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Adidas is about to open a 'creator farm' in Brooklyn
Adidas looks ahead, singing the praises of open sourcing. The notion may cause some amusement when related to the German group's current legal affairs, , focused on the defence of its patents and intellectual property rights. Yet, during a forum with investors about the strategic road map between now and 2020, the German giant's directors have actually listed 'Open Source' among the group's three strategic vectors.
Adidas intends to "build up a unique collaborative network, inviting athletes, creatives, consumers and other partners to help [Adidas] fashion the future of sports and sporting culture." The group explained how it wishes to provide access to its proprietary tools, including archives, materials, factories and data.
Adidas' next creator farm is set to open next autumn in Brooklyn, under the aegis of Marc Dolce (a former Nike star designer who has joined Adidas), and must attract talents "in order to energise creativity and innovation in sport, outside of the conventional production calendars." This 'open source' approach will be adopted on a major scale, and will be accessible by external partners. It appears that the concept has been vindicated by the Parley for the oceans experience.
Adidas has also stressed once again that its five-year strategy will rely on an approach that features the concept of 'Speed', , and will target six 'key cities' worldwide. In practical terms, the group is aiming to be able to react as quickly as possible to trends, and to easily stock up on the most sought-after items.
"By 2020, the company expects to generate 50% of its sales thanks to the products made available by the 'Speed' approach.” Also, the share of list-price sales out of the group's total sales is planned to increase by 20% over the period. The development of 'Speedfactories' will be crucial in enabling this increase.
The first German facility is supposed to start operating at a high output level by mid-2017, and the setting up of one such unit in the USA has been heralded for end-2017. These manufacturing facilities are expected to be able to produce one million pairs of shoes.
Adidas will support this strategy through targeted initiatives in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo, and explained how it intends to double its business in these international trend-generating cities.
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