adidas Futurecraft Projects
As a member of the Running BU which was often at the forefront of adidas’ innovation pipeline, I was able to be involved in multiple project’s that fell under the banner of adidas Futurecraft. Within my role I helped develop and work on Parley for the Oceans projects and brand guidelines, 3D and 4D Carbon printed projects including the selection and development of the iconic green midsole and Speedfactory “Made4” collections.
More about the projects can be found below.
Futurecraft: Carbon 4D
Contributions to the Project
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R&D of midsole colours with Carbon, adidas Futures and Creative Direction
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Development of upper materials and tech packs with knit suppliers
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Colour design and tech packing of shoes. Including selection of material finishes
2016
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adidas has provided the world’s greatest athletes with top-performing, innovative products since its inception. In 2016 adidas and Carbon partnered to realize completely new paradigms in their designs and manufacturing that would allow them to once again raise the bar of performance.
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Carbon’s material scientists developed an entirely new elastomeric material, EPU 41, that could live up to the demanding mechanical properties of a revolutionary running shoe midsole. Additionally, the development of cutting-edge additive processes and tools were critical for efficiently manufacturing the new unmoldable midsole at scale.
2017
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The Carbon DLS™ process allowed adidas designers to create one of the most advanced shoes with a multi-zone midsole produced from a single print. The monolithic, lattice design comprises over 10,000 individual struts that enable the precise tuning of the midsole for performance––increased lattice density provides support, while decreased density creates cushioning, giving runners lasting comfort with responsive feedback.
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Carbon and adidas assembled the best and brightest material scientists to begin developing the next generation, high-performance elastomeric resin. The mandate was lighter, stronger, faster.
2018
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The AlphaEDGE midsole was tuned for a more versatile performance by precisely adding thickness to the struts directly under the strike of the runner’s heel.
Futurecraft: Speedfactory
Contributions to the Project
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R&D of upper tape placement through graphic base shell's alongside adidas Futures team
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Development of TPU HM tape with material suppliers, working with multiple thicknesses
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Colour design for project including base shell work to show overlapping colour options and translucencies
The Why …
SPEEDFACTORY was a manufacturing innovation platform that enabled personal and purpose-built products that could fuel the future of how Adidas created product. It was designed to allow consumers to benefit from state-of-the-art manufacturing processes that created a truly tailored product solution with unprecedented speed, with in market automated production.
The brand worked with running influencers in each key city to explore, test and co-create a product tailored to suit the unique demands for their city.
“The SPEEDFACTORY story is bigger than one product. It is really an enabler for speed, precision and responsiveness. Ultimately SPEEDFACTORY will allow us to co-create unique product solutions based on individual athlete needs and desires - delivering what they want, when and where they want it”
- Paul Gaudio, Global Creative Director
Production videos
See how these projects came to life below