Adidas and Peloton Announce Partnership
Will Adidas take over the Peloton clothing and accessory shop? Many in the Peloton cult are hoping so.
Peloton has announced a new partnership with Adidas and if you are wondering what that means for either brand, so is everyone else.
A very succinct announcement was posted to Adidas’s website. There was a statement from Aimee Arana, general manager for global training for the athletic apparel company.
“I’m proud to announce our partnership with Peloton, the leading interactive fitness platform,” it reads. “Together we see great potential to surprise and delight our highly engaged communities by multiplying the power of both brands in a number of exciting ways.” No further information was provided.
Adidas started as a German shoemaker and now has a hand in sports apparel and accessory categories from tracksuits to lacrosse sticks to deodorant. Its white stripes and triangle logo are ubiquitous on soccer fields and, for a German multinational that dates back to the 1920s, the brand has a somewhat inexplicable appeal to American hip-hop and Indian Bollywood celebrities.
While Pelton’s star has soared during the COVID-19 crisis, as fitness buffs were exiled from the gym and the high-tech stationary bicycle’s cult of devotees expanded, Adidas has experienced a fairly flat financial situation through the pandemic. (Some have speculated that working from home will shore up sales of its sneakers and flip-hops.) The company signaled to investors it expects growth to pick up in 2021 as consumers return to sporting goods stores.
Naturally, one would expect that the new partnership will result in Adidas manufacturing clothing and/or shoes tailor-made for and marketed at Peloton riders, replacing or augmenting the luxury-priced Peloton apparel for sale on the cycle maker’s website. Both companies are fairly logo-conscious, so it will be interesting to see the Peloton P and Adidas’ signature stripes sharing the same pair of pants.
Some Peloton riders suspected an Adidas deal was on the horizon when they spotted instructor Cody Rigsby in a pink Adidas-branded t-shirt during a live class on Sunday.
Cyclists on the r/peloton Reddit page posted their hopes and expectations.
“Not that Adidas is a ‘value’ brand but fingers crossed this means more affordable Peloton gear!” wrote one.
“I would definitely welcome some new Adidas/Peloton cycling shoes,” agreed another poster. “The selection of indoor cycling shoes available now from all brands seems to be mediocre and/or ugly for under $200, and everything else $400.”
One message board occupant, foreseeing the merchandize onslaught, simply wrote, “A moment of silence for my wallet,”
