adidas has unveiled a revolutionary new sneaker technology that’s poised to change the athletic footwear game for good.
Dubbed “STRUNG,” the technology represents the company’s next technological leap in textile knitting. STRUNG is a process that allows adidas to “input athlete data into the precision placement of each thread in any direction we choose.” This highly-tuned textile placement means that any given STRUNG shoe can be created for a specific kind of athlete and is “precisely fitted for support, flex, and breathability—all within one piece of material.”
adidas’ first proof-of-concept for STRUNG will come in the form of the FUTURECRAFT.STRUNG, a shoe made from an interwoven STRUNG upper and a re-latticed 4D midsole/outsole. The combination of these two materials theoretically hints at the ability to create a custom-mapped, purpose-built shoe for an individual runner’s specific needs, something that adidas has long set out to achieve with 3D-printing technology. While the FUTURECRAFT.STRUNG is undoubtedly a running shoe, the brand hopes to extend the technology throughout its offerings.
While adidas has given us our first official look at STRUNG, runners will have to wait until 2022 (fittingly, the 10 year anniversary of Primeknit) to get their hands on the first STRUNG runner, which will be built for a specific kind of running profile. You can take a look at early renderings and previews of STRUNG technology in action down below, and be sure to check out their detailed writeup on the technology via the adidas blog.
