwear rubber outsole, which additionally wraps up the foot with for improved sturdiness and help. The Adiwear consists of refined claw-like visible parts when it reaches the higher, a contact from the unique Barricade from 2000, providing a “future expression” of an authentic id.  

Underfoot cushioning runs the Adidas Bounce foam greater than three-fourths of the way in which, providing spring and power return within the heel zone to melt the impression within the touchdown, Tatibouet says. 

The exaggerated “adidas” wordmark throughout the higher serves not solely as an aesthetic play, but additionally gives an abrasion patch. “Whereas this can be a design element,” Tatibouet says, “we tried to have this work in synergy with the know-how.” 

Adidas makes use of neoprene Geofit pods contained in the heel for added out-of-the-box consolation that improves match. 

The tongue, which reduces the load of shoe, provides round perforation—a tie to the early Barricade 4—for breathability and ties into the asymmetrical lacing system. Tatibouet says they borrowed concepts from the model’s soccer know-how for “glove-like match” and use an eyestay system impressed by light-weight, supportive bridge cables to create an internal match webbing system that merges with the lacing for an adaptive match. 

Whether or not the eyestays or the toe, Adidas labored in Adituff abrasion resistance. 

All through the development, Tatibouet says they’ve shed the hefty connotations the silhouette beforehand had, streamlining the design by know-how. “We have tried to carry the most effective of sturdiness and stability, but additionally create extra attraction in hand,” she says. “We would like it to be actually intuitive. After I maintain it in my hand, it feels extra a part of the long run than the final archive iteration.” 

The unique plan was to launch the brand new Barricade for Tokyo 2020, however with the Olympics delayed till 2021, Adidas determined to take the additional time to totally fine-tune the design. The shoe made an on-court debut in Tokyo— Already Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari wore the shoe throughout Tokyo and Tatibouet says they anticipate different athletes will change to the brand new mannequin over the following few months—and is now out there at retail. 

Early designs embrace an authentic white, black and purple colorway, a U.S. Open colorway and even a extremely patterned black and white model that ties to the favored Y-3 design of the 2010s. 

“We’re undoubtedly engaged on having enjoyable in colour expressions,” Tatibouet says, “from very impartial and comprehensible to OG expressions to future language enjoying with attention-grabbing patterns. We are going to experiment into new power colorways and sporty expressions and enjoyable methods to do fades. It’s one thing we’re placing plenty of thought round.”