Adidas reported its fourth-quarter earnings last week and while the quarter was challenged by supply chain issues and downturns in China, the German brand forecasted sunnier skies ahead for 2022. Highlighting its many creative partnerships, Adidas CEO Kasper Rørsted was particularly upbeat on the potential of the brand’s partnership with Jerry Lorenzo on Fear of God Athletics, a new silo first announced in December 2020.
In the call, Lorenzo himself was mentioned 13 times as the leader behind an effort to win back share in the basketball space. While Lorenzo teased an Adidas and Fear of God hoodie and crewneck at the Innersect 2022 consumer convention in Shanghai, Rørsted said the first official Fear of God Athletics collection would launch sometime in summer 2022.
Rorsted went on to describe the Fear of God Athletics product as a “lifestyle” effort. He added, Our collaboration with Jerry Lorenzo will leave its mark as we premiumize Originals and reignite basketball.”
Adding detail on how the new partnership with Lorenzo will be rolled out, CFO Harm Ohlmeyer “We will not disrupt the basketball business in the first season, right. But we want to leave a dent in the second half of the year and then build on this one, and that is really the strategy. So it will be meaningful, but it’s not defining our growth pattern in the second half.”
