It’s very important to count on comfortable shoes regardless of the activities you’ll practice. However, if we’re talking about sports performance, comfortability becomes a critical factor in any shoe. To put it in simple words, you just can’t reach your highest level of performance if your feet are in discomfort.

A top-notch brand like Adidas guarantees base comfort. What we mean by base comfort is that the shoe counts with the features to comfort the average human foot. However, someone with an abnormal arch condition, foot width, or just foot anatomy may still find it uncomfortable regardless.

Don’t get it wrong, though – you should never let branding carry you away at the moment of making a purchase. While a reputable brand is much more likely to deliver a quality product, it may simply not suit your feet or personal preferences. Because of this, it’s important that you’re able to determine the elements of a shoe that deliver comfort, as well as the level of comfort in general.

The materials of which the shoe is made has an obvious impact on its comfortability. Some users, however, make the mistake of evaluating a shoe’s comfortability based on its external materials. In reality, these materials are responsible for protection – what you should be looking for is inside the shoe. The inner materials that touch your foot are the ones that matter when it comes to comfort.

A soft lining (the material that covers the inside of the shoe) is paramount for comfort, but most importantly, it must not create friction and irritation when rubbed against your foot. There’s hardly anything more annoying for runners than feet irritation in the middle of a running session. Just no.

Aside from providing certain performance features, the insole also becomes an element that enhances or reduces comfort. Do keep in mind that it’s impossible for shoe companies to develop an insole that suits all feet equally. The best option (and what we recommend) is to obtain a pair of personalized insoles made specifically for your feet. We do understand, though, that this is not something all users are willing to pay for.

You want your shoes to last as much as possible. The problem is that some users, especially beginner runners, aren’t able to determine the features that make a shoe durable or cheap. First off, it’s good to note that running shoes suffer more than casual shoes, and thus often last less.

This doesn’t mean, though, that your running shoes must have a short life expectancy. A reputable running shoe brand, such as Adidas, guarantees that their footwear will last a couple of years (under proper usage, of course). But, what exactly makes a shoe last more or less?

To start, we’ll discuss the external look of the shoe. Although it does not always have a relation to the physical functionality of the shoe, the state of the exterior of the shoe can tell a lot about its condition. Not to mention the simple fact that nobody likes to run around in messed up shoes, even if they still function properly.

Avoid materials that peel, scuff, or lose their color easily. Running is not a harsh sport, but your shoes will always be exposed to a certain degree of abrasion and friction. All runners trip or hit something with their foot at some point; you don’t want a shoe that will suffer significant visual damage from its first encounter with an obstacle.

Instead, go for materials that can take some hits without losing their properties. At the end of the day, it’ll be impossible for you to prevent all accidents. What you can prevent, though, is your shoes from tearing apart in the first accident. Choose a shoe that has a solid upper material.

Shoes count with delicate materials, such as mesh, that should always be accompanied (or covered) by a stronger or thicker compound. Else, these exposed materials are bound to rip or suffer noticeable damage.

Aside from the materials, you must evaluate each element of the shoe to determine its durability. A shoe is as durable as its weakest element because once a part of the shoe is damaged, its quality just goes downhill from there. Having the most resistant upper build is useless if your sole loses traction early, for example.

No element should degrade faster than others. The parts of a quality running shoe must be designed to degrade at the same rate. You want to be able to get the most out of each element individually.

The running process calls for flexibility in order to even be considered. There’s not much to say other than our feet being anatomically designed to flex. It happens when we run when we jog, and even when we walk. It’s just natural, and the way it’s meant to be for humans.

There are very few (if any) tasks that can be performed on our body without flexing our feet. Upper-body movements are an obvious exception. Even if you could physically perform a task such as walking, it would be uncomfortable, unstable, and nowhere near-optimal. Not to mention it looks pretty awkward if you don’t have any shoes on.

Quality running footwear, such as the best Adidas running shoes, is flex-friendly. This is, of course, unless they’re specifically designed not to do so for a specific reason. Allowing our feet to arch is a must in order to expect any sort of decent performance while running.

We will always arch our feet instinctively when walking or running unless we purposely stop them from doing so. A shoe that restricts the flexibility of the foot will only place a large amount of stress on the arch. As explained in the comfortability section, physical stress decreases both the quality and the duration of your running.

A non-bending shoe won’t stop you from trying to arch your feet. As you run your feet will do their best to arch, and if they’re restricted, you’ll be getting much more tension than you want on the underfoot.

If the most basic process of them all, walking, is tough without flexing our feet, you can’t expect anything from an aerobic sport. Your feet will be in a totally unnatural position at the moment of impact, and any overly-exposed area will suffer the consequences.

It’s important that running shoes resemble the flexing motion of the foot as naturally as possible. In the case of Adidas running shoes, both the midsole and the outsole are carefully designed to imitate the foot during the running or walking motion. However, flexibility is not something that affects just the arch.

Any impact sport calls for a decent level of shock absorption, and running or jogging fall into this category. Despite running being a very healthy sport, things can quickly go downhill when a pair of shoes lack the proper equipment for it. Shock absorption is one of the features that draw the line between a healthy and enjoyable experience and discomfort, pain, and long-term consequences.

First off, it’s important to note that no matter how good your shoes are, feet will always be exposed to a certain amount of impact (unfortunately). As you can probably guess, greater shock absorption means there will be less residual stress. However, this is not something you should be worried about when counting with a good level of shock absorption.

One of the key elements to shock absorption is the midsole of the shoe, which, in most cases, is mostly responsible for the absorption process. At the same time, there are other factors of the midsole that enhance (or decrease) the amount of energy absorbed from each gait.

Some of them are fairly obvious, such as the material of which the midsole is made from. Some others, however, is not necessarily known by everyone. Some of them are the midsole height, density, and compressibility, to name a few.

The force generated with each gait will move upwards, starting at the moment of impact. From there, each element that stands between your feet and the ground will reduce the amount of stress that eventually gets to your feet.

Depending on how effective (or ineffective) the absorption is, the impact can make its way through your foot, leg, hip, and up to the spine. If shock absorbing measures are not present, this will represent damage on every single joint and muscle in the way. Although the damage from each impact is nearly insignificant, it can add up quite abruptly when we’re talking about a much larger amount of gaits.

Support is a key feature of proper running performance. Think of support as a feature that helps our feet and shoes stay together. Your shoes are not going to fall off your feet if they lack support, but they will, however, start wiggling around.

In order to achieve an optimal running execution, you need a shoe that can bring stability and firmness to your feet. The lack of support will also translate into a lack of stability, and that’s no good for a runner. Our feet and shoes need to move as synchronized as possible, meaning that shoes should resemble the movement of feet.

A shoe with no support will fail to keep up with your feet, and you’ll end up with a loose and bouncy running footwear experience. On the other hand, a shoe that secures the foot properly with a decent level of support will allow you to perform in a controlled manner.

Shoes won’t respond accurately to the movement of our feet if they lack support. Think of support as a feature that compresses the shoe against our foot, locking down the fit. The more support there is, the more firmly the foot and the shoe will stay together. The more it lacks, the more space there’ll be between your foot and the shoe.

A shoe can be supported from different areas, and in most cases, different regions of the shoe call for different levels of support. Certain spots in our foot require the most support, while at the same time, other spots require more mobility. For instance, the heel should be one of the most supported areas in a shoe.

Support is important because it plays an important role in our running form. Most people would normally be surprised by how much their feet move unnaturally as they run. The support of a shoe helps to keep feet in a neutral and natural position while exercising or even walking.

By holding our feet in a natural and straight position, the support running shoes prevent over-pronation and supination. However, too much support is a thing that can considerably reduce your performance. A decent level of support is one that makes your feet and shoes feel like just one without over-compressing the foot or creating stress spots.

Like we mentioned, support is not just a general feature. Shoes must also deliver targeted support to key areas of the foot.