Adidas Closes Its Speedfactories

The end came as a surprise. Adidas will discontinue its sneaker production at the Speedfactory in Ansbach, Germany, and in Atlanta, USA, by April 2020 at the latest. However, this does not mean that the innovative Speedfactory project will be completely terminated.

Instead, the Herzogenaurach sporting goods giants are relocating production to Asia. Suppliers are to receive speedfactories there. With fully automated manufacturing, Adidas can produce more units and respond faster to trends in the sneaker market.

The relocation to Asia should reduce the cost of production. The knowledge gained in Ansbach and Atlanta can help the company "to couple these learnings with other advancements made with our suppliers, leveraging the totality of these technologies to be more flexible and economic while simultaneously expanding the range of products available," says Adidas Member of the Executive Board Martin Shankland.

In the future, not only running shoes, but also other sports shoes will be produced in the Speedfactory. In 2018, Adidas and Oechsler AG, which operates the factory in Franconia, were awarded the German Innovation Prize. With about one million pairs of sneakers per year, the share of Speedfactory shoes in the total sales of 400 million pairs of Adidas shoes is low.