Drapers Fashion retail industry news, trends and analysis
Adidas has made a grand entrance into Westfield London with its new store concept, which gives a taste of sporting spectacle and performance in its dramatic, industrial design.
The store opened to the public on 20 March, and sits at the entrance of the west London shopping centre’s new £600m extension. This store marks the UK debut of the sportswear giant’s “stadium”-style concept, which was unveiled in New York in autumn 2016.
Designed by Julius Steinert, senior associate at DarntonB3 Architecture, the store brings elements of a sporting stadium into the retail world, in keeping with Adidas’s prominent place in the professional sporting world.
Chain-link fencing, concrete flooring, industrial girders and steel staircases lend a coolly industrial, urban aesthetic, while suspended floodlights create a pitchside ambience.
In-store events, such as the Adidas Running Club meetings, are advertised on a letterboard and changing rooms are inspired by locker rooms, as the brand aims to create an immersive sporty experience for customers.
Advertisement
The 11,900 sq ft store spans two levels: womenswear on the ground floor and menswear on the mezzanine.
There are treadmills on both floors that analyse a runner’s gait and select the best trainer, while upstairs also features a football goal simulator.
Vast walls of trainers dominate and divide both floors. Shoes are arranged according their style and function – a wall devoted to football boots, for example, sits in the menswear department.
The store displays Adidas’s running, football and workout clothing and shoes, as well as the popular Originals range and Adidas by Stella McCartney, all on utilitarian dark metal fittings. The overall effect of the stadium design is to combine Adidas’s sporting prowess with the brand’s urban and youthful street cred.
Behind the design: Oliver Fehl, senior director retail concepts, Adidas
Tell us about the stadium concept
Sport has the power to change lives and the stadium is the manifestation of where you can do sport. We wanted to showcase the unique spirit of the stadium in an active, urban way and recreate the mindset of our consumer, the athlete.
The stadium concept takes them behind the stands – making the city the playing field. We are representing where athletes go to prepare for their game.
Behind the stands, they can find everything they need for their best performance. We take them to the Test and Create areas throughout the store and ask them, “What do you need? What are you looking for?” We take runners to the treadmills and ask whether they normally run 5k or 10k, and how often. It is about engaging and finding what consumers need to ensure their best performance.
What’s different about the Westfield store?
The New York store is close to 43,000 sq ft, so to go to Westfield London, we had to scale the concept down.
When we’re talking about the consumer, on Fifth Avenue we have a lot of tourists. We might only have 10 or 15 minutes to get their attention and talk to them about what we want to talk about. At Westfield, although of course we still have some tourists, we want to talk to those consumers who live in the city. This is where they run, where they play football – so our goal is to speak to them.
Why London?
Our brand strategy is about opening in global cities, so we have New York, we recently opened in LA, will remodel our Paris flagship and in the future will open in Shanghai. London is a key city we want to hit in Europe and the Westfield London shopping centre is a great opportunity – it is up there with Oxford Street and Covent Garden. It is an important trade zone and Westfield was also eager to get something new.
Have your say
or a new account to join the discussion.