Adidas has been gaining a huge amount of market share in the past few years, stealing most of it from its main competitor, Nike. The three stripe on the side soccer pants have swept the world, and are especially popular among millennials and the dance community. Adidas is doing two, seemingly opposite things. One, they are storming ahead in design and technology to bring very futuristic and light, high tech footwear to the market (like their NMD line or their collaboration with Kanye West for Yeezys). On the other hand, they are embracing their classic looks, their iconic three stripe design language, and their classic items like the Stan Smith or Superstar shoes. A new design they have been trying out, and I really like, is this tape that runs down the sides of sweatshirts, pants, and the backs of shoes. In place of the three stripes themselves, the tap reads in all capitals block font “THE BRAND WITH THE 3 STRIPES”. They are embracing the success and popularity of the iconic, lasting design language they adopted decades ago, almost in a cheeky way. I think in terms of moving ahead, this is a strong move to adopt an alternative to the uses of the 3 stripes, but in a reworked way that draws on the original.
