Adidas and Stella McCartney Partner On A New Running Shoe

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 6th 2006 at 4:04PM

Fashion designer Stella McCartney has teamed up with Adidas to create the a³ Flyride, a new running shoe for women that uses the lightest heel-to-toe a3 cushioning system for women. The a³ Flyride was designed exclusively for women to be lighter, softer and more flexible.It also has breathability through the net mesh upper and sweat-absorbing and anti-odor treatments in the insole. The design includes an asymmetrical lacing system and a muted feminine color scheme including the signature Stella McCartney color of dusty rose. The a3 Flyride will be in stores in May and should sell for around 170 Euros ($205). You'd think for that price is would have some sort of gadgety feature like the Adidas One.

[via Dexigner]

Tags: adidas, designer, fashion, pink shoes, running, running shoes, shoes, stella mccartney

Filed under: Shoes

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Kitmeout Feb 13th 2006 2:06AM

Adidas is not immune to the growing trend for icon and brand collaboration. Current Adidas collaborations include Adidas and McCartney, Adidas and Yamamoto, Adidas Respect Me (by Missy Elliot - urban sportif apparel), Ali by Adidas (The legendary boxer), Adidas and WE (the urban skate brand), to name but a few.

So what�s in it for the �parent� collaborator, in this case Adidas but we could also point to Reebok, Nike, Puma and others�? The overriding intention is undoubtedly an attempt by the �parent� collaborator to achieve an otherwise unachievable level of �cred� to use the vernacular term. The parent collaborators are invariably ponderous conglomerates managed by men in grey suits who exude as much �cred� as a George Bush/Tony Blair hybrid; simply put the �parent� collaborators are mundane and dull and have a desperate need for a splash of color to give them some credibility with their personality-addicted consumer base � enter the �child� collaborator, usually a hip designer, musician, film star or sports star. Everyone�s happy, the �parent� collaborator gets their desperately needed �cred� and the �child� collaborator receives a truck load of cash and access to an even wider audience � Everybody�s �appy! Or are they?

Many knowledgeable fashion commentators are questioning the wisdom of parent and child collaborations. First of all, if a �parent� collaborator hasn�t got enough in-house momentum and self-belief then no amount of celebrity gloss gleaned from the �child� collaborator will hide the cracks. Many commentators are suggesting that the �parent� collaborators stop concentrating purely on the surface of their brand and start peeling back the edges and taking a look at what�s deep inside � it�s called soul-searching: who am �I�, what do �I� stand for and where am �I� going? If a �parent� collaborator hasn�t got the guts to face itself and hopes that temporal collaborations are the answer to their brand�s long-term success, then that brand is ultimately doomed because there can only be so many parent/child relationships before the customer gets wise to the marketing strategy. In addition, the �parent� collaborator will be colored by the �child� collaborate long after the collaboration ends and as we all know the cult-of-celebrity is very fickle and a star today could well be a liability tomorrow � so rather than help paper over the cracks of the �parent� collaborators image the �child� collaborator actually starts to rock its very foundation!

If a brand has true substance, a quality product and an innovative in-house team then it simply doesn�t need to adopt a �child� collaborator. In fact, it just needs to adopt some respect for its true customer base!!!