How Adidas Ventures is Driving Innovation to the Sportswear Industry

I was lucky to interview Milos Ribic, Director at Adidas Ventures. Being on the frontline of innovation, Adidas launching shoes into space, introducing recyclable materials, and so much more. We asked Milos about the trends and challenges of the sportswear industry, opportunities for the startups, and where Adidas will be in 30 years. Originally posted on Koalition Blog.

Adidas is a large company with several innovation departments. Could you please help us understand how startups can best approach Adidas?

It depends on the startup’s model or the service they’re creating. The number of businesses under the Adidas group is extensive: ranges from manufacturing to the digital experience. Each entity has its priorities and the horizontal venture system.

We’re looking for ways that can help us scale and exponentially grow specific priorities for the brand. Today that boils down to two buckets. One is around materials innovation. Since the brand’s strategic priority and belief is sustainability for the world, we are driven by the success of using recycled plastics for product creation. We’re looking for new materials that don’t use natural resources or have very minimal contact with them. We want to maximize sustainability impact and therefore use venture as a tool that helps to…