TOUR360 22: A legend returns

The TOUR360 franchise is 17 years old. For 2022 adidas have gone back to the drawing board and rebuilt the new TOUR360 22 from the ground up. We caught up with Senior Designer Valerie Kriegel and Sales Director Sam Strange to find out about the shoe and how adidas Golf are looking to support it in 2022.

Valerie Kriegel

What are the big changes with the Tour 360 22?
We concentrated on fit and traction. We already had comfort underfoot with the Boost cushioning. But we wanted to improve the fit for the golfer. We looked through the Archives, and our Feet You Wear shoe last is perfect for golf. Debuting in basketball shoes as far back as 1996, it features a wider toe box and a more fitted heel. This allows your feet to move more naturally, as if you weren’t wearing any shoes at all. And it helps the golfer both control their swing better as well as generate more power.
SPIKEMORE is our second big innovation. While spikeless shoes are ever more popular, spiked footwear is still trusted by a large portion of golfers. The direct-injected spikes are non-removable however they have been wear tested for both performance and durability.

How do you prove a new shoe is better to your tour staff?
You give it to them to play in. A tour player is probably wearing their shoes 7-10 hours a day. So it has to be comfortable. Someone like Xander wants a shoe that is going to function under the toughest conditions. Be that weather related, or probably more importantly the ability to deal with tough lies. And there are other details that only a tour player would highlight. When Xander was shown an early prototype, he didn’t like the curved toe box. It gave him issues with alignment, so we went back to the drawing board and gave the shoe straighter lines. A new shoe model really is a collaborative effort.

Is it harder to create a new model, or to improve upon a classic?
It’s much harder to try and improve on something like a TOUR360. It’s been the premier model in our range for such a long time. But I do believe we have produced the best ever TOUR360 from both a comfort and performance perspective while being reverential to what came before. And those new colourways give it a real contemporary look. Importantly this is the first time where the women’s shoe is exactly the same as the men’s from a design and performance standpoint, and that is something that we are immensely proud of.

Sam Strange

What are adidas doing to support the trade at retail with the TOUR360 22 launch?
It’s the first all new TOUR360 since 2020, so we want to ensure it makes an impact, coming back with a bang. Every retailer who has pre-ordered will receive talkers, shoe shelves and other POS material to really help call out the shoe in store. There is also lots of supporting social media content that we are going to be drip feeding over the coming months to keep the model fresh in the public’s eye.

Will you push TOUR360 more than other models in your range?
We have a three pronged attack to a premium tour shoe. The TOUR360 is the classic leather upper model. ZG is a fully spiked sporty lightweight option. And CodeChaos is our flagship spikeless shoe. Going into retailers we won’t push one over the other. We will ask our retail partners about their consumers and create a relevant range in partnership using that information. As you watch the golf over the coming months, you will see that our tour staff wearing all three of the models. Xander Schauffele is wearing the TOUR360, and Danielle Kang has already won in them. Tyrell Hatton will stick with CodeChaos, while Colin Morikawa is still in the ZG.

How will you keep the shoe fresh throughout the season?
There is always a buzz around launch, and that can be tricky to keep up. We have a busy year of activations for the year ahead to keep the focus around TOUR360 22. Around the key buying stages throughout the season we will have some good stories to tell, and there will be some limited edition colourways. This won’t be a one and done launch, we will rejuvenate the story throughout the season.

How does the TOUR360 22 help the rest of the adidas Golf line-up?
Our focus is to grow the brand. We don’t have as many stockists as some of our competitors, but we are seeing significant growth over the past couple of seasons. This is our most complete range for a long time. As well as the three flagship models, the Retro and S2G which have been really successful for us during 21 and they carry into 22. We offer retailers a complete range at multiple price points with both spiked and spikeless models. A launch like TOUR360 22 helps illuminate some of these other models in the line. If we can support our retail partners with good product, and more importantly good service, then we can only improve our business going forward. GR