How to Become an Intern at adidas and Design Your Own Sneakers

Image via Complex Original

According to Shearer, "We have two windows within the internship, with design and innovation, and they’re up to six months. We have one internship that runs from January to June, and another internship that is from July to December."

The internships themselves aren't just limited to designing sneakers, either. "The internship can be anything from footwear design to apparel design, graphic design, and color and materials. We also started to open things up into brand design as well to see some other places of design within adidas," Shearer said.

Like any internship, there are standards that an applicant needs to meet to be considered for the position. According to Shearer, "To become a footwear design intern with adidas, you would need to have a GPA of 3.0 and above. You would need to be in school, or be in the first twelve months out of school. You would need to have a huge passion for footwear."

Beyond that, it helps to take certain courses in college to be properly prepared for what the internship presents. "We're looking for people who have studied footwear design, or we’ll look for someone from industrial design, product design, or a fashion design background," Shearer said.

Most internships involve fetching coffee, running errands, and doing busy work for wherever they're interning. The adidas design internship is nothing like that, though. In fact, it's quite intensive. "In six months, the majority of the first half is spent supporting your team that you’re working with," Shearer said. "So it could be working on actual product in basketball footwear or in running that are going to market."

After that, the intern will take part in creating a special project for adidas. "Then it is a collaboration product that we do for the majority of the second half, which is really for the designer to put something into his portfolio from their experiences here at adidas," Shearer said. "We ask them to design a complete range for bike polo, which is a super obscure sport.  These guys would have to go interview the bike polo players and try to understand what needs to be resolved through design."

It doesn't stop there. The design process is actually just getting started. "Because we have prototyping capabilities here, the interns actually get to create prototypes and create what it is that they’ve designed and then present that back to the design team," Shearer said. "We put the interns in this collaboration project, we give them mentors, and we try and mirror the regular design process as best we can. We have design reviews, design critiques along with the designers."

Adidas is a German company, but the brand is currently offering internships at its U.S. location in Portland, Ore. Applicants don't have to live in the Portland area, however, to apply for the openings. 

"We recruit pretty heavily from other states and even globally to be honest. We offer a relocation stipend, which is $1,500. We help people get themselves set up for the internship," Shearer said. "It’s also a paid internship."

This might come as a no-brainer, but knowing about the company that you're interning for, whether it be a footwear brand or publication, is always a plus. And it's no different for those who want to be a design intern at adidas.

"I think understanding the heritage of adidas is only going to allow you to design better product," Shearer said. "We have internships in the summer with the adidas Originals theme, and with that theme it’s putting a modern twist on very nostalgic product."

If you need to some brushing up to do, check out this article.

For aspiring designers and artists, they can often live and die by their portfolios. This is what they look at for those applying for adidas design internships. 

"The portfolio is important, so is the ability to communicate your ideas in a way that would be compelling and aspirational," Shearer says. "Your portfolio needs to speak for itself. We’re looking for that underdog designer who has that sort of work ethic, drive, and passion that we see from some of our underdog athletes and designers."

Besides just having a strong portfolio, there are critical traits that adidas looks for in its design interns. "Were looking for that designer that can really create an aspirational, provocative, and disruptive piece," Shearer said. "We’re looking for someone that has a little bit more attitude, and a little bit more connection to the streets, trends, and basketball roots."

Besides the obvious reason of getting experience, many people intern with companies with the hopes that they'll obtain a job after the internship is over. This also happens at adidas.

"There is a big push to get fresh ideas and get some young designers into the brand. The interns that we bring on full-time are very solid," Shearer said. 

Although there is a lot of hypothetical work that interns do during their tenure at adidas, there's also the reality that they'll make products that are destined to be put on the market. "I think it is very likely that a design intern will touch a product that will go to market," Shearer said. "It is a good chance that they will work on and create a product from scratch. That’s one of the more exciting things for an intern—to see their product go all the way and hit the shop shelves."

Click here for the graphic design internships.

Here for the footwear internships.

Here for the apparel internships.

Here for the color and materials internships.

And here for the 3D design internships.

The applications close on January 26. Best of luck.