The people over at Adidas have become quite the fashion innovators as of late. They used 3D printing to create a new high-tech shoe base called Futurecraft 3D. They created a shoe made entirely of recycled plastic. And they’ve collaborated with some pretty cool people like designer Alexander Taylor and the nonprofit Parley for the Oceans on the recycled plastic shoe. Or what about the fire created by their collab with Yohji Yamamoto for their Y3 collection? Or the cooky kinda cool that came out of partnering with Jeremy Scott?
One of my favorite Adidas collaborations is the one they are doing with their customers. Customers are allowed to print their favorite photos onto the proto zx 8000 shoes and they can even use Instagram to do it. But, the most popular collabs are with the stars. Rita Ora, Pharell, Selena Gomez, Tom Daley and perhaps the most popular and definitely the most famous is the Yeezy line created by their partnership with Kanye West.
Kanye wanted to be a fashion designer for years. He made a couple of failed attempts in the mainstream, couture fashion world and found success with streetwear and shoes when he collaborated on designs for Bape and Nike but, really found his niche at Adidas. But, this is not about Kanye. This post is about how f’ing amazing Adidas is. Yea, three stripes. That’s my shit. I’m not even a sneakerhead. Anyone who knows me knows that that I would rather wear six-inch stilettos than flats any day. Fuck comfort. I want to look sexy. But, I’m eerily drawn to everything Adidas. I stalk their IG and Twitter pages. I google them and save pictures of the best colors of their Stan Smith line on my phone. Especially the Raf Simons in the nudes and the pinks. Love them.
By far the coolest thing I’ve read about Adidas is their most recent press release. They are bringing the creative process to America. The design process will be based in Brooklyn and Atlanta, Georgia will be the home of the new Speedfactory. This will be the first of it’s kind business model. It will be equipped with cutting-edge manufacturing technology which will utilize robotics and allow Adidas to create products in high volume with advanced complexity in color, materials, and sizes.
The 74,000 square foot facility is slated to open in 2017 with a focus on running footwear and a goal of producing 50,000 pairs by year end. I can’t wait to see what comes out of that big beautiful building.
