The Rise and Fall and Rise of the adidas NMD

Picture this: It’s December 2015, and the Three Stripes has just teased the adidas NMD. While it’s certainly not uncommon for the German giant to reveal a brand new silhouette at the end of the year, there was something a little different about this particular release.

Even before we saw the shoe itself, the teaser shots showcased three of the brand’s most iconic models, including the Micropacer, the Rising Star, and the Boston Super, which made their debuts in 1984, 1985, and 1986, respectively. adidas wasn’t preparing for any old launch, in fact, they were looking to drop something that would surpass these three pairs, and while this was no easy feat, they weren’t going to take no for an answer.

Taking centre stage in New York City just like the Ultra Boost did eleven months prior, the NMD was unveiled in all its glory in a simple black, blue, and red colour palette. Renowned for its full length Boost midsole and Lego block-inspired EVA plugs, it took everything that made the aforementioned Micropacer, Rising Star, and Boston Super so successful, and combined them all to create the ultimate lifestyle shoe. While a sock-like sneaker was pretty much unheard of at this point, sneakerheads around the world were already calling it the “Shoe Of The Year” - a massive honour considering it literally launched at the end of 2015. As a matter of fact, adidas sold a staggering 400,000 pairs on its launch day which is an insane number considering this was an all-new model that hadn't been tried and tested.

So what does NMD even stand for? Well, according to adidas Originals VP of Global Design Nic Galway, it’s not meant to mean anything. In an interview with HYPEBEAST, he explained that the team were bouncing names off each other and this three letter code word just so happened to stick. With that said, the sleek silhouette was inspired by global travellers who aim to connect and gain new experiences, leading many to nickname it the “Nomad”. While other shoes feature bulky leather and suede constructions that fill up entire suitcases, this trainer’s Primeknit upper can easily be flattened and stuffed into the side pocket of any backpack.

This was an insanely exciting time for the NMD. Every single time a new colourway was announced, the hype levels shot through the roof. The first new iteration of the shoe came about on the same day as its official unveiling with the “Key City”. Available to just six cities across the world, it was limited to just 1,000 pairs. While region-exclusive shoes were certainly nothing new, making this particular colourway available across the globe placed a huge emphasis on its nomadic ethos. Two weeks later, the German giant unwrapped a “Triple White” pair which caused the community to go into total meltdown, while the “Pitch Black” version was unveiled one month after in January 2016.

While an all-black shoe may not seem that groundbreaking in the grand scheme of things, this one was very different. Painted in a fully murdered out palette, kanji characters made their way across the shoe for an aesthetic that bore a striking resemblance to Yohji Yamamoto’s offerings. In fact, the “Pitch Back” continues to sell for an average of £600 - and that’s if you’re lucky.

There was absolutely no stopping the adidas NMD at this point. Even though it launched in large numbers worldwide, pairs were still selling out like there was no tomorrow. According to size?'s James Trivunovic, as soon as a new colourway was released, he'd have 30,000 people waiting on their site waiting to purchase, so it's safe to say that if you wanted a pair in your personal collection it was going to cost you an arm and a leg.

At its peak, the “OG” was reselling for £1,000 over on third party marketplaces - an unbelievable markup considering they were just general release shoes. Almost immediately, the Three Stripes enlisted their first major collaboration, and this was the moment when the sneaker game transformed forever.

Hopping on a flight from Herzogenaurach, Germany to San Francisco, California, the NMD began its Consortium Tour with SF’s very own Nice Kicks. Inspired by their Haight Street location, more specifically, the neighbourhood’s rich history in music and art, the Nice Kicks x adidas NMD R1 was done up in a trippy red and black tie-dye pattern that’s never been done on any shoe before. The beloved Boost midsole made a comeback down below, and this was lined with a slither of brown gum rubber for durable traction with every step. To round it all off, custom tags were punched onto the tongues of each shoe, with the left pair showcasing the collaborator’s speech bubble logo and the right pair displaying the signature Trefoil emblem, representing the union of these two brands.

While sneaker culture was certainly nothing new back in 2016, Nice Kick’s take on the Nomad was unlike anything we had seen before. Shoe collaborations were very much in the norm at this point, but what you’d usually find is one brand slapping their logo onto a shoe and calling it a day. With this NMD, however, the German giant gave NK free reign of what they wanted to apply onto the design and different materials and textures to choose from as well. This kind of creative control was unheard of, and it’s the exact reason why Kanye West switched from Nike to adidas back in 2013, but that’s a story for another day.

Let’s put this into perspective: At this moment in time, the NMD had been out for less than two months and had shot up from zero to hero. According to Google Trends, it scored a value of 100 at around this time which meant it was one of the most searched terms on the internet. Once a model that literally no one knew or cared about, it was now the sportswear label’s most hyped silhouette to date. With a wildly successful collaboration under its belt and a variety of clean cut colourways, the natural course of action was to expand, and this quickly came about a few weeks later.

If you didn’t already know, the letter “R” in R1 actually stands for Runner. Acting as the pair’s flagship silhouette, this was followed swiftly by the C1 which breathed a sense of sartorial style to the shoe. Short for Chukka, it was the epitome of smart casual, blending a buttery smooth suede upper with the Nomad’s signature lifestyle-ready sole unit.

This was then followed by the highly coveted CS1 which was particularly popular with techwear fans. Standing for City Sock, it was designed for fearless explorers of concrete jungles who were always on the move. Made without laces, they could easily be slipped on and off without a second to spare. The extended collar was also specifically designed so that rocks and other debris wouldn’t slip in by accident, and this was all packed within a glow in the dark Primeknit that was perfect for both day and night. One of the godfathers of the sock-like shoe trend that’s still going strong even after four years, it went on to inspire other icons such as the Balenciaga Speed that made its grand debut over half a year later. The NMD continued to be a trailblazer, but it wasn’t done yet.

It’s July 2016. The sun was shining, NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter's orbit, and more importantly, the one and only Pharrell Williams had just announced the NMD Human Race. While the power duo had already been in partnership for over two years at this point, he didn’t really work on much other than a few Superstar colourways, including the much-discussed “Supercolor” Collection, and a couple of Billionaire Boys Club projects. For him, this marked the next step in his collaboration with the Three Stripes, and the results were truly breathtaking.

Comprising of five unique colour schemes, the NMD Hu took on the NMD R1 but reworked absolutely everything to the core. From the one-of-a-kind lacing system to the bold text embroidery across the vamp, this was a revolutionary design. In fact, in its prime sneakerheads were willing to pay on upwards of £2,000 for the “EQT Yellow” pair. Even today, it’s valued at over £1,000, cementing it as a Three Stripes classic that sits amongst the greats.

But you know how the old saying goes: “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” And boy, did the NMD fall.

In the May 1977 issue of the magazine Nation's Business, American businessman Bert Lance was quoted saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it”. The phrase quickly spread like wildfire, and we just wish adidas had taken this single piece of advice in the tail end of 2016 when they announced the NMD XR1. Unlike the R1, the C1, the CS1, and the Hu, the XR1 really didn’t mean anything.

What did the “X” in XR1 even stand for? Xylophone? Xeroradiography? Whatever it was, it was kind of a gimmicky way to introduce an all-new model without a real reason to. When you step back and take a look at the shoe you’ll find that it’s literally a R1 but with a midfoot cage tacked on to the lateral and medial sides. Was this really necessary? The sleek and streamlined sock-like design was what made the Nomad so successful to begin with. These rubberised panels made it impossible for the trainer to be stuffed into any bag and gave it a clumsy look and feel that just didn’t look right. It was as if someone purchased a classic 1954 Mercedes SL 300 Gullwing and decided to stick a spoiler on the back with blue tack, that’s exactly what’s happened here. If that wasn’t the final nail in the coffin, then what happened next definitely was.

While the R1 was still being celebrated as one of the most iconic sneakers in modern history complete with high heat collaborations from A Bathing Ape, Neighborhood, Packer, and White Mountaineering to name a name a few, as soon as the R2 moniker began to surface it became apparent that it was the beginning of the end. A model that simply didn’t grasp the same nomadic character as its predecessor, it was made with a much thicker Primeknit and a more rigid structure. While the Boost unit was considerably beefed up for added comfort and cushioning, this sacrificed the Runner’s portability and versatility. In fact, in an early poll by The Sole Supplier from 2016, around 90% of sneakerheads who took part thought that the R1 was so much better than the R2 in every way. So basically what they’re trying to say is that the R1 was 1975’s Jaws, while the R2 was its godawful sequel, 1987’s Jaws: The Revenge.

Fast forward to January 2017 and the NMD CS2 had just been announced. While it certainly wasn’t as bad as the R2 it was still a massive downgrade compared to the OG. With a low-top upper and a much narrower form factor, it definitely wasn’t as comfortable as the original. In fact, it became very clear that adidas was having a little bit of a panic at this moment in time. Sales were at an all time low and sneakerheads were already looking elsewhere. The magic of the Nomad was slowly but surely disappearing in front of their eyes, so without a second to waste, they unveiled that the NMD R1 “OG” was making a full comeback.

Almost immediately, eyes began to light up everywhere. Fans who didn’t manage to cop the first time around could finally acquire the first R1. The German giant began to pull out all the stops, from a highly coveted Sneakersnstuff collaboration to even more Skateboard P goodness, it looked like the only way was up, but unfortunately it was too little, too late.

Unlike the Ultra Boost that was announced in the same year as the NMD, adidas really took their time to perfect the UB. It was never made to be a hype machine that churned out colourway after colourway, instead, it was marketed as the “world’s best running shoe”, and did a pretty decent job at that. It was only when Kanye West was spotted rocking the 1.0 “Triple White” that it became insanely popular, but still, the UB continued to drop in pretty limited numbers so as not to saturate the market.

In a short span of two years there were already hundreds of NMD colourways across five models. What was once the most hyped trainer ever made now had sneakerheads chanting “No more drops!”, or NMD, for short. The NMD was dead, and the German giant was there poking it with a stick in hopes that it would make a comeback, and to everyone’s surprise, it actually did.

In December 2019, the NMD surprised us by becoming one of The Sole Supplier’s most popular silhouettes. With a wide selection of pared back and understated colourways and a significant price reduction, many sneakerheads began to remember everything that made the R1 so great. In fact, this was around the same time that the Herzogenaurach-based sportswear brand introduced the R1 V2.

Unlike the R2 that tried way too hard to “improve” on the OG, the R1 V2 simply added to it. Taking things right back to basics, the R1 V2 boasted more or less the same clean cut aesthetic as the first Runner but with a few technical tweaks here and there. With a fully reworked structure, fortified mesh replaced the Primeknit for a breathable fit. The EVA plugs had also been very subtly chamfered for a futuristic feel, while the lacing system retained the same leather eyelet setup as the OG. To the back, the multilingual pull tab was given a slight reimagining, while the vamp was loudly and proudly adorned with “NMD” branding in a bold, upper case font.

Priced at a humble £110, it‘s a lot more accessible when compared to what the other NMDs used to cost back in the day. The R1 V2 wasn’t trying to be something that it wasn’t, and that’s exactly what made it so popular amongst sneakerheads, both old and new. While the Nomad silhouette will never be as hyped as it once was, that’s perfectly okay. To put this into perspective, the Nike Air Force 1 is still regarded by many to be the most iconic shoe ever created even after four decades, but it’s not necessarily hyped per se. It’s just well-respected, extremely wearable, and very affordable, and that’s where we are at right now.

In a time when everyone and their dog considers themselves to be a sneakerhead, sometimes it’s nice just to own something that’s not too in your face. Made for the hustle and bustle of everyday life without the need for big name collabs and fancy materials, a shoe that can take a beating is an absolute essential.

Powered by the past but going full throttle in the future, dive into your sneaker collection right now and rock those adidas NMDs with pride, because they’re back, baby, and they’re not going anywhere any time soon.