Rumor has that adidas is getting into badminton and Viktor Axelsen is one of their first players. Sounds like a huge thing if such a giant really decides to make badminton apparel but I doubt they will also manufature rackets. Anyone got any details?
They are already sponsoring the Japanese players Ikeda and Shiota for a few years and have their specific clothing and the badminton shoes for which there is a thread here already . These shoes are already available in Germany for years as well but marketed as Handbal shoes. Like I said in the other thread (Viktor Axelsen's thread), the article says rackets as well so we will just have to wait and see ... http://www.adidas.com/jp/sports/badminton/
Surprising that they want to get into rackets as well. In tennis they have been sponsoring players for a long time but they don't produce rackets or did so in the past (at least not to my knowledge). Just read they did produce their first racket in the 70s but I don't think they are still into this.
I remember Lendl with an Adidas racket? Reading it was at first a simple repaint of his old sponsor and later Adidas bought the mold and slightly modified the composition ... Apparently made a whole range themselves as well besides it. Have seen some cheap older Adidas badminton rackets on the local buy & sell websites from time to time as well But they seem to have tennis rackets again since a few years and originally was thought then they might try to have Djokovic play with them (I'm reading on a tennis forum) but didn't end up that way: Adidas Barricade http://www.racketsport-experte.de/tennisschlaeger/adidas-tennisschlaeger
yeah,Just read they did produce their first racket in the 70s but I don't think they are still into this.
My friend has seen the adidas badminton line play tested by some top players in Japan - they have rackets - shuttlecocks - specific shoes, everything dedicated to the badminton players - he told me it looks and feel just amazing -
this is very interesting, lets see what they do, they've just posted a racket close up on their Facebook page not sure if their rackets will be anything special but we can wait and see i've done some digging and found these guys are distributers for europe (well, 5 countries or so) http://www.sportart3.com apparently the range will be unveiled in february at a show in Berlin (says somewhere on that site)
Looking pretty good . Climacool: check; Formotion: check [although looks tight fitting from the looks of it] "Super lightweight fabric incorporating adidas climacool and formotion technologies. Designed specifically for Badminton with additional lift height under the arm…" https://www.facebook.com/adidasbadminton
Maybe we should stick to one thread about adidas in Badminton http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/121917-*New!-Adidas-Badminton (although mine was here first )
This is the section for clothing and footwear, rackets belong in the other thread hehe. Besides, Kwun was too late already with posting apparel in the wrong section anyway ...
As long they can price their apparel at a reasonable cost, i think adidas can have very good sales based on their branding....their designs is always nice as usual
so far the release design is just a small portion of it. there are quite a lot more at launch. unfortunately i don't have any information on the pricing. the design are very Adidas mainly because it was designed in conjunction with the main Adidas clothing designer and the badminton division. the result is a consistent look across the brand.
I really hope the prices aren't on the same level as their tennis apparel. On their official webshop, the T-shirts are starting from €40,- to €60,- (which is quite a lot!)
Here in NL, shirts from Yonex or Victor are around €30,- (≈ $40). The most expensive T-shirts are €40,- (≈ $54,-), but there are only a few of them. Last season T-shirts are around €20,- (≈ $27,-). Mostly found on webshops, as we don't really have many dedicated badminton stores. In the regular sport stores, you definitely won't find any Yonex/Victor/Li-Ning/Carton/Forza apparel. Adidas, Nike, Puma are the renowned brands here. It would be a nice change if Adidas offers more badminton clothing and footwear in the regular stores. Ultimately though, I won't mind if they are priced around the Victor/Yonex price category, as it's definitely cheaper than the regular apparel Adidas is offering right now. They do have some cheaper T-shirts, which happen to be the more bland/boring ones...
