Adidas Reimagines Its Tour360 Golf Shoe With the Iconic Feet You Wear Tech From the 1990s
“We didn’t want to play it safe, so as the most progressive golf brand, we pushed the Tour360 further than it had been pushed with the last iterations that you saw,” Adidas global footwear director for golf Masun Denison told FN. “It was pushed in 2016 when it was all new again with Boost, but then for three or four years we only made minor adjustments and updates. The goal here was to really push it into the future, modernize it and have a big leap.”
The focus of this new look, according to the brand, was to reexamine how it addressed fit and traction. This was achieved by looking into the rich Adidas archive, which led to the brand employing the iconic Feet You Wear last, which debuted in 1996. According to Adidas, the Feet You Wear design mimics the natural shape of the foot, which leads to improved ground connection (which helps with power generation), as well as the ability to accommodate the foot’s natural movement in all directions.
The addition of the Feet You Wear last, Adidas said, serves as the foundation for its new Tour360 Fit. This includes a dual-stacked midsole with full-length Boost cushioning and an EVA stability frame, its GeoFit collar pad for enhanced fit and feel on top of the foot, Insite sockliners that cradle the contours of the foot and the brand’s 3D Torsion system that’s added to enhance the ground connection and stabilize footwork throughout the swing.
“When we were initially talking about the shoe, we wanted to take the pinnacle things about the old Tour360 and modernize it. One of the things we felt would be beneficial to this shoe is having something that was more organic, that worked with your foot, that was a little bit more flexible but then supported your foot in the areas where it was needed,” Adidas senior footwear designer Valerie Kriegel said. “The Feet You Wear concept was just a natural fit, and the whole idea around it, which is allowing your foot to move naturally and providing stability and traction only where it’s needed.”
Adidas also included on the Tour360 22 is the latest iteration of its Spikemore system, which features cleats directly injected onto the TPU base of the shoe. Each cleat, according to the brand, includes a center cone that helps to improve grip.
Adidas-backed golf pro Xander Schauffele, who has worn Tour360 shoes throughout his career, spoke with the brand about what he would like in a shoe. The result, Schauffele said, was a performance look that that feels very personalized.
“I told Adidas what I like and what I need in the shoe when I’m swinging. I have a lot of lateral motion in my swing and a lot of weight transfer, which allows me to hit the ball further for a smaller guy, so I need the shoe to hold my foot in place when I’m swinging as hard as I can. They took those things into consideration and made the Tour360 22,” Schauffele said. “Once you go for stability you can lose function, or if you go for fashion you lose function, but that wasn’t the case here. They kept the heel cupping very stable, they kept the midfoot very stable as well, and the forefoot has a lot of bend so when you walk you don’t think you’re in a traditional golf shoe.”
During a media presentation last week, Kriegel said the brand included all of the same tech in both the men’s and women’s lines in the Tour360 for the first time in more than a decade, which she said speaks to its mission to be the most progressive golf brand in the world.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth of women in the sport in the last few years, and it’s really been a push for us to have more women’s product in the top pinnacle offering. We’ve been doing it with Codechaos and ZG, so it’s just made sense for us to offer that same performance in the women’s model,” Kriegel said. “We took more of a unisex approach in the design but then tested it to make sure it still worked for all sizes and ranges. There weren’t any differences that we noticed when we sized down to women’s that warranted making any design changes.”
Adidas will also deliver iterations of the shoe with Boa lacing systems featuring a PerformFit Wrap system with two overlapping panels that pull down over the top of the instep. The shoe utilizes Boa’s micro-adjustable Li2 dial wraps at the heel that locks the foot into place and offers a customized fit.
Pricing for the shoes — which will come in laced and Boa versions for men and women, as well as a laced model for junior golfers — ranges from $65 to $250. The laced shoes will be available via Adidas.com, the Adidas app and at select retailers on Jan. 28, and the looks with Boa will follow on March 1.
