Adidas launches new worldwide project with leading sneaker stores

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jan 6, 2017

Last year, Adidas organised a tour of the world's edgiest sneaker stores through its Adidas Consortium programme. It was the chance for the sports brand to join forces with leading sneaker specialists such as Kith in New York, Shoe Gallery in Miami, Solebox in Berlin, SlamJam in Milan, Footpatrol in London, Starcow in Paris and SNS in Stockholm. Each month, a team from Adidas would stop over at one of these stores and organise an event.

The German giant seems to have enjoyed the experience, and decided to notch it up a gear in 2017, launching what it calls the Sneaker Exchange project. "Adidas is further expanding this concept, asking retailers to work together in pairs and reinterpret some of its sneaker models, to offer something new and even more unique," stated the brand in a press release.

Twenty two retailer stars of the sneaker community will participate in the programme, aimed at combining the expertise and DNA of these renown stores: Alife, A Man Maniere, Bodega, Colette, END, Foopatrol, Fruitition, Invincible, Juice, Kith, Naked, Overkill, Packer, SlamJam, Sneakerboy, Sneakersnstuff, Social Status, Solebox, UNDFTD, United Arrows & Sons, Starcow and Wish.

"We will see basketball-savvy retailers work with more fashion-oriented stores, women' specialist stores working with men's ones, promised Adidas. Expect Campus and EQT [shoes] refitted with modern materials, or contemporary performance models, such as the UltraBOOST, shedding their sporting skin."

This kind of initiative, alongside the development of highly technical sporting products, will position Adidas to boost its reputation with sneaker aficionados, thus enhancing its image across the entire industry.