Adidas Pushes Boundaries in Running Market with $500 Shoe, Reports Reuters

By Helen Reid

LONDON – Adidas has launched its latest running shoes, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1, which were recently worn by Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa to set a new women’s marathon world record in Berlin. The shoes, priced at an astonishing $500 per pair, have sparked a debate on whether amateur runners will be willing to invest such a significant amount.

Adidas, along with its main competitor Nike and other sports brands, has been engaged in a fierce competition over "supershoes." This contest began with the introduction of running shoes featuring thick, shock-absorbing foam and carbon fiber plates, which help athletes run more efficiently.

The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 is notably priced $225 higher than Nike’s comparable Alphafly 2, raising questions about whether the average runner will find the additional cost justified. Harry Swinhoe, founder of Grove Lane Runners, an amateur running club in southeast London, commented, “The price tag is just insane. While people may be drawn to the shoes, I wonder if the typical runner will truly experience a significant advantage from the ultra-supershoe as compared to both the traditional supershoe and standard models.”

Weighing only 138 grams (5 ounces), the shoes are exceptionally lightweight but not built for durability. They are designed for a single marathon-distance race (42 kilometers or 26 miles) and the pre-race warm-up, resulting in a cost of approximately $19 per mile if, as stated by Adidas, runners have to purchase a new pair for each marathon.

Adidas emphasizes that these shoes are specifically optimized for speed rather than durability. The company initially released just 521 pairs of the shoes, with another release planned for November.

Adidas is promoting these shoes as the key to breaking world records, with CEO Bjorn Gulden sharing a photo on social media of himself and Assefa holding the shoe, expressing pride in her achievement.

Assefa shattered the previous record by more than 2 minutes, finishing in a remarkable time of 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 53 seconds.