This training shoe mixes bouncy Boost foam with EVA for a cushioned but lively ride.
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. Why Trust Us?
The RW Takeaway: Thanks to its combination of Boost and Bounce foams, the Adidas Supernova is an ideal easy run shoe with plenty of underfoot comfort.
- Boost under the heel delivers excellent cushioning and energy return when you heel strike.
- An upper made from recycled fibers cradles your foot without any irritation.
- A full-length rubber outsole offers excellent grip on a variety of surfaces.
Price: $100
Weight: 10.9 oz. (M), 9.2 oz. (W)
Drop: 10mm
Type: Road
Supernova has been a somewhat confusing label in Adidas’s performance shoes. At one point, it was an entire collection of shoes—the Supernova Glide Boost 6 and 7 won our Editors’ Choice awards. Now just a single shoe bears the name.
This sturdy trainer is a budget-friendly option that has some Boost midsole foam underfoot, though nothing like the thick and bouncy Glide Boost shoes mentioned above. Instead, it uses a fairly thin layer of the high-power cushioning material, limited to under the heel, married to a layer of more traditional, firmer EVA foam. The result is a fairly stiff underfoot experience, but our test team found there’s plenty of cushioning for young and efficient runners.
Pros
Boost foam is bouncy and long-lasting- Upper fits comfortably secure
Cons
- Heavy, so best used as a training and recovery shoe
Contributing to that stiffness is a sole covered in a lot of rubber from heel to toe. On dry pavement, it delivers confident footing. Even on wet roads and gravel paths, the shoe held firm, with testers reporting that the rubber is durable and doesn’t show premature signs of wear.
Weight vs. Comfort
One knock on Boost in recent years has been the material’s weight. Made from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) pellets, it’s much heavier than the EVA foam used in running shoes for decades and even more so than the newer compounds hitting the market in high-caliber shoes. Of course, in its early days, the trade-off for the extra weight was worth it: You could run farther and feel less beat up for it. Along came newer materials like TPE and Pebax, however, which offer the same cushioning and springy ride but are lighter.
That doesn’t mean Boost is dead—even if it has been slowly disappearing from Adidas’s performance shoes.
The heel has a slab of bouncy Boost foam.
The Supernova is heavy on the scale, but once on-foot, we found it feels balanced and snappy, and even makes you want to pick up the pace when you’re feeling fresh. The “Bounce” foam in the forefoot is a stiffer EVA, which gives the shoe a responsive toe-off. The mixture of the two foams really creates a platform ideally suited for efficient runners who land with a slight heel strike.
An Eco-Friendly Upper
The year 2021 will be a huge one for sustainability. We’re at a point where innovation has been pushed, new foams have evolved, and manufacturers need a new selling point for their wares. Enter recycled materials. Of course, many brands have been working with some level of recycled fabrics in their shoes for a long time, but the push is greater now.
The upper is made of at least 50 percent recycled materials.
In the case of the Supernova, the shoe has earned Primegreen status, meaning the upper is made from at least 50 percent recycled materials. Our testers didn’t really notice it or comment on that—perhaps they, like most runners, are just coming to expect it from shoes now. But they did report on the excellent fit delivered by the soft mesh. Combined with a padded heel that locks the back of your foot comfortably to the sole, the shoe gives you a locked-and-ready sense of confidence.
“I like the heel,” said one tester. “It’s both tall and soft, offering great heel and Achilles support without being uncomfortable.”
What One Tester Said
Robin L. | Tester since 2017
Arch: Medium | Gait: Overpronator | Footstrike: Heel
“I had been running in Adidas Solar Glide, but the Supernova far outweighs it in so many ways. The Supernova feels much lighter and more flexible, but still provides the needed stability. It also manages heat better on hot days. The toe box on the Supernova hugs your foot thanks to the comfortable material, compared to a wider and stiffer feel of the Solar Glide. The main feature I love about the Supernova is the comfort of the material and the stability the shoe provides when I’m running at my training pace (8:00-8:30 minutes per mile).”
Jeff Dengate
Runner-in-Chief
Jeff is Runner-in-Chief for Runner's World, guiding the brand's shoes and gear coverage. A true shoe dog, he's spent more than a decade testing and reviewing shoes. In 2017, he ran in 285 different pairs of shoes, including a streak of 257 days wearing a different model.
Watch Next
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
Advertisem*nt - Continue Reading Below
