Material Matters: adidas Ozweego

Chunky footwear has been popping a wheelie on the cultural zeitgeist for a minute now, so there has arguably never been a better time for to resurrect one of their classic hits from the 90s.

But instead of bringing back a simple one-to-one retread of the , the German sportswear giant went above and beyond with their 2019 update, reimagining the nameplate by channeling OG looks while employing enough modern design cues to propel the Ozweego well into the future.

For our latest installment of Material Matters, we’ll take a deep dive into adi’s new and improved 90s runner to highlight just how everything has been updated for contemporary times.

By 1998, however, adi had moved adiPRENE to the heel. While adiPRENE is tailor-made for shock-absorption, adiPRENE+ was essentially the precursor to adidas’ BOOST cushioning – providing a reported 67 per cent energy return. Applied to the forefoot, the result was cushy shock absorption upon heel strike, and a little extra oomph with toe-off. Both adiPRENE and adiPRENE+ feature in the newfangled Ozweego as adi apply a fresh coat of paint to the tried-and-true tooling of the Ozweego 3.

Less isn’t always more, but in this case, the 2019 Ozweego is so much greater than the sum of its historic hybrid parts. The end result is both oddly familiar and stone cold fresh. This is the ultimate distillation of Ozweego DNA – the shoe that set the stage for today’s chunky AF technical boom!

Now that you've got the lowdown on the next-gen Ozweego, take a trip down memory lane and look back at the , since 1996.