Is Adidas Fast Fashion?
Share
Fast fashion brands have been on the rise for the past few decades, with new trends sweeping the world like a storm every few days. Recently people are used to gaining instant gratification with low-priced clothes being available at every other branded store. This has created a general disregard for clothing with people not thinking much about renewing their wardrobe every few weeks or months.
Some of the biggest brands in the world are fast fashion even though they have the resources to use premium quality material and pay livable wages to their workers. A big name in the sea of well-known brands in the world is Adidas. Who doesn’t know Adidas in this day and age? It is one of the pioneers of sportswear and athletic shoes. Alongside Nike, Adidas is the first name that comes to mind when you think of shoes. Here, we will take a close look at the brand’s workings and decide whether it is a fast fashion brand or not.
Adidas is one of the biggest sportswear manufacturers in Europe and Number 2 in the worldwide overall, only behind Nike. Producing almost every kind of style, sport, and fashion, Adidas makes something for everyone, whether you’re a fashionista or a sports lover. The brand even had a campaign called “All In” to highlight its efforts to be inclusive of all people.
Adidas had very humble beginnings, with the owner Adolf Dassler, starting in his mother’s wash kitchen. Alongside his brother, they named their small business “Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory” and continued to design shoes that would assist athletes. Dassler helped develop the spiked running shoes made of rubber and canvas which were worn by Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens. This event skyrocketed the brand’s success and changed the course of the brothers’ life.
The brothers soon split up in 1947 with the other brother Rudolf, forming his own company that would later be named Puma. The brands have been intense rivals since then. The iconic three stripes are characteristic of Adidas, printed on its garments and shoes.
Sustainability Rating: 5/10
Category: Clothing, Shoes, Sports Equipment
For: Women, Men, Kids
Products: Sneakers, Pants, Jackets
Style: Casual, Contemporary
Quality: Medium, High
Prices: -
Size: -
Fabrics: Polyester, Organic Cotton, Spandex, Viscose, Elastane, Linen, Leather, Nylon
100% Organic: No
100% Vegan: No
Ethical and Fair: No
Recycling: No
Manufacturing Countries: Not Transparent Enough
Certifications: Not Transparent Enough
Adidas’ official slogan is “Impossible is Nothing” prompting customers to achieve their best selves adorning Adidas’ shoes and garments. One of the reasons why Adidas maintains the outstanding quality of its shoes and garments is that the founder used to have intimate talks with athletes and listen to their concerns to help make positive changes in the brand’s products. To date, Adidas has been constantly improving for the better.
Adidas has a company strategy that states “Creating the New” to instill creative prowess in the team to keep making items that inspire people and help people enjoy sports. Even though Adidas produces casual clothing and shoes as well, all of its items are rooted in sports and promote the idea that sports is a lifestyle.
Adidas shoes are more expensive than other fast fashion but on par with the likes of Nike and Puma. This can be because of the quality of the shoes and the constant experimentation with new designs and materials to make something better.
It is quite easy to categorize Adidas as a fast fashion brand because it updates its portfolios every other day and overproduces each item according to the latest trend. However, it is different from traditional fast fashion brands because it does prioritize quality and the brand’s items tend to last a long time. Moreover, Adidas may follow the latest trends but it comes up with unique designs as well to set itself apart from other brands.
In terms of sustainability, Adidas believes that the time for change is now and that the responsibility on its shoulders is quite heavy. The brand’s products have always been durable but Adidas is working to lengthen their lifetime even more so that waste material can be reduced. It has a program called “Made to be Remade” in which customers can return used Adidas products and the company assesses how to best reuse them.
According to the “Own the Game” strategy, Adidas hopes to make 90% of the product line sustainable by 2025. At present, 96% of the polyester that is used in the products is recycled. Adidas claims that it has followed the international standard for eco-friendly material content since 2022 which states that any footwear should have at least 20% sustainable material to be called sustainable and for apparel, the percentage should be 70%.
Adidas has also partnered with the organization “Parley for the Oceans” through which it uses Parley Ocean Plastic instead of virgin polyester that is not biodegradable. This initiative works to collect waste plastic material from shorelines and coastal communities and use it in important products like footwear and accessories.
Adidas has also taken the responsibility of educating its staff to become sustainability-driven and incorporate it into their lifestyles. The brand has big aims for 2025, some of which include making 9 out of 10 items sustainable and making the brand climate-neutral by reducing toxic emissions. It also hopes to become a champion of human rights by managing such issues across the entire supply chain.
The GoodOnYou directory evaluated Adidas and gave it a rating of “It’s a Start” in March 2023. The organization recognizes the brand’s efforts of setting a science-based target but has found that it is not on track to meet its target. It is significant for brands like Adidas to present a detailed sketch of how it plans to meet its goals and how far it has come.
The brand scored a B for the Climate Disclosure Project, which is an average rating seeing that brands considered good were given an A- or A. It might be because the brand does not publish any information about using harmful materials such as leather and has not talked about conserving biodiversity at all.
It has also been accused of greenwashing several times by lying about some products being sustainable. In addition, it received a rating of 51-60% from the Fashion Transparency Index which is lower than its previous score of 61-70%. While Adidas does have policies to protect workers’ rights and plans to improve wages, it has provided no proof for such statements and still has a long way to go in its labor practices.
The GoodOnYou directory gave it an animal rating of “Not Good Enough” because it continues to use harmful materials sourced from animals including down and leather. This has led many activists and organizations to condemn the brand and demand proof about how and where it sources these materials.
In 2022, Adidas went through in-depth corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) evaluations and participated in specialized environmental and social performance benchmarks. This boosted the brand’s ratings by many organizations and achieved great praise from the industry.
Despite Adidas having a lot of room for improvement, it is apparent that the brand is making constant progress towards becoming sustainable. It might have average environmental ratings right now but its efforts have been paying off with every improving grade. We hope Adidas continues on its sustainability journey and manages to become 100% eco-friendly.
adidas - History (adidas-group.com)
adidas Sustainability | End Plastic Waste | adidas US
Sustainability | Wear Longer | adidas
adidas - More Sustainable Materials and Circular Services (adidas-group.com)
How Ethical Is Adidas? - Good On You
adidas - Our Targets (adidas-group.com)
Is Adidas sustainable and ethical? - Brand Sustainability Rating (sustainablereview.com)