adidas _1
‘Blowing the doors off the running industry’ in 2004, adidas_1 delivered on the promise of intelligence in personalized products while the forecasts for this technology was still on the horizon.
Born in the early 2000’s, with business pressure to inject new life into the adidas running business, an Intelligent shoe proposed to shift the perception of adidas running in the US market with technological leadership no other brand could dream of.
The team designed and developed a system that could withstand 3 to 4 times the runners weight with every stride while incrementally changing the cushioning to the ideal compression ratio to the weight of the runner, the speed, incline and surface hardness under foot in real time, all by itself. Possibly the most advanced shoe ever dreamed of by any brand in the history of sport, it had the most successful PR response from the media adidas had ever experienced in their history.
(IF Product design award 2005, A’Design Award Italy, The Good Design Award, Wallpaper Design Award, Popular Mechanics front page, New York Times Technology review front page).
“Hello Tomorrow”
The shoe would be launched on television in the United States with a new television advertisement called "Hello Tomorrow". The commercial was directed by Spike Jonze and the music composed by Squeak E. Clean featuring Karen O of the "Yeah Yeah Yeahs". The commercial opens on the face of a young man waking up. He is surrounded by darkness, as if the world has been erased. As he sits up, a pair of adidas_1 shoes roll onto the screen and onto his feet. As they magically tie themselves, the lights of the adidas_1 interface come alive, signaling that the shoe is now on.