Sneaker Revolution —— Adidas & BASF

In recent few years, Adidas has managed to find its stride. The reason for celebration is the Three Stripes’ introduction of an innovative cushioning technology dubbed ‘Boost’. It’s a revolutionary cushioning technology that delivered the highest energy return in any running product. Producing a Boost midsole requires the help of the world’s largest chemical producer in the world, BASF.

How does BASF help Adidas become more appealing to consumers?

For the last 20 to 30 years, most sneakers have been made with EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) midsoles, a material that leaves room for improvement. One of EVA’s faults is an attribute called compression set, meaning that when a material takes a load, it flattens out and doesn’t rebound.

Therefore, when BASF was developing a new material, energy return was one of the key areas on which they focused. Infinergy dampens the shock impact and bounces the foot back for a rebound effect. The material achieves a rebound of 55 percent, unprecedented in comparable particle foams.

Besides energy return, the other main qualities of Infinergy are comfort and durability. These qualities derive from the composition of the material, a closed-cell elastic particle foam that combines the advantages of TPU with those of foams. Inside the foam are tiny plastic cells with enclosed air bubbles.

Last year, Boost shoes proved their efficacy in performance with a series of marathon wins. In 2014, the men’s and women’s New York City Marathon winners and the men’s Berlin Marathon winner were all wearing Adizero Adidas Boost shoes.

In addition to the running line, Adidas is using Infinergy in a variety of other athletic categories including hiking shoes, snowboarding and golf shoes. It is also being used in lifestyle shoes including the Ultra Boost and a collaboration with Marvel’s Avengers for both children and adults. The material is exclusive to Adidas through 2017.

These functional benefits of Boost shoes are combined with the unique looks make Adidas more appealing to consumers.

Why BASF?

Today, BASF is the world’s largest chemical company, with global sales of $33.8 billion and North American sales of $8 billion. Compared with DuPont and Dow, what makes it more competitive and a better partner?

BASF is not only the manufacturer in the marketing role. BASF is putting new emphasis on the need to work closely with customers by joining with them in product development and by getting directly involved in their manufacturing processes.

“We are interested in customer interaction, not just customer relations management,” Jacques Delmoitiez, BASF’s group vice president and project leader for the new initiative said at a press conference at Novo Mesto, Slovenia,where BASF has a 28-strong team working in the paint shop of an automotive plant of Renault.

The company has set up its own marketing and sales academy, which will concentrate on helping employees get to know not only customers but customers’ customers and suppliers, as well as their markets and requirements.

As the results, cooperating with BASF not only gains the innovative technology, but also excellent servece, such as on-time delivery, technical assistance, quick response and better supports.

For Adidas, cooperated with BASF can also take what they need from each other.

“We’re interested in working with market leaders and specifically with those who are leaders in innovative technology in their sectors,” John Feldmann, executive board member responsible for the new customer initiative, said at a press conference at Adidas’s main site at Herzogenaurach, Germany.

At the same time, BASF regards Adidas as a typical example of the sort of customer with which it is seeking to establish an alliance as a customized solution provider.

Through the partnership, they are able to get stronger and better in the fierce competition.