Adidas is delivering on consumers’ demands for functional footwear with the help of Polygiene, a fabric technology specialist.
Polygiene has debuted its Stays Fresh Technology in Adidas’s outdoor and trail shoe, the Terrex CC Voyager. Adidas, which has been a customer of the company since 2014, will extend Polygiene-treated products to its full Terrex footwear line. With Polygiene technology, consumers can benefit from the functional capabilities of Terrex shoes, without worrying about sweat or changing climates.
“Smelly shoes is a problem almost everybody has experienced and our odor control treatment is the solution,” said Haymo Strubel, director of commercial operations for Polygiene in Europe. “The footwear segment is prime for Polygiene and the launch of Adidas footwear marks an important milestone.”
As a lightweight Polygiene outdoor shoe, the Terrex CC Voyager features many functional capabilities—breathability, grip and ventilation. A special climacool open mesh provides breathability to the wearer’s feet, while Adidas’s Stealth rubber gives extra grip on rough terrain and the shoe’s midsole sidewall enables ventilation during physical activity. Additional features of the shoe include a dual injection EVA midsole for comfort and a hard outside rim for foot stability and quick drying for warmer hiking days.
In addition, wearers also benefit from Polygiene’s advanced fabric technology. Polygiene is an additive applied on foam, plastics or textiles that prevents the growth of odor-causing bacteria by using silver salt (silver chloride)—a natural inhibitor of bacterial growth that’s found in soil and water. Polygiene’s silver chloride derives from recycled silver, providing a functional, yet sustainable feature for Adidas’s Terrex CC Voyager. With Polygiene, consumers have functional and eco-friendly protection from physical and environmental changes.
“The consumer benefit using Polygiene-treated garments and shoes are huge. [Research] shows that customers are willing to pay more for a technology like this. Everybody is familiar with stinky shoes, especially shoes for training or sneakers. For garments there are the same benefits and you can save water because you need to wash less,” said Ulrika Björk, chief executive officer of Polygiene. “This is good for the environment and saving water but also gives your garments a longer life-cycle.”
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This isn’t the first time Adidas has stepped up its footwear offering with innovative fabrics. For the past few years, Adidas has collaborated with Parley for the Oceans, an eco-friendly organization that works to protect marine life. Adidas and the organization partnered on the first Terrex Parley shoe—a unisex outdoor boat shoe with an upper featuring Parley’s yarn made from recycled plastic bottles. Adidas is planning to expand its Adidas x Parley footwear for Spring 2018 with new functional features including breathability and anti-slip technology to ensure users can move seamlessly from water sports to land.