Why Adidas Entered the Formula 1 Race
Inside: What the brand stands to gain from the Mercedes-AMG F1 deal, what it means for Puma, and a historic Nike x F1 crossover: the Air Zoom Schu. Plus, what I'm watching in sports culture this week.
Welcome back to SportsVerse, people! Thanks for being here. It’s so fun seeing this grow.
Today, I’m here to talk about Adidas. We’ve known for a while the German sportswear giant wanted to dip its toe into the world of Formula 1, and on Wednesday, it confirmed a multi-season deal with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1, better known as the team Lewis Hamilton just left.
It’s a big move, one that will be watched closely by Adidas’ smaller German neighbour, Puma, which has enjoyed a stronghold on apparel and footwear production in F1 for years, while larger sportswear brands tended to steer clear. But for reasons we all know now, everyone wants a piece of F1.
I’ll break down what to expect from the partnership, what this means for the sport, and what this says about where Adidas is headed—with insights from my interview with the brand’s CEO last fall. Plus, if you stick around till the end, we can reminisce about some iconic F1 sneaker lore, in the form of Michael Schumacher’s Nike Air Zoom Schu (1996).
But first, here’s three things I’m watching in sports culture this week.
Rock climbing is the next niche sport set to inspire fashion collections and lookbooks. That’s according to my friend, brand and menswear guru Clayton Chambers of Sprezza.
Unrivaled Basketball. If you don’t know, get to know. I broke down why Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart’s new 3x3 league—tipping off on Jan 17—is the real deal. Brands, players and celebrity investors seem to agree.
The custom vintage sports jacket trend. Like the one Arsenal’s Leah Williamson pulled up to the first training session of the year in, made by Antonia Bronze. I’m biased, but so many of these great custom designers are coming out the UK. If you’re not already familiar with her game, allow me to also put you on to Hattie Crowther.
Adidas x Mercedes-AMG F1: What Do We Know?
This is Adidas’ first ever involvement in Formula 1.
Adidas will create apparel, footwear and accessories for the entire Mercedes F1 team (drivers, mechanics, engineers, support staff), set to be unveiled Feb 2025.
The brand has replaced Tommy Hilfiger as Mercedes F1’s apparel partner.
Fans will be able to buy a range of Adidas-branded Mercedes fanwear including apparel and sneakers.
There will also be a range of limited edition drops throughout 2025.
Zoom Out
This deal was only a matter of time.
Adidas’ CEO, Bjørn Gulden, happens to be the former CEO of Puma (the rival German sneaker brands are based literally a kilometer away from each other in the Bavarian countryside). During his time at Puma—2013-2023—he lifted the company from a major financial and cultural decline by partnering with athletes, teams and leagues in sports that other sportswear giants like Adidas and Nike didn’t care to invest in at the time. That included sports like cricket, volleyball and—you guessed it—motorsports.
When Gulden, a Norwegian former pro footballer who describes himself as a “sports romantic”, joined Adidas in January 2023, he brought with him that same ethos. He was tasked with saving Adidas from a crisis of its own, and a large part of his comeback strategy centered around deepening the brand’s connection to sports culture—not just to football, but to all sports. With F1’s cultural rise since the pandemic, it was only a matter of time before Adidas sought out a deal.
The Adidas-Mercedes deal is a big coup for both parties. Securing Mercedes, a German-owned team with strong brand power will be a nice antidote for Adidas after losing its partnership with the German national football federation to Nike last year. It has the chance to be part of Mercedes’ rebuilding project after a disappointing few seasons and the loss of Hamilton. For Mercedes, the team has the chance to build something a little different from its competition in the way it interacts with fans through fashion.
Adidas has the resources and the cultural clout to make a splash with this deal. But it still only owns a small share of the F1 apparel market compared to its rival.
Puma’s relationship with F1 has grown rapidly over the years, culminating in the brand becoming the official F1 apparel, footwear, accessories and merchandise supplier ahead of the 2024 season. The brand has improved its offering since appointing A$AP Rocky as creative director of its Formula 1 partnership back in 2023, creating genuinely good product that fans want to buy and generating hype with activations and limited edition drops at flashy races like the Las Vegas GP. Its motorsports-inspired SpeedCat low-rise sneakers became a hit among the fashion crowd late last year.
As my friend and F1 guru Toni Cowan-Brown says, the sport still has some way to go in improving its lifestyle merch offering. In recent seasons, streetwear brands like Palace and Palm Angels have tried to shake things up—to varying degrees of success. Even more apparent is the lack of good F1 merch when it comes to womenswear. The fact that not one, but two of the world’s largest sportswear brands are now committed to fixing that can only be a good thing. Let’s call it healthy competition.
What’s Next?
Adidas’ entry comes at a time of unprecedented commercial interest in Formula 1.
I’m excited to see how the brand plans to get creative with this Mercedes deal. No doubt the brand will look to court casual F1 fans with some more fashion-forward gear that borrows from the company’s streetwear and luxury expertise.
Adidas will surely bring in some of its favourite collaborators to add some spice in the mix with co-branded products or race-day activations—that could be anyone from Pharrell Williams to Grace Wales Bonner to Stella McCartney to Bad Bunny. I can also see a future where we see Adidas x Mercedes F1 products teased on the runway at Fashion Week to build hype before launch.
The harsh reality is that Mercedes F1 is not as attractive a prospect anymore. It’s far easier to build collections and sell products around athletes with genuine star power. George Russell is a great driver, but fashion… not so much. But Adidas is on a winning streak right now, keeping the pressure on category leader Nike. I for one am excited to see the Three Stripes in the paddock.
Speaking of Nike, the Swoosh has so far stayed away from Formula 1 in its new era. Their last involvement in the sport yielded one of the nicher retro sneaker grails in history. In the 90s, it sought replicate its Air Jordan success in the world of motorsports. The Air Zoom Schu, a high-top lifestyle sneaker that only went on sale in Europe and Asia, was an adaptation of the red and black suede racing shoes supplied by Nike to none other than seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher from 1996 through the turn of the century. The silhouette is pretty hard to come by these days. There’s one pair in stock on sneaker platform GOAT. It will cost you $600 though.
That’s all I’ve got for today, friends. As always, if you made it this far—I appreciate you. And if you enjoyed reading, don’t forget to tell a friend to tell a friend.
See y’all next week!
DYM