Trust The Process: Adidas Pharrell 2.0
adidas HU NMD S1 RYAT
Words by Rob Hallett
In an increasingly congested industry, there are few joint efforts more considered and well executed than the ongoing partnership between adidas Originals and Humanrace. Building upon a slew of progressive products, the NMD S1 RYAT is a hiking-inspired silhouette that is acutely geared for new terrains, created in collaboration with visionary creative Pharrell Williams. For a man whose track record is decked with the glitz and glamour of the music industry and whose affectionate nickname is Skateboard P, mountainous terrain might not seem like the most obvious source of inspiration. Yet, Pharrell has always had a strong association with nature, people and the peace & wellbeing they can bring, as well as the parallel imaginative exploration that can occur without immediate access to the great outdoors.
Artworks by @gang.box
From ocean plastic clothing for G-Star Raw to the long line of adidas products that the RYAT extends, it was distinctively because of - rather than in spite of - the coastal environment of Virginia Beach where Williams grew up that the artist has had such success at refashioning unknown planes both sonically and within the product design landscape. Nic Galway - Senior Vice President of Global Design at adidas - insightfully unpacks the journey that led to the RYAT silhouette and the contextual legacy from which it is introduced. Pharrell has been a part of the adidas familial network for well over a decade so it should come as no surprise that his opinion and presence were valuable assets to the developments of the original NMD S1.
This ‘really great and long-lasting collaboration’ has enabled the partners to establish a deep and mutual level of trust from which the Humanrace project was born. Echoing a sentiment that will be familiar to many, Galway continues that ‘the world was in a very different place’ when Humanrace began but when the RYAT was conceived ‘we were heading into a pandemic.’ With the world rapidly changing around us, this enduring partnership has looked to a central key ethos to spur it on: ‘push for change with positivity’.
While the original S1 is minimalist in nature, the RYAT incorporates ‘Pharrell’s flavour…views and values’ to enter ‘a new space…between science and art’. Multiple lockdowns shifted a focus towards more time outside for those who were fortunate enough to have access, and we are told that by ‘spending a lot of time hiking (and) reflecting’ Williams was able to provide a mindset of ‘what a functional item like a boot can bring to your life’. This last point is key to the authenticity of the RYAT within a category of product; it is one that Pharrell uses and enjoys which brings benefit to his own life and routine.
Galway goes on to explain that ‘with Pharrell, we don’t start with a blank piece of paper’ owing to the artist and brand’s rich combined history. It allowed them to start with ‘rewinding to the original NMD’ with the ‘importance of the (Humanrace) concept’ in mind. It is a concept that has chopped and changed due to the aforementioned global environment, but remains centred on ‘creating products that are for everyone’. ‘For everyone’ also means across time, as the Humanrace and adidas design teams discussed ‘how to equip people for the future’ by building meaningful products that are meant to last. It has the joyous desirability for the fashion-forward among us, but retains the need to be ‘purposeful and useful’ as part of daily rotation.
The physicality of the shoe is a testament to this merging of rugged topography with the industry leading materials that the brand with the three stripes wields. The upper is constructed from a premium combination of leather and suede overlays, while the presence of a Boost midsole is a huge positive, even if not surprising at this stage of the technology’s maturity. All of this is highly protected by a rubberized TPU mudguard and toecap which add a purposeful functionality to the design-led silhouette. The RYAT is a shoe in which every element and detail serves a purpose; the durable outsole formation is a particular highlight with repeated trefoil detailing built into the tread.
The focal white colourway on offer is reminiscent of ‘man-made objects, which start to decay’, explains Galway. Like the patina of a rusted desert vehicle, there are weathered hues that retain the vibrancy of modern intent to explore the ‘tension between nature’ and the manufactured. This variation is an ode to a future utopia of frictionless harmony between the urban and the outdoors, with predominantly white panelling accompanied by blue and orange accents with branding on the tongue and heel pull tabs in the instantly recognisable Humanrace green.
Beyond the tactile elements that make up the shoes, the NMD S1 RYAT is the distillation of a multitude of concepts into a single, functional unit. Created through a series of 3D prototypes, the design is elevated through the complexity and contradictory nature of the present day, as material realities and imagined futures battle it out across culture’s ever-shifting tectonic plates of individual and community, mountain and metropolis, for a stake in a beautiful and performance led vision of the world.