adidas re-act

Research & Insights

The pandemic has heightened our environmental awareness.

According to research, optimally repurposing what is already manufactured is the most sustainable practice, limiting the creation of additional waste, loss of material and energy consumed to remanufacture. By extending the life of garments by just 9 months of active use, the environmental impacts of water waste and carbon footprint could be reduced by 20%–30% (WRAP, 2021).

This idea isn't something new, especially in developing countries where discarding the last option. So, why isn't this happening in developed countries? What keeps us from discarding some items more readily than others? Apart from lack of access to resources, infrastructure, knowledge and skill, the biggest barrier to adoption is cost. From the perspective of adidas, while they are heavily investing in sourcing raw material, manufacturing tools and techniques and reducing impact in the supply chain, there is little done to understand the end-of-life of products after they are sold.

Insights

Interviews and collaboration with adidas and their customers helped me uncover the following insights:

1. Technology is here, customers are not. While adidas has the infrastructure and technological advancements to be sustainable, the bigger challenge is changing customer behaviour to make more sustainable choices
2. Products with strong emotional ties are less likely to be discarded. This attachment is not based on the comfort or appearance of the product, but rather on memories associated with it, such as your first salary, a project you worked on, an event you attended, or even the person who gave it to you
3. Incentives drive customer behaviour. People are more willing to take the initiative if they are incentivized for their efforts.

SOLUTION

‘adidas re-act’ is a service that aims to help adidas make visible to their customers, their sustainability initiatives by offering concrete and actionable methods to extend the life of their products. It redefines the meaning of sustainability in the sports industry for consumers, by making it visible, doable, accessible and inclusive. This an interconnected web of four sub-services within their existing ecosystem namely: ‘re-pair’, ‘re-live’, ‘re-claim’ and ‘re-share’ support customers by providing tools, resources and professional assistance to repair, customise, share within the community and make accessible to those who don’t own them.

Therefore, by empowering customers to become agents of change for the bigger cause of the planet and providing a physical platform to engage with the service and larger community, it aims to change the way customers interact with products they own and transform customer behaviour and mindset towards what it means to be truly sustainable. By leveraging on the existing ecosystem, strategies and initiatives of adidas, the service not only strengthens links between the brand and its existing customers but also extends its reach to a larger audience by making it more affordable.

While setting up the service could mean high infrastructure and logistical costs, embedding it into the existing ecosystem of the creators club membership program and physical stores significantly reduces and optimizes existing resources, therefore minimizing cost while increasing brand engagement and reach.

Here we are, leveraging the brand’s influence to bring communities together, create memorable experiences and prolong the life of your products and the world. By shifting our mindset towards the way we consume, we can address climate emergency and build a sustainable future with adidas.

Reflection, Learning & Next Steps

Addressing climate change from a systems perspective is complex and messy. This project taught me how to holistically design and navigate complex systems in a way that adds value and meets both, the brand objectives and customer expectations. It helped me explore various methods of research-on-the-go and ask the right questions while navigating never-ending challenges in the development phases that demanded looking at the big picture and smaller details simultaneously. One of the biggest learnings for me was realizing the importance of feedback loops in co-creation. In the next phase of the project, I will be further focusing on the business model and intricacies of the service to make it more robust. Credits: Illustrations via Blush Design (Fritz by Ana Copenicker)