About three years ago, Adidas began promoting deep collaboration between its innovation and creative departments, and this management process change has had a sustained impact on product development. On April 10th, Adidas systematically presented its CLIMACOOL breathable technology platform to the world for the first time in Shanghai, showcasing the latest CLIMACOOL nest shoes, clothing products, and more equipped with this technology. They are the result of the collaboration between Adidas' innovation and creativity departments.

CLIMACOOL is a concept proposed by Adidas in 2002, which has been focused on improving product breathability since its inception. In 2024, Adidas launched the first 3D printed shoe in the market that can be mass-produced - the first generation CLIMACOOL Nest shoe. The new generation of CLIMACOOL wind nest shoes launched this time have achieved technological upgrades, using a new type of UV cured polymer material, and the overall weight has been reduced by about 15% compared to the previous generation. Combining 3D printed lattice structure with ergonomic design, the new shoe body structure effectively optimizes the air flow path, allowing the shoe to continuously exchange air during dynamic movement.

The support for the landing of CLIMACOOL Wind Nest shoes is Project R. proposed internally by AdidasA product development platform for Radical Athlete Perception. This platform is based on additive manufacturing and customized development based on the characteristics of sports projects and athlete data. It has been applied in fields such as basketball, football, and American football.

At the event of the new product launch, Marc Makowski, Senior Vice President of Adidas Global Innovation Department, and Nic Galway, Senior Vice President of Global Creative Department, took the stage together. These two executives, one representing 'technology' and the other representing 'aesthetics'. The simultaneous appearance of two people is a more noteworthy signal.

In the past, there seemed to be two forces competing in the sports shoe and apparel market: professional sports and sports fashion. Professionalism means functionality, but it always gives the impression of not being fashionable enough; Fashion means appearance, but it always seems to make people doubt its professionalism.

Adidas is trying to break this barrier.

In the past, Adidas' design and technology teams were "separated" and the workflow was linear. But about three years ago, Adidas promoted deep collaboration between two departments.

At first, it was indeed uncomfortable, "Nic Galway said," but now, we are no longer limited to discussing CD or I, but focus on how CD and I can jointly shape development direction and innovation momentum. ?CD stands for Creative Direction, while I stands for Innovation.

In traditional workflows, a product is led by a single person in charge, and the work between departments in the process is linearly promoted, with less deep collaboration. Adidas' new model requires both technological innovation and aesthetic standards. Therefore, Adidas directly dismantled the walls between departments. The above-mentioned Project RThe product development platform is one of the products of workflow reshaping.

Marc Makowski mentioned that creative talents and engineers are both specific professionals who take great pride in their work, which often means they tend to "not collaborate" and try to maintain the independence of their respective camps. But when they gather together, they will have a different impact. For example, changes made by the design team may be questioned by the technical team, and this friction can sometimes bring unexpected joy. Some changes made by the design team may actually promote performance improvement.

Marc Makowski said, "What we are pursuing is not absolute correctness, but how to achieve common progress through collective collaboration

We will develop customized products based on athlete data. Adidas has discovered that competitive sports are not only a competition of athletes' technical skills, but also involve perceptual and psychological aspects, which cannot be measured in a "sterile" laboratory environment. Marc Makowski said that a crucial element, especially in elite performance, is confidence.

Adidas has conducted in-depth interviews with the coach of world-class marathon runner Sabastian Savi, reviewing Sabastian Savi's first marathon race of his career. At the 30 kilometer mark, he followed two kilometers behind by about 10 seconds, then took a strong comeback and ultimately won the championship with a score of 2:02:05. After the game, the coach asked for the reason, and he said, "You told me I can run for 2 hours and 2 minutes, but I know others can't

Marc Makowski said, "He relied on this confidence and firmly believed that he would eventually run faster than others

Marc Makowski further stated that all efforts made by Adidas are aimed at ensuring that athletes have the maximum confidence when standing at the starting line, which comes from both quantifiable objective factors and emotional levels of perception or intuitive judgment. This is exactly Project RThe core logic of the product development platform is not based on a standardized environment in the laboratory, but on the personalized real needs of athletes in reality.

Adidas is rapidly transferring technology suitable for athletes to the mass market.

In the past, brands may have kept certain things confidential for too long, "Marc Makowski said," but we believe that today's consumers crave real-time interaction and hope to obtain innovative results and cutting-edge thinking as soon as possible. Because if we wait too long - these consumers grew up in the pure digital age and are no longer accustomed to traditional product building methods, their expectation is to participate in our innovation process

Marc Makowski emphasized, "Putting a project on hold for 18 to 24 months before launching it is meaningless. We are now emphasizing real-time testing and quick implementation