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The Ultraboost is a running shoe invented by Adidas and first released in 2015. The shoe combines the Adidas technologies of Primeknit, Boost and Torsion. Ultraboosts were popularized in streetwear culture after Kanye West performed in them, and further publicized through collaborations on special edition Ultraboosts.

Description
The shoes have many different styles and feature a Primeknit upper, Boost technology in the mid-sole and Torsion in the lower-sole. The Primeknit upper of the shoe is made from a single material that creates a sock-like fit. The boost material provides comfortable cushioning and high energy return achieved by combining thousands of pellets made from custom TPU material that are capable of high energy store and release. The torsion system gives support to the foot through a TPU bar attached to the lower-sole that relieves strain and tension during movement.

History
In 2011, Adidas was approached by the German company BASF with the boost technology, this led to Adidas and BASF partnering.

In 2013, Adidas released their first boost shoe with the Energy Boost.

In 2014, the boost technology was popularized in the running community when Dennis Kimetto won the 2014 Berlin marathon wearing the adiZero Adios BOOST.

In 2015, the first Ultraboost was released. The Ultraboost became mainstream later that year when Kanye West wore them at the Billboard Music Awards 2015. Shortly after, the shoes sold out in stores and were found at increased prices from aftermarket sellers.

In 2016, Adidas continued innovating the Ultraboost with the release of the uncaged silhouette.

In the following years, Adidas collaborated with other companies to create special Ultraboost editions and made minor silhouette updates.

Aftermarket sales
While Ultraboosts were in the spotlight of the streetwear community, they were quickly sold out at retailers during restocks and releases. With the supply unable to meet demand, many of these shoes ended up on aftermarket resale sites like StockX where the average price would be 50% over its retail price at $290.

Today, Ultraboosts are commonly found in many sporting good stores such as Adidas, Footlocker and Champs Sports as the original demand has been met. However, there are rare Ultraboost collaborations that can only be found through aftermarket vendors at much higher prices.

Collaborations
Adidas has collaborated with many different companies that has brought more attention to the Ultraboost brand.

Here are some well known collaboration partners on the Ultraboost :


 * Highsnobiety
 * Parley
 * Wood wood
 * Hypebeast
 * Packer
 * KITH
 * Sneakersnstuff
 * BAPE
 * Game of Thrones
 * Nice Kicks
 * Naked
 * Ivy Park
 * Solebox
 * Miami Hurricanes
 * Ronnie Fieg
 * Arizona State

A notable collaboration is the Parley and Adidas collaboration that created Ultraboosts with the Primeknit upper of the shoe constructed out of 85% recycled plastics equivalent to 11 plastic bottles per a pair. This collaboration led to the partnership of using Parley ocean plastic materials in regular Ultraboost shoes and also in other Adidas shoes.

Manufacturing
Ultraboost shoes are manufactured in China and shipped around the world for purchase. The Ultraboost is manufactured with the cold cement shoe assembly process. This process is a modern way of manufacturing shoes that allows for more lightweight materials to be used. This is due to the materials not needing to be put in an oven as part of the process whereas the traditional vulcanized shoe construction method did. The key aspect of the cold cement shoe assembly process is that special primers and cement are applied to the upper of the shoe and the outsole and tightly pressed together with a hydraulic press.