adidas Pop-up

adidas makes it really, really fun to try on a new pair of sneakers. At most, we’ve seen sneaker shops provide treadmills attached to video games or small patches of  floor space devoted to in-store test runs. But adidas found a way to make trying on a pair of new  sneakers so much more physically engaging: the brand’s pop-up shop in Manhattan, devised along with  Finish Line, had visitors go through a series of live challenges in order to test the recently released Ultraboost 19 series.

The 19 is a 3D-knitted shoe that integrates the much lauded energy-returning Boost technology. To provide visitors with a chance to try out the enhancements, a former gallery space in Chelsea was turned into a temporary playground, where they devised a  series of steps meant to create a live environment that pushes both sneaker and wearer to the extreme.

For example, to test both their mental flexibility and the shoe’s flexibility, visitors had to go
through a maze full of dead ends that could only be solved via spatial thinking. On top of that,
the only way to cross a sea of yellow balls was to ace the balancing act needed to walk through a  narrow beam in the centre. And the giant seesaw? The off-scale playground staple required
coordination and communication to use, while also allowing users to gauge the flexibility of the
sole – but beyond the physics, it’s certainly about fun.

Source | Frame, 25th July 2019