On June 8th, 2017, adidas partnered up with Parley For The Oceans to celebrate World Oceans Day with their inaugural 5K run in NYC. During the event, we spoke with Andre Maestrini (adidas Global Head Of Running) and Matthias Amm (Global Category Director Of Running Footwear) to discuss the future of footwear innovation, the Boost boom, and much more. Maestrini stressed the point of adidas being the industry leader of Earth-conscious manufacturing, noting that brands who don’t adapt will eventually be phased out. He also notes that adidas is not only releasing one million pairs of Parley footwear in 2017, but aims to produce five million pairs of Parley footwear in 2018. Eleven plastic bottles are recycled to produce one upper of the Ultra Boost; that translates to 55 million plastic bottles transformed into sneakers.
With the adidas partnership, Parley For The Oceans is receiving and increasing number of requests for collaborations, although they are very selective; they recently announced a partnership with Corona with an initiative that aims to protect 100 islands around the globe. In fact, adidas is so passionate about the Parley mission that they are open to other footwear brands collaborating with Parley as well. Matthias says “If Nike wants to come, if Puma wants to come, if New Balance wants to come, we will open up and tell them how we do it because it’s not about us or them, it’s about the world and how we can work together to make it a better place.”
adidas and Parley invited a group of 500 runners, influencers, and other guests to run in their inaugural 5K #RunForTheOceans in Long Island City, right across the East River. Following the run was a live performance by Pusha T.
Learn more about Parley For The Oceans here. Shop the latest adidas x Parley footwear here.