Performance Review: adidas adiPure

words // Zac Dubasik There was a time – not all that long ago – when double-lasted basketball shoes were abundant. With AND1 leading the charge, and outfitting a significant percentage of the League in the early 2000s, this construction somehow managed to be simultaneously externally sleek and internally clunky, and became commonplace on the hardwood. Aesthetically, I’ve never been a fan. I’ve always thought it made shoes look cheap. More importantly though, I’ve never (generally speaking) liked how they play. Double-lasted shoes are often very stiff out of the box, and take some extended breaking in before their transitions become acceptable. The concept of double-lasting a shoe is relatively simple. Rather than sandwiching the midsole between the upper and outsole, the upper actually wraps the midsole. Visually, it appears that the shoe lacks a midsole altogether, however, it’s just hidden behind the upper. While it can give an interesting look to a shoe, and at times help you get lower to the ground, it often also leads to an overly stiff transition, as well as internal stability issues. Robbie Fuller, who co-designed the adiPure with adidas Designer David Cin, explains how they hoped to overcome that problem. “Double...