Adidas Partners With Stella McCartney Again To Debut New Sustainable ‘Futureplayground’ Collection

German sportswear giant Adidas in partnership with British fashion designer Stella McCartney unveiled an eco-friendly collection called ‘Futureplayground‘, showcasing activists and sustainable materials in its brand campaign.

Since 2005, Stella McCartney and Adidas have been working together on multiple design collaboration. Their most recent partnerships involves the recently released spring summer 2021 collection, Futureplayground.

With a brand campaign designed to inspire youth, Adidas roped in female directors and activists to make the collection a defining one. Inspired by ‘land’ and borrowing cues from street sports and skater crews with pink, blue, and daring red tones, the collection is designed with Adidas’s ready temperature management technology.

Available in a range of floral prints, one of the highlights of this collection is the ultra-lightweight parka made with primegreen, a high-performance yarn made with 50% recycled content with the temperature tech allowing the leggings to remain dry and comforable.

According to Adidas, aside from a range of hats, running packs, and bags, another highlight is the Ultraboost Sandal that uses primeknit, the company’s method of using specialized knitting machines that utilize thermoplastic yarns with a result that is strong and flexible single-layered textile all in the shape of a shoe. Created out of primeblue, a high-performance recycled material, Adidas claims that the shoe delivers support and flexibility required to enhance an athlete’s motion and movement.

On the website, McCartney shares why she chose to launch this collection with Adidas. “I really wanted to change what I saw out there. Sports clothing for women, in particular sports performance, was such an ill addressed subject. The colours were very basic and there wasn’t much variation in design. I saw this as a real opportunity to put it right by offering women something they could work out in and still feel good about the way they look. Also, on the technical side, I find it really exciting to work with cutting edge sports performance technology and offering it to women.”

For its release in Japan, artist Monika Mogi and Yuri Hibon, who share a passion for organic and sustainable farming, came together and shot a film with Japanese Olympic archer Ren Hayakawa using elements such as shooting arrows to showcase what the brand stands for.

McCartney said that the collection and the diverse campaign celebrates individuality as well as inclusivity. “I love seeing how each individual is working to protect the planet or their community in their own way, and how they’ve each captured the collection in settings that celebrate their environment – serving as another reminder as to why it’s so important we strive to protect it.”

For their U.S. audience, director Anna Pollock features Lourdes Leon (aka Madonna’s daughter), a next-generation voice who focuses on inclusivity and female empowerment came together to showcase the collection and highlight the power of individuality and the strength of community.

The U.K. release will see filmmaker Netti Hurley collaborate with Georgia Moot, a mental health advocate and a voice for BIPOC communities, along with Calm and Violet, an artist and activist couple sending the message of equality through art.

I love seeing how each individual is working to protect the planet or their community in their own way, and how they’ve each captured the collection in settings that celebrate their environment – serving as another reminder as to why it’s so important we strive to protect it

Stella McCartney

McCartney has always been at the forefront of sustainable change in the fashion industry for instance she recently joined an initiative, ‘The Italy Project’ by the Apparel Impact Institute along with leading fashion brands like Burberry, and French luxury fashion group Kering in an effort to improve the environmental footprint of Italy’s luxury fashion supply chain.

In October of last year, Bolt Threads, a biotech company producing sustainable materials, announced a partnership with Adidas and McCartney along with Kering Group, Lululemon to create a consortium with access to Mylo, its latest vegan mushroom leather and eventually launch products made out of this material.

Adidas also recently offered its commitment to growing its plant-based range and increasing the use of sustainable materials across its entire product portfolio and from its football jerseys to its iconic Stan Smith shoes, the brand said that over 60% of the materials will come from recycled polyester, up from its 50% target made in 2020, or sustainably-sourced cotton.

As consumers become increasingly conscious about what they’re buying, the fashion industry that has been responsible for tons of waste and massive carbon footprints is ditching animal-derived ingredients and developing products that use grape leather made from the byproducts of wine waste to upcycled floral leather and many more. 

Lead image courtesy of Adidas.