Behind the scenes at the adidas test centre and the sports brand takes the outdoors seriously.
A couple of weeks back we popped out to Germany to see the guys at adidas Outdoor both for an insight into what they're up to and a quick look at the results – in other words, their 2011 range of outdoor-specific clothing, equipment and footwear.
The bottom line is that the brand is taking the outdoors seriously, very seriously and applying some serious research and technology in the process. Its aim is, it says, to be 'the athletic brand in the outdoors', which means light, fast-moving kit.
But it also recognises that adidas isn't seen as an 'outdoors brand' and it it's going to need to convince walkers and climbers that it's capable of producing effective outdoors kit. There's also lots of talk about the company being a big brand 'acting like a small brand' in the outdoors.
Anyway... we've already shown you about the Walk of Fame – which tells you a lot about the company's heritage in competitive sport – but what we found really fascinating was the brand's research centre, where the product team do some serious analysis of the way the human body works and how they can optimise adidas kit to work with it.
Climate Chamber
Central to the clothing development is a sealed climate chamber complete with treadmill and a whopping great fan to simulate winds of up to 7 metres per second and a temperature range between 5˚C and 50˚C – a new version, on the way soon, will be capable of creating temperatures as low as 50˚C by the way.
Using thermal imaging and humidity sensors, researchers can see exactly which parts of the body are getting hot during exercise and, of course, how the wind impacts on that. They can also measure core as well as skin temperatures and, of course, take subjective feedback into account.
It's fascinating to watch and really instructive to see how even relatively light winds lead to rapid cooling of some areas. What's it all about? Well, adidas is making hybrid garments combining windproof areas and non-windproof areas and the testing allows them to work out the optimal distribution of the two.
It differs between men and women by the way, men overheat faster, so need larger areas of breathable, wind-porous fabric than women and in slightly different areas. We have a pre-production, 2011 hybrid Windstopper jacket here and while hybrid construction is nothing new, the way the panels are distributed is subtly different from other brands we've seen.
The front is windproof, but shoulders, yoke and the bulk of the sleeves, along with the side of the trunks are a more breathable material. But then the forearms, again, are Windstopper, which makes sense as they lose heat fast.
Footwear Analysis
The other high tech focus is on the way footwear works. Researchers film footwear in action, for example, the heel unit on the Terrex Fast outsole is semi-detached block that changes angle as the heel strikes the ground on a downhill gradient reducing forces and increasing stability. Suddenly, watching it all happen in slow motion, you can see that the sole design is anything but a gimmick.
Similarly, kitting out a walker's leg with infra-red reflective dots allows the team to analyse how different sole units cope with uneven ground and produce footwear that makes turning an ankle less likely. Another machine measures the resistance to slipping of different rubber compounds and tread patterns on outsoles, in both wet and dry conditions to give consistent levels of grip underfoot.
Rapid Development
The team at adidas outdoor may not be huge by the standards of the rest of the company, but six designers is a large team compared to most stand-alone outdoor brands and it's been strengthened over the last year by bringing in specialist outdoor designers including Brits who've worked with the likes of Berghaus and Montane and, in the case of packs, Lowe Alpine.
And then there's the testing – adidas says it uses no fewer than 60 testers, mostly guides and sponsored athletes, with most products being used by four testers for between two weeks and two months. In a typical year, that means around 700 product tests.
One of those testers is sponsored climber Tomas Huber, who along with this brother Alex, previously worked with Berghaus. An interesting, affable character who plays in his own rock band and looks the part, Huber is particularly impressed with the way the design team responds to his feedback.
During development of the new adidas sticky approach shoe – due out next spring – he says that everything he pointed out was revised between the first and second test.
'The designers listen,' he says. 'If you suggest something they do it. Adidas make products for athletes. I have never worked so closely with designers before.'
When we ask if the new 2011 kit is better than what's available from other brands, he's refreshingly realistic. 'Not better,' he says. 'But now they are in the top league and as good as other brands, though retailers still don't trust them.'
He doesn't, he says, believe that any other brand would have been able to make the advances in outdoor clothing that adidas has over the last three years.
All of which sounds great, but does the new kit look to be up to the job, see Part Two - coming shortly - for a look at what's in the pipeline for spring 2011.
