Adidas Originals Atelier Concept Store Hong Kong

adidas Originals recently opened their latest Atelier Concept Store in Hong Kong. Renovating their previous space in Causeway Bay, local artist Dorophy Tang was on hand to exhibit her Shopping Baby pieces as well as art done exclusively for the store. Another noteworthy addition to one of adidas’ largest Originals collection spaces is the mi adidas Originals which allows for customization of some of adidas’ iconic lifestyle models including the Superstar, Stan Smith and ZX700.

adidas Originals Atelier Concept Store Hong Kong
Shop B, 6 Kingston Street
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

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Mi. Adidas

After the post I've made about Vans launching a freestyle custom design website, I'm curious about other brands that doing the same thing. Recently the day after that, I found that our favourite brand Adidas, launched a similiar website that featured the same things too, that they called The Mi Adidas program.

You can design, and order your very own kicks. But to be honest, I'd rather choose to designing with this Adidas freestyle custom design websites, because as you can see on the web they provides more feature to be added on the shoes.

Now you can make your own Adidas & Adidas Originals kicks designs. Give it a try!

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Above is some of what I've made using the features on the website. My very own Gazelle & Stan Smith, wohoo! Make your own!

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Custom Adidas Originals ZX700 designed at the Wooster street Adidas Originals Store, NY City

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Mi Adidas: Truly Original

Of course, RWD loves trainers as much as anyone else. We've got all manner of current and old-school classics, crusty creps we can't bear to throw away, and box-fresh beauties waiting to be broken out.

What we don't have though is our very own, more-than-merely-customised sneaks. What we've always, always wanted is a pair of trainers designed - from the insole to the tongue - by us.

Lucky then that RWD editor Hattie and art director Dacre got the call from adidas to try out their new mi Originals innovation. Based in the Covent Garden store, we were hooked up with an interactive touch-screen panel, an electronic pen and our own wild imaginations and, with the aid of the ace staff, began to create our own truly original crep.

What's great about this set-up is that it isn't a VIP/ invitation only/ one-away celebrity deal - anyone can design their own mi Original, all for the easy-on-the-pockets price of £70 and up.

Choosing from the Gazelle, Stan Smith, Superstar or ZX700, adidas fans can also pick out the fabric, colours, stitching and have their own name (or other wording) stitched in too! The bespoke footwear details includes the classic adidas three stripes, outsole, tongue, toecap shoe laces, and even the eye stay amongst other crucial characteristics to give an array of design options for these timeless classics.

What do you think of RWD Ed Hattie's creation? Think you can do better? Head to adidas Originals store, Earlham St, London. Check out mi adidas

mi Originals will also be available at adidas Originals stores in Westfield and Liverpool.

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Oh, Mi Adidas!

The adidas "mi Innovation Center," is a radically new retail concept. As the name suggests, innovation is the driving principle. The design is a large-scale, futuristic computer that provides a focal point of innovation and interaction for consumers. The mIC offers consumers customization in technology, style, and design, using unprecedented innovations such as a configurator, laser and infra-red technologies, commands generated by gesture translation, a virtual mirror, a digital 3-D universe and radio frequency identification. The mIC is the ultimate new sport temple for today’s hi-tech generation.

In here, customers are accompanied by specially trained "adidas experts" who, like a personal trainer, advise on nutrition, exercise and products. With a portable hand-held PC, the "adidas experts" record his/her personal details and desires, creating a user profile that he/she can view at their convenience via the internet. Personalized customer service is a critical component in this ‘shop of the future’.

Now i would like you to read this article written by Kathy Moran for Philippine Star last September 6 to further understand this new concept.

Sports specific. That, in two words, is what the Mi (My Individual) Adidas is. Off I went to the newest Adidas store in TriNoma to get myself outfitted with a pair of Mi Adidas shoes. Of course, I took with me my Citibank credit card because it offers a 10 percent discount on any purchase of Mi Adidas. How could I go wrong? — great shoes and a great credit card. What a great pair! Impossible is nothing!

“The future of athletic footwear evolution is here,” says Christoph Berger, founder of Mi Adidas. “It provides everyone the chance to create a unique running, football, indoor, tennis, and basketball footwear.”

Sports are a big part of my life. For the past 25 years, I have been into several sports like boxing, powerlifting, running, basketball, and badminton. Weekends find me at the mall looking for whatever’s new in my sport of the moment. It is only at the Adidas store in TriNoma that the Mi Adidas technology is available. There were two sports shoes I was interested in — badminton (indoor) and running.

“We want to help you customize your shoe,” volunteers Raffy Castillo of Adidas. “People want to have shoes that are unique to them.”

According to Castillo, Mi Adidas is a customization experience that gives customers the chance to create a personalized fit, performance, and design for a shoe that will be the best fit for their feet. After all, anyone who has ever done sports knows that a good pair of shoes should not only look good but should feel great on the feet, and make perfomance on the court even better.

First, I was asked to make a choice as to the kind of sports shoe I wanted. I opted for a running shoe. I wanted one that was black and neon green.

Then the real test came. Castillo turned on his computer, and asked me to take a few running steps on a mat, which measured the way my running strides were made. He told me that I had a tendency to step on the heel of my foot before the toe when I ran. This I guess was a style I picked up from some of the people who taught me about running.

It was great to see how I took each step on the computer program. I have had some problems with my feet so I’ve had to wear arch supports, which were recommended to me by my podiatrist years ago. I have high arches but am flatfooted when I run. The computer caught this problem — and at the end of the test, Castillo recommended that I go for wide shoes.

The techie aspect over, the real fun began. I got to pick the color and design of the shoe I wanted. I got the Mi Adizero. I liked the mesh fabric of the shoe, which made it breathable. There is nothing worse than a sports shoe that does not allow the feet to breathe.

Mitch Averia, Adidas key accounts specialist, tells me that Mi Adidas was the first brand to offer customized products. In 2003, they launched the Mi Adidas marathon series. “In 2005, 19 countries offered Mi Adidas,” says Averia. “It was in May 2007 that the Mi Adidas concept store was introduced here.”

Most of the athletes that have had Mi Adidas especially designed are basketball players. That is because some of these athletes’ shoes are provided by their teams. It is the basketball players who are most particular about their shoes. The next sport is football. After all, Adidas is the top shoe when it comes to football boots.

There are only certain styles that are available for Mi Adidas. These styles and technologies are the best for the sports that have been chosen for the Mi Adidas line. It is not possible to get just any pair of Adidas shoes customized. The shoes, which are made for Mi Adidas, are the best for the sports they are prepared for.

It takes about 21 to 30 days before you get the shoe you had customized because the shoes are made outside the Philippines. Actually, the design of the shoe is e-mailed to Germany and from there, it is sent to the country where the shoe is to be made.

Gotta run!

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Adidas Pioneered in Providing Custom Footwear

Adidas has been a true long-time pioneer of mass-customization. The company has tried many different approaches over the years and has learned a lot from all of them. At the MIT Smart Customization Seminar in November 2008, Alison Page, Manager of Customization at Adidas, gave a great presentation covering a few of the highlights.

Adidas sprang to fame when, in 1955, the German soccer team beat the favored Hungarian team to win the World Cup. This upset was dubbed "The Miracle of Bern." The German team was wearing Adidas boots with removable studs. When the rain came, they screwed the studs onto their shoes and won the match against the Hungarians.

Customizing Sports Performance Shoes: High Tech/High Touch

Although Adidas had always kept up the tradition of designing customized shoes for top athletes, it wasn't until the late 1990s that Adidas decided to make customized shoes available to the mass market. mi adidas, the mass-customization operation, was piloted in 1999 and launched in 2000 to bring custom footwear to the common person.

The Adidas approach to the custom design of performance shoes relies heavily on well-trained knowledgeable experts—people who understand both fit and performance and can truly add value to the co-design activity. Starting in the late '90s, Adidas outfitted a number of its retail outlets to provide custom fitting and custom design services. They also brought the custom design skills and technology to major sporting events. I described the approach in my book, Outside Innovation¹, quoting from a case study co-authored by Frank Piller:

"'The company provides a service that, until now, was only available to top athletes…Customers' feet are scanned using a foot scanning system, in order to determine the exact length, width and pressure distribution of each foot.'² This information is entered into a software program at a sales kiosk to determine the best-fitting shoe. The customer is then given prototype shoes in the right fit and style to try on. 'Once satisfied with fit, the customer designs the color elements and selects material preferences. All of these steps are performed with the help of a sales kiosk leading the customer through the co-design process, supported by a sales clerk.'³ The shoes arrive within three weeks."⁴

Over the years, Adidas has continuously refined the technology assists that it provides its personnel to custom design performance shoes. In 2006, Adidas opened an Innovation Centre in Paris which includes a pressure sensitive treadmill used to capture runners' gaits as well as the use of touch screen and handheld technology for customers and trained associates to capture fit and to select and to customize the shoe designs. Here's a YouTube link⁵ to a video describing the experience.

In Store Design of Adidas

Originals footwear in the mi Originals retail execution

The look and experience is reminiscent of a tattoo parlor. Customers can browse samples while they create their own custom designs for selected shoe styles.

Custom Design for Fashion-Conscious Consumers

Many of Adidas's customers are more interested in fashion and originality than they are with sports performance. In 2008, Adidas piloted a new in-store design experience for Adidas Originals shoes that is targeted to its most fashion-conscious customers, the trend-setters. This new Adidas experience takes its inspiration from Tattoo parlors. The customer/designer sits in a comfortable "Tattoo chair," surrounded by examples of artwork and shoe designs. S/he uses an in-store system to design a shoe with a custom and even personalized look. Here's a YouTube link⁶ to an ad for the Mi Originals boutique within the recently redesigned Zurich Originals Adidas store.

Designing Adidas Shoes Online

mi adidas Originals In Store Design Station

The mi adidas Web site lets you customize your shoes.

You start by selecting one of the most popular current shoes and then create your own custom "look."

Designing Your Custom Shoes Online

Adidas was comparatively late in enabling customers to customize their own shoes using a Web site. Other brands have offered online customization and ordering of athletic shoes for some time: Converse (2005), Reebok (an Adidas sister company) (2005). Today, Adidas offers a state-of-the-art online customization and ordering experience, including the unique ability to order left and right shoes in different sizes.

Streamlining the Supply Chain to Support Mass-Customization

Since 2006, Alison Page has been leading a team focused on streamlining the supply chain for the custom manufacturing operation. As Adidas has perfected and experimented with front-end technology to enhance the custom shoe design experience, Alison and her team were streamlining the custom manufacturing process. "We're constantly tuning our infrastructure for speed, flexibility, and lot size one; for example, being able to download orders to the factory daily vs. periodically was a major change to our production operation." Distribution costs are also a challenge, Alison explained. The costs of air freight are high, yet customers want fast delivery. Raw material management is a big challenge. Supporting true mass customization requires internal change management.

Providing a Customized Training Experience

What's the next step in customization? Customizing transformative experiences. Alison described "miCoach" as an example of "soft customization" rather than "hard customization." You create a service comprised of products and services. You wrap the custom experience around those products. And you do it in order to help the customer achieve their goals.

MICOACH. In March 2008, Adidas launched a program called miCoach that is a joint venture with Samsung. The miCoach gear includes a heart rate monitor, a Samsung phone with specific hardware and software, and a stride sensor that fits on your shoe. It's combined with a Web site, complete with training programs and the ability to tailor and track your progress towards your fitness goals. Users can create their own custom workouts, track their progress, upload their stats to the Web site, and create and download their own music play lists. "It's an interactive training system that engages customers to interact with our brand on a daily basis," Alison exclaimed.

miCoach from Adidas

Combines a Samsung phone with a heart rate monitor and a stride sensor on your shoe.

Adidas miCoach

The miCoach Site Helps you Set Goals and Track your progress.

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Adidas launches mi Originals - customise your own trainers

Feel like a number? Want to be a free man? Well, you can now express your individuality with your very own pair of unique Adidas trainers, created with mi Originals.

Take your pick from retro classics including the Adidas Gazelle, Stan Smith, Superstar and ZX700, then add your own spin - change the colour, swap the fabrics or play with the detailing, including the three stripes, outsole, tongue, toe cap, shoe laces or eyes. End result? Something that's unique to you, for better or worse.

Fancy trying it? Check out the service at the Adidas Originals store in Earlham Street, London, with the Liverpool store also offering the service in the near future. No news of a price, but we suspect you might have to shell out a premium price for your unique footwear.

Adidas website

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