Working on this adidas Spezial collaboration has been a different and stimulating experience, the first of its type for me. The project came about through our ongoing relationship with fellow northerner Gary Aspden who creates the Spezial capsule collection.
This has been a hands-on and committed working process between all of us, with multiple visits to Germany, design meetings and sample reviews โ it hasn't just been a signing off gesture. The process has been revealing, working and creating within the framework of what is and what isnโt possible. There are limitations to work within. For example, creating new toolings for footwear is very expensive, and also there are general โ albeit wide ranging โ brand guidelines that we had to operate within.
But ultimately, the finished article has to have that adidas Spezial look and feel, combined and realised with the ideas that New Order have brought to this collaboration. It was the same when we first started using synthesizers in the early 1980s... the finite possibilities of what you could do with those machines actually became our guidelines and also an advantage i.e. you got the very best out of what they could do rather than just scratching the surface.
It was a great experience working with the team over in Herzogenaurach. I was surprised and very pleased at what an internationally inclusive organisation adidas is. We worked alongside creative and helpful people from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, the US and the UK โ all working together towards getting the designs precise, achievable and representative of what we wanted.โ
Bernard Sumner
September 2020
Image courtesy of Warren Jackson - taken at the adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany in October 2014.
โ_nwrdrSPZL: a product release by new order and adidasโ will be revealed at 8am tomorrow on SHOWstudio.com and will be on sale on September 18th from adidas.com and Spezial stockists. This is chapter 2 of adidas Spezial Autumn 20.
@wvk51 @neworderofficial #adidasspezial #neworder
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