Despite some troubles in the U.S., adidas has had quite a successful first quarter overall. Last week, we reported that much of the company's improvement was due to the success of Reebok and CrossFit, and now we're learning more about which sneakers are driving the brand so far in 2015.
At the adidas Q1 earnings conference call, CEO Herbert Hainer shed some light on the brand's biggest sneakers of the year. According to Hainer, adidas Originals saw a considerable jump thanks to working with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.
"The adidas Superstar quickly became the shoe of the season. And the global launch of the Supercolor pack, the introduction of the Superstar Silver in 50 different colorways, in cooperation with Pharrell Williams, has brought the franchise to new levels," he said. "The launch of the Yeezy Boost, our first shoe developed in collaboration with Kanye West, [caused] long queues formed in front of stores. And let's not forget the success of the newly launched Tubular and the latest version of the ZX Flux. All of this drove an aggressive 29 percent sales increase at adidas Originals."
Hainer also noted that the Running category experienced a 13 percent Q1 growth, which he attributes largely to the Ultra Boost.
This is big news to the doubters of adidas, especially for those who assumed the brand couldn't get consumers to trade in their Swooshes for a set of Three Stripes.
[via Seeking Alpha]
