Adidas will open a new, state of the art footwear production site in Atlanta next year that will create around 160 new jobs.
The 74,000-square-facility, called SPEEDFACTORY, will complement Adidas’ first SPEEDFACTORY in Germany and will allow the company to manufacture products in increasingly high volumes with advanced complexity in colour, materials and sizes.
Adidas Group Executive Board Member Eric Liedtke, responsible for Global Brands, said the new factory will greatly accelerate the manufacturing process and bring products closer to US consumers.
“For years our industry has been playing by the same rules manufacturing product remotely in Asia. As the creator brand that challenges convention and looks to co-create the future with our consumers, we are obsessed with bringing all steps of the creation process home to America,” Mr Liedtke said.
“We’re fuelling design at the ground level of creativity in Brooklyn and reinventing manufacturing with the first Adidas SPEEDFACTORY in Atlanta. This allows us to make product for the consumer, with the consumer, where the consumer lives in real time, unleashing unparalleled creativity and endless opportunities for customisation in America.”
Adidas Group Executive Board Member Glenn Bennett, responsible for Global Operations, said the new facility will also allow the brand to source and produce locally, limiting long shipping distances and driving the brand’s commitment to sustainability.
“Speed is far more than a business strategy for us. Speed is all around us. It’s what athletes train for, and it’s essential to our consumers who live in a world of immediacy,” Mr Bennett added.
“With the first US-based SPEEDFACTORY, we’re combining some of the world’s best technology and manufacturing processes to give our consumers access to constant newness. This is another big step in our ambition to become the world’s first true fast sports brand.”
With the added manufacturing capacity, Adidas will be aiming to produce half a million pairs of shoes for running and other categories in the mid-term.
Both the US and Germany facilities are operated by Adidas’ strategic partner Oechsler.
