Adidas is rolling out a new line and retail concept for spring.
The Adidas SLVR Label will include sportswear (not performance activewear), accessories and footwear for women and men. The line will be introduced in February during New York Fashion Week with its first stand-alone store in SoHo, and a second store will open in Paris during fashion week there. Two more stand-alone stores in Los Angeles and Miami will bow during the first quarter of 2009. Each store will be between 1,000 and 1,500 square feet, and fashion week events to fete the New York and Paris shows are expected.
Additionally, in Paris and Beijing, SLVR will be sold at the new Adidas Brand Centres, and in Moscow and Berlin, the collection will be sold in existing Sport Performance Centre stores. E-commerce will also launch in February. The business will add select shop-in-shops within its existing wholesale accounts in the second season, but Adidas declined to give details on how many wholesale accounts or which ones, would be targeted. “In our plans, this line is not for typical wholesale,” said Herman Deininger, chief merchandising officer of the Adidas sports style division. “We’re creating a new business model — it’s not a classic wholesale business like we usually have. It is important for us that the line is presented in its completeness.”
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Retailing from $45 to $190, Adidas SLVR is part of the German active giant’s sport style division, and is positioned between Adidas Originals and Y-3, in both price and customer segment, according to the company. Deininger declined to project the brand’s volume, but said it would be more commercial than Y-3.
The collection consists of simple black, white and the signature gunmetal gray pieces, accented with solid-colored items in maroon, orange and blue. T-shirts, with designed details but simple concepts, and nylon jackets are key items in the “pure” collection.
Although eco-friendly messaging is not central to the line, Adidas SLVR does have eco-conscious aspects. Materials include sustainable organic cotton and soybean fabric, in addition to water-resistant nylon and coated natural canvas. In addition, several key products eliminate waste, including the “zero waste T,” made of one piece of fabric cut just once and sewn with a single seam, and the “seven-piece shoe,” made of seven pieces stitched together instead of more than 25 pieces glued together.
“In these days and even more importantly tomorrow, being eco-friendly is important,” said Deininger. “But more important than the fabrics, is how we make it.”
The initial ad campaign was shot by photographer Mark Segal and art directed by Pietsch Lim. It will debut in February in niche magazines, although none have been finalized yet, as well as on billboards in select markets.