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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Mi Adidas x Pilipinas

As we all know, mi Adidas is all about customization. Getting the colors you want, the logo and initials to really make you unique. When the adidas Flagship Store opened last week, they brought the customization to a whole new level... for the whole country. Adidas launched the mi Adidas Philippine Collection- 6 pairs that shout Pilipinas in more ways than one.

This is a must-cop release. Yes, anybody can have a Microbounce or a Promodel done, but with Philippines' colors? This collection is of limited proportions, with only 60 pairs per model. Four pairs were at the unveiling with 2 more on its way (the TS Bounce Commander and TS Lightning Creator).

The 6 models- the Adizero Ace, Supernova Sequence, Promodel, the TS models, and the Microbounce will be available at the Adidas Flagship Store over at Greenbelt 3. So that's 3 for Running and 3 for Basketball. I won't even go into detail with this one, but rest assured that adidas' performance footwear is of the highest quality to bring out the best in every athlete. Or in this case, to bring out the best in each and every Filipino.



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Exclusive 'mi adidas' service hits the road

Mi adidas, a program that was once only available to top athletes but is now available to all, brings customization of footwear to everyday athletes. Kicking off at the adidas outlet in Deira City Centre, the news that the mi adidas service was hitting the store attracted great interest as a throng of sports enthusiasts lined up to get their own personalized sports shoes. Running from April 27 to May 7 at the Deira City Centre store, this is the first leg of the mi adidas Road Show that will travel throughout UAE and selected GCC adidas outlets.

Commenting on their decision to launch the mi adidas Road Show, adidas Marketing Manager, Walter Bruppacher, said, "The launch of mi adidas at the tennis was the ideal platform, and it gave us a clear indication of the value of customised sports shoes. To this end we felt setting up the road show would ensure that sports enthusiasts across the GCC have the opportunity to own running, tennis and indoor sports shoes or football boots customised to fit their feet, style of running or play."

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Miadidas.com Site Review

My initial goal was to research and write a blog on sneakers, the sneaker culture, and what drives a ‘sneakerhead’ to seek the most limited/hard to get/wait-in-line-for-2 days type sneakers. But as I set out on my task to contribute to the Fluid blog, I stumbled onto the site miadidas.com. I say ‘stumbled’ because I have not heard or seen much about this site. I knew about NikeID, YourReebok(formerly known as RBKCustom), and the newly updated Vans Custom site among others, but was surprised and somewhat disappointed about just discovering the custom site for Adidas shoes. I’ve seen the in-store experience at the Adidas store in San Francisco, but was not aware it was migrated to the web – or at least a version of it.

With that said, I decided to focus my attention to the site and give my personal review.

OVERVIEW

“In 2008, adidas Originals successfully introduced its in-store customization tool, mi Originals. Now, mi Originals is taking steps to broaden its product offering for the streetwear community with the US launch of miadidas.com.”

The site launched in February 2009 with the Superstar, ZX 700, Stan Smith, and Gazelle. Since then it has added the Stan Smith CF and Forum Lo to the Originals line along with a ‘Sport’ line which offers 13 different types of models catering to Basketball, Soccer, Running or Tennis. Prices range from $95(Gazelle) to $240(Predator Power Serve – soccer shoe), which is about 20% or so above the retail price of its inline version.

HOMEPAGE

The home page displays three models for each line – Originals and Sports – located at the bottom of the page. Clicking on any of the shoes brings up a nice hero shot and some quick blurb of its history (Originals) or quote by an ‘athlete’ (Sports). There is navigation at the top which filters the products either by Gender (Men / Women) or Line (Sports / Originals) or by All Products. There are also links to Help, an E-newsletter, a Store Finder (which I wasn’t sure why since this is about making/buying custom shoes and not inline) as well as a My Account page.

Still on the homepage, I did notice some inconsistency with how you were able to start customizing. If you click on any of the ‘Sport’ shoes, the hero shot includes a link to start customizing, but the hero shots of the Originals do not include this link.*

*Update – This has now changed from my initial review. There are now links to ‘Start Customizing’ for both Sports and Original.

If you decide to see all products, you will be taken to another page that has Sport and Originals separated into two columns populated with various shoe inspirations – about two or so for each model. A ‘Details’ link beside each custom shoe will take you to a page specifically for that model providing description, three different shoe views, and additional inspirations for that particular shoe.

At this point, I was ready to start customizing. I simply clicked on the ‘Customize’ button which is visible at various areas on the page. I decided to go with the Superstar II for various reasons – nostalgia, love for the ‘shell-toe’, love for RunDMC, or love for the 80s – not sure, but I digress.

GETTING STARTED

The main customization area is one screen separated into three vertical sections. The left side is split into four panes – Side, Top, Bottom and Personalize. The middle section is the information or selection area. This is where you select your size, gender, colors and materials for the different parts of the shoe. The right side has an image of the shoe being customized which updates as various selections are made. The shoe is a 3D model image powered by Holomatix Blaze3D, or so it says when I right-click on that area.

You are able to rotate the shoe 360 degrees by dragging your mouse in a specific direction. There are also links at the bottom which allow you to change Background (white or black), change views (Top, Bottom, or Side) and Zoom (you can rotate while in Zoom mode which is pretty cool).

Once you’ve selected your size/gender, the left panel becomes ‘available’. It starts grayed out until you select size/gender. Before I dive in, I want to spend a few moments to talk about the Size selection. You are asked to select a Gender, Size as well as Width. With the Originals, the Width is usually always ‘Medium’. With the Sport shoes, you are able to choose a specific size and width settings (Narrow, Medium and Wide) for both the left and right foot. As the site says:

“Every foot is different. Even your own two feet are not alike. So instead of making your feet fit into some average shoes, why not make the shoes fit your feet?”

Believe it or not, there are some people that have this need. Both the left and right foot can finally be happy together.

Brilliant.

CUSTOMIZING

So back to my Superstar customizing - I start with the ‘Side’ which opens up another panel with various side images of the shoe, each image having a certain piece highlighted to represent what will be customized. I’m asked if I would like perforation on the shoe or a print. But ‘print color is not available if you select no print or perforation’. This type of messaging is everywhere to the point of annoying confusion. I decide to go with the ‘classic trefoil’ as my print and proceed to select a print color before I am presented with another error message.

“The combination of print (color bloom) and lateral rear quarter (color bloom) is not allowed. Please change on the above options and try again.”

So if I wanted to have my print to be the ‘color bloom’ I would need to go to the next step and change the color of the ‘lateral rear quarter’ to something other than bloom. And if I decide to change the lateral rear quarter material from leather to suede, I get another message telling me I have attempted something that is not allowed. I think this would have been better represented in one main pane giving the user the visibility as to what is/is not available based on their selections. If I select a print, I see that only certain colors/materials become available. I totally understand the need for rules surrounding colors/materials/patters but I think it could have been better presented to the user. And if it wasn’t for the visual, would the average person really know what a lateral rear quarter was?

I continue through the rest of the shoe – Top and Bottom – encountering the same ‘messages’ as I continue to customize my work of art. I keep on pushing forward not letting the bombardment of ‘try again’ messages deter me from completing my masterpiece.

PERSONALIZE

Now that I am pretty much satisfied with my color/material layout, it’s time to personalize. The Personalize area allows you to select a lace jewel and/or personalize your shoe with embroidery. The lace jewel gives you two options: birth date of your shoe or trefoil. The birth date is a pretty cool idea especially if the date is significant in some manner.

Adding text personalization to the shoe is pretty standard and has the same type of ‘profanity check’ present on similar sites. Although, in Seth Rogan fashion (see Tonight Show appearance late 2008), I was able to find some phrases/words that did not make the cut. Insert evil laugh here.

The Personalize area differs based on shoe. For example, the Stan Smith CF allows you to personalize the top and middle strap of the shoe. You can also add a ‘city print’ to the shoe (i.e. “I ‘trefoil’ Amsterdam”) with about 14 cities on the list – sadly no San Francisco.

The TS Bounce Commander (basketball shoe) even allows you to have a player quote and autograph on the underside of its lace cover. The athletes are obviously limited to those sponsored by Adidas, but very cool nonetheless. There are more cool personalization options based on shoe that I will not detail out here, but definitely good to see Adidas expanding this area of customization.

SAVE / SHARE

If you aren’t ready to purchase, you can Save your work to your ‘My Account’ page. You’ll be prompted to sign in(if you aren’t already) or register for an account to save your shoe in progress.

My Account list is almost a closet of sorts, displaying all the shoes you’ve saved. It’s a very clean, but plain interface. From this page, you can Add to Cart, Edit, and Send to a Friend among others.

The Share functionality is pretty limited. With Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Digg encompassing the social universe, none of these options were available. What makes it even more amusing is the fact that there is a miadidas Twitter page (@miadidas), but no way to access it from the actual site. The only Share option was via email, which works well. But there are times when I need to show my masterpiece to the world and get the thumbs up of approval. I would have thought a few ‘Share to Social Sites’ option would be available.

ADD TO CART / CHECKOUT

Pretty standard stuff here. You are presented with an image of the shoe you just customized along with the option to update/remove quantity, save to your account or re-edit by clicking on the shoe name.

Shipping is a flat rate of $12 regardless of how much you have in your cart with delivery estimate of about 3-4 weeks which is on par with other site.

SUMMARY

All in all, Adidas’ entry into the online customization world has gotten to an ok start. I could definitely see some improvements in the user follow as it relates to rules with colors/materials as well as addressing some of the consistency issues. But for the most part, the experience was good. But I’m not sure if most of the ‘good’ is based on the fact that I love Adidas originals and having the opportunity to customize them is pretty sweet.

I would love for them to expand the ‘Share’ feature considering how popular social sites are. They could start by tying in their Twitter page with the actual site.

I did like the use of 3D, which gives more flexibility when it comes to rotating and zooming. The personalization options were a definite plus along with the number of shoes available. They just didn’t go with their most popular lifestyle/sport shoes, but also offered sport focused shoes such as soccer cleats. I’ll definitely be getting the word out and will definitely be back to see what other creation I can conjure up and call my own or as RunDMC said, “My Adidas…”, or in this case mi adidas.

Pros

• Size/Width selection for both left and right shoe
• Shoe rotation and zoom capabilities
• Use of 3D modeling
• Personalization options
• Number of shoes available
• Pattern/material options
• Flat shipping rate

Cons

• User flow / shoe placement inconsistencies
• Presentation of rules for colors and materials
• Blank shoe can be easily accessed for Sport line but not Originals. Need to click ‘Start Over’ before presented with blank shoe option.* This has since changed.
• Sharing limited to Email only

SOURCE:

Miadidas.com Site Review

My initial goal was to research and write a blog on sneakers, the sneaker culture, and what drives a ‘sneakerhead’ to seek the most limited/hard to get/wait-in-line-for-2 days type sneakers. But as I set out on my task to contribute to the Fluid blog, I stumbled onto the site miadidas.com. I say ‘stumbled’ because I have not heard or seen much about this site. I knew about NikeID, YourReebok(formerly known as RBKCustom), and the newly updated Vans Custom site among others, but was surprised and somewhat disappointed about just discovering the custom site for Adidas shoes. I’ve seen the in-store experience at the Adidas store in San Francisco, but was not aware it was migrated to the web – or at least a version of it.

With that said, I decided to focus my attention to the site and give my personal review.

OVERVIEW

“In 2008, adidas Originals successfully introduced its in-store customization tool, mi Originals. Now, mi Originals is taking steps to broaden its product offering for the streetwear community with the US launch of miadidas.com.”

The site launched in February 2009 with the Superstar, ZX 700, Stan Smith, and Gazelle. Since then it has added the Stan Smith CF and Forum Lo to the Originals line along with a ‘Sport’ line which offers 13 different types of models catering to Basketball, Soccer, Running or Tennis. Prices range from $95(Gazelle) to $240(Predator Power Serve – soccer shoe), which is about 20% or so above the retail price of its inline version.

HOMEPAGE

The home page displays three models for each line – Originals and Sports – located at the bottom of the page. Clicking on any of the shoes brings up a nice hero shot and some quick blurb of its history (Originals) or quote by an ‘athlete’ (Sports). There is navigation at the top which filters the products either by Gender (Men / Women) or Line (Sports / Originals) or by All Products. There are also links to Help, an E-newsletter, a Store Finder (which I wasn’t sure why since this is about making/buying custom shoes and not inline) as well as a My Account page.

Still on the homepage, I did notice some inconsistency with how you were able to start customizing. If you click on any of the ‘Sport’ shoes, the hero shot includes a link to start customizing, but the hero shots of the Originals do not include this link.*

*Update – This has now changed from my initial review. There are now links to ‘Start Customizing’ for both Sports and Original.

If you decide to see all products, you will be taken to another page that has Sport and Originals separated into two columns populated with various shoe inspirations – about two or so for each model. A ‘Details’ link beside each custom shoe will take you to a page specifically for that model providing description, three different shoe views, and additional inspirations for that particular shoe.

At this point, I was ready to start customizing. I simply clicked on the ‘Customize’ button which is visible at various areas on the page. I decided to go with the Superstar II for various reasons – nostalgia, love for the ‘shell-toe’, love for RunDMC, or love for the 80s – not sure, but I digress.

GETTING STARTED

The main customization area is one screen separated into three vertical sections. The left side is split into four panes – Side, Top, Bottom and Personalize. The middle section is the information or selection area. This is where you select your size, gender, colors and materials for the different parts of the shoe. The right side has an image of the shoe being customized which updates as various selections are made. The shoe is a 3D model image powered by Holomatix Blaze3D, or so it says when I right-click on that area.

You are able to rotate the shoe 360 degrees by dragging your mouse in a specific direction. There are also links at the bottom which allow you to change Background (white or black), change views (Top, Bottom, or Side) and Zoom (you can rotate while in Zoom mode which is pretty cool).

Once you’ve selected your size/gender, the left panel becomes ‘available’. It starts grayed out until you select size/gender. Before I dive in, I want to spend a few moments to talk about the Size selection. You are asked to select a Gender, Size as well as Width. With the Originals, the Width is usually always ‘Medium’. With the Sport shoes, you are able to choose a specific size and width settings (Narrow, Medium and Wide) for both the left and right foot. As the site says:

“Every foot is different. Even your own two feet are not alike. So instead of making your feet fit into some average shoes, why not make the shoes fit your feet?”

Believe it or not, there are some people that have this need. Both the left and right foot can finally be happy together.

Brilliant.

CUSTOMIZING

So back to my Superstar customizing - I start with the ‘Side’ which opens up another panel with various side images of the shoe, each image having a certain piece highlighted to represent what will be customized. I’m asked if I would like perforation on the shoe or a print. But ‘print color is not available if you select no print or perforation’. This type of messaging is everywhere to the point of annoying confusion. I decide to go with the ‘classic trefoil’ as my print and proceed to select a print color before I am presented with another error message.

“The combination of print (color bloom) and lateral rear quarter (color bloom) is not allowed. Please change on the above options and try again.”

So if I wanted to have my print to be the ‘color bloom’ I would need to go to the next step and change the color of the ‘lateral rear quarter’ to something other than bloom. And if I decide to change the lateral rear quarter material from leather to suede, I get another message telling me I have attempted something that is not allowed. I think this would have been better represented in one main pane giving the user the visibility as to what is/is not available based on their selections. If I select a print, I see that only certain colors/materials become available. I totally understand the need for rules surrounding colors/materials/patters but I think it could have been better presented to the user. And if it wasn’t for the visual, would the average person really know what a lateral rear quarter was?

I continue through the rest of the shoe – Top and Bottom – encountering the same ‘messages’ as I continue to customize my work of art. I keep on pushing forward not letting the bombardment of ‘try again’ messages deter me from completing my masterpiece.

PERSONALIZE

Now that I am pretty much satisfied with my color/material layout, it’s time to personalize. The Personalize area allows you to select a lace jewel and/or personalize your shoe with embroidery. The lace jewel gives you two options: birth date of your shoe or trefoil. The birth date is a pretty cool idea especially if the date is significant in some manner.

Adding text personalization to the shoe is pretty standard and has the same type of ‘profanity check’ present on similar sites. Although, in Seth Rogan fashion (see Tonight Show appearance late 2008), I was able to find some phrases/words that did not make the cut. Insert evil laugh here.

The Personalize area differs based on shoe. For example, the Stan Smith CF allows you to personalize the top and middle strap of the shoe. You can also add a ‘city print’ to the shoe (i.e. “I ‘trefoil’ Amsterdam”) with about 14 cities on the list – sadly no San Francisco.

The TS Bounce Commander (basketball shoe) even allows you to have a player quote and autograph on the underside of its lace cover. The athletes are obviously limited to those sponsored by Adidas, but very cool nonetheless. There are more cool personalization options based on shoe that I will not detail out here, but definitely good to see Adidas expanding this area of customization.

SAVE / SHARE

If you aren’t ready to purchase, you can Save your work to your ‘My Account’ page. You’ll be prompted to sign in(if you aren’t already) or register for an account to save your shoe in progress.

My Account list is almost a closet of sorts, displaying all the shoes you’ve saved. It’s a very clean, but plain interface. From this page, you can Add to Cart, Edit, and Send to a Friend among others.

The Share functionality is pretty limited. With Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Digg encompassing the social universe, none of these options were available. What makes it even more amusing is the fact that there is a miadidas Twitter page (@miadidas), but no way to access it from the actual site. The only Share option was via email, which works well. But there are times when I need to show my masterpiece to the world and get the thumbs up of approval. I would have thought a few ‘Share to Social Sites’ option would be available.

ADD TO CART / CHECKOUT

Pretty standard stuff here. You are presented with an image of the shoe you just customized along with the option to update/remove quantity, save to your account or re-edit by clicking on the shoe name.

Shipping is a flat rate of $12 regardless of how much you have in your cart with delivery estimate of about 3-4 weeks which is on par with other site.

SUMMARY

All in all, Adidas’ entry into the online customization world has gotten to an ok start. I could definitely see some improvements in the user follow as it relates to rules with colors/materials as well as addressing some of the consistency issues. But for the most part, the experience was good. But I’m not sure if most of the ‘good’ is based on the fact that I love Adidas originals and having the opportunity to customize them is pretty sweet.

I would love for them to expand the ‘Share’ feature considering how popular social sites are. They could start by tying in their Twitter page with the actual site.

I did like the use of 3D, which gives more flexibility when it comes to rotating and zooming. The personalization options were a definite plus along with the number of shoes available. They just didn’t go with their most popular lifestyle/sport shoes, but also offered sport focused shoes such as soccer cleats. I’ll definitely be getting the word out and will definitely be back to see what other creation I can conjure up and call my own or as RunDMC said, “My Adidas…”, or in this case mi adidas.

Pros

• Size/Width selection for both left and right shoe
• Shoe rotation and zoom capabilities
• Use of 3D modeling
• Personalization options
• Number of shoes available
• Pattern/material options
• Flat shipping rate

Cons

• User flow / shoe placement inconsistencies
• Presentation of rules for colors and materials
• Blank shoe can be easily accessed for Sport line but not Originals. Need to click ‘Start Over’ before presented with blank shoe option.* This has since changed.
• Sharing limited to Email only

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Mi Adidas Concept Stores

Earlier this year, adidas unveiled their ‘atelier‘ store concept in Berlin and New York, which draws inspiration from the expert craftmanship characteristics of an atelier, in order to bestow a finer sense of individuality and creativity to their originals line.

Part of the atelier experience is the mi Originals service, which allows customers to deck either the Superstar or ZX700 in colours and materials of their choice. Although adidas has been offering customizable footwear through their mi adidas service for quite some time, the kicks on offer are solely limited to their performance range.

The mi Originals service will spread to key stores in several major cities later this year, whilst customers in the United States will have access to the service through the adidas e-store. Unfortunately, there are no immediate plans to offer mi originals within South East Asia, but we’re hoping that we will have access to an atelier store sometime in the not too distant future.

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MI ADIDAS ORIGINALS - CREATE YOUR OWN

Custom adidas kicks have been available overseas since 2006, and now, with the launch of miadidas.com, the custom service is available worldwide. Customers can interact and personalize - whether you are a serious athlete or a sneaker head, adidas is delivering a design operation for all to enjoy.

First, you choose a sport or lifestyle sneaker and then you select your color base. Next, you have the option of personalizing the tongue, inner lining, laces, and sole. Depending on the sneaker your options change. If you opt for performance you can even choose two different sizes for your left and right foot.

For this review I chose to customize a sneaker myself, so that I could share the process. I went with a TS Bounce Commander, a basketball sneaker, it’s March Madness y’all! This one was really fUn to do because adidas has exclusive rights with the NBA to allow pro team emblems. Select NCAA teams are also available. The best part of designing a Bounce Commander? You can add a player quote and autograph on the underside of the lace cover! I chose Kevin Garnett’s quote “WE NOT ME!” Impossible is Nothing. Hey, I’m a Celtics girl at heart and I need these for the playoffs!

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Mi Adidas RP Edition

Adidas has caught up with nike on the RP Game. With nike releasing the RP Hyperize pack and released the RP Hyperdunk in limited quantities in the states, Adidas has also released their own Myadidas Pilipinas Collection.

These are basically customized color variants of their kicks, notably the TS Bounce Commander, the Promodel and the TS Lightning Creator.

Designs are ok but prices are e little higher than the regular releases. (and I like the KG Home colorway better for the bounce commander).

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