Adidas announces biggest ever commitment to women

Sportswear giant Adidas has announced that it is accelerating its mission to create “real, lasting change for women in sport" by introducing new women-focused innovations, alongside enhanced support for established and emerging athletes and new grassroots programmes.

The German sportswear brand will focus on three key areas for 2022 -products, people and programmes, highlighted within the latest chapter of its ‘Impossible Is Nothing’ campaign, featuring a global collective of inspiring women, breaking down barriers in sport and driving gender equity.

A key focus will include “major investment” in women-focused product innovation to recognise and meet the specific needs of women in sport. In December, the brand introduced Ultraboost 22, built to address differences between male and female instep height, heel anatomy and gait cycle trends and will continue to launch innovations across the year, starting with a completely new approach to sports bras.

Described by Adidas as its biggest ever commitment to women, the sportswear brand will also launch an extension of long-lasting grassroots programmes to focus on encouraging and keeping women and girls in sport. This will include the Breaking Barriers Academy in Europe to help drive systemic change by providing gender equity learning resources to all sporting clubs, coaches and athletes. Adidas will also continue partnerships with the Black Women's Player Collective and Common Goal, and support the next generation of WNBA stars through the Adidas Legacy initiative.

The third focus will be continuing its long-term partnerships with female athletes and teams and sponsoring major leagues and tournaments such as the UEFA Women's Champions League and Women's Euro 2022.

Commenting on the brand’s focus towards women, Vicky Free, head of global marketing at Adidas, said in a statement: “This spring, we continue to use our brand attitude – Impossible is Nothing – to unite a strong, diverse and powerful community of women athletes who are changing the game. We see their power, we celebrate the possibilities they see, we share the optimism with which they seize opportunities.

“This is our call to action to all the women out there to keep making the impossible possible every day. Adidas can only continue to be their ally, committed to serving them through innovation in our products, partnerships and across all dimensions of sport.”

To highlight its commitment to visibility, its upcoming 'Impossible Is Nothing' campaign shares the stories of women to inspire others. The film, launching on February 14, will feature volleyball player Tifanny Abreu, basketball player Asma Elbadawi, runner Fatima Ibrahimi, skateboarder Momiji Nishiya, and yoga teacher Jessamyn Stanley, as well as actor HoYeon and model Ellie Goldstein.