In early March, German sportswear giant Adidas Originals took over the entire Yongyuan Road in Shanghai to create a “pop-up street” for its Superstar II trainers. For one weekend, the road was renamed “Shell Toe Street” in honour of the latest iteration of the 56-year-old sneaker. The pop-up pays tribute to street fashion and art, music and sports, and even food.
Of course, the main attraction is the four-storey “shoebox building” standing at the entrance of the road. The building is covered with large-scale models of Adidas’s iconic blue shoeboxes, while inside it hosted a “Superstar Archive” exhibiting various versions of the trainer.
The exterior made the road a “check-in” (打卡) spot, even if you weren’t attending the “block party” which took place on “Shell Toe Street”. The opening of the street on 7 March saw Adidas bringing two brand ambassadors, singer YUQI (宋雨琦) and rapper GALI for a special performance.
Adidas Originals also accompanied the campaign with an eye-catching slogan for the shoe “偏要出头” (lit. will not toe the line) to bring focus on the “头” (tou, lit. head, but means toe of the shoe here). At the same time, 3D billboards and installations of the Adidas Superstar II kicking out with its shell-shaped toe also showed off the new slogan in Shanghai.
Adidas had a comfortable 2024 in China with double-digit growth in revenue, reaching 3.46 billion EUR (3.76 billion USD) in Greater China, up 10.3% year-on-year (YoY). It also had seven consecutive quarters of growth. After two years under CEO Bjoern Gulden, the company optimised both its supply chain and distribution in China. With fierce competition from local brands such as Anta and international rivals like Nike, how Adidas aims to keep its momentum is certainly worth monitoring.
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