Adidas Expands Partnership With Foot Locker, Fills Nike Gap

Following Nike’s decision to put an end to its partnership with Foot Locker, adidas is seeking to close the gap by striking a long-term relationship with the sportswear retailer.

According to adidas, the partnership would establish Foot Locker as the lead brand partner in the basketball category, accelerate and energize new product launches, and help develop and expand key franchises across women’s, kids and apparel categories.

The partnership will allow adidas to target over $2 billion in retail sales by 2025 as the brand will look to leverage all Foot Locker banners in North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. In 2022 alone, adidas is expecting to generate incremental revenues of up to €100 million ($105 million) through the partnership.

“We are excited to build on our partnership with adidas as we continue our strategy to broaden our selection of footwear and apparel for the sport and sneaker communities,” said Richard A. Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of Foot Locker.

“This close partnership will enable us to bring consumers even more unique, pinnacle products from iconic brands, as well as accelerate our push into apparel, adding new dimension to our assortment and bringing more customers into our ecosystem.”

Adidas noted that Foot Locker would lead adidas’ basketball offering, which is overseen by Fear of God founder and designer Jerry Lorenzo, while both adidas and Foot Locker plan to focus on the Originals franchise, including NMD, Superstar, Stan Smith, and the adidas influencer partnership portfolio.

Furthermore, Foot Locker will be featured as a prominent player in the launch of adidas’ new Sportswear product division targeting the lifestyle consumer.

To bring the partnership to life, adidas will provide Foot Locker with a dedicated team to deliver an elevated consumer experience both in stores and online.

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Originally published at https://retailbum.com on May 9, 2022.