Here's a funny story. Through my work, I met a lady and through a casual conversation, she said she used to work for adidas. She and her husband noticed my adidas shoes and the conversation naturally turned to badminton since I was wearing the BT feather. I remarked that I turned them into street shoes as I was unimpressed with the design. She then takes photos of my feet (with the shoes!) when I am pointing out the things I don't like about it and why I am trying out a different brand. Some of the stuff has her husband agreeing with me. She says at the end of it 'I know all the people in Adidas manufacturing. I am going to send these pictures to the COO (chief operating officer).' That is one way to impress a badmintonfanatic.
I have to admit I'm shocked that Axelson have left Yonex. I wonder how much money they paid him to get him to switch? As for Lin Dan going with Adidas? Really? Where did you get that rumor from? That's definitely news to me! I think Adidas should just run this directly instead of subcontracting this to a third party. Badminton is a growing sport and is very popular in Asia. There's plenty of money to be made.
Hmm. Is the link between adidas and Lin Dan news to you? Where have you been for the last three to four months?
Axelsen was the only promising prospect for Adidas. I'm only saying that cause he was able to make it fairly far in the tournaments for his matches to be played live or on youtube, etc. A little disappointing on Adidas' part since it was looking so promising for 2015 with new releases and such
just been having a great time playing with my adipower duoforce. unfortunately, while playing a few days ago and halfway through a game I kept hitting mishits and then when I looked at my racket the shaft was turned at an angle. apparently, the screw inside the handle holding the shaft in place had gone loose and the wooden handle had also cracked. Now I have to send it for repairs. First time something like that has happened to me in all my years of playing badminton.
Am I the only one to get excited by the new Quickforcce shoes? The Dutch 'Zalando' (well known online shop in europe, best known in Holland for its unbelievably annoying tv ads); already had them on their website: http://www.zalando.nl/adidas-performance-quickforce-7-sportschoenen-wit-ad542a1le-a11.html I'm stocked, the past months I've been using the BT Feather as well as the Feather Elite (http://i3.ztat.net/large/AD/54/2A/1B/1H/11/AD542A1B1-H11@1.1.jpg) So far, the differences are negligable, I can interchange quite easily. I'm impressed with the quality, after wrecking yonex and asics shoes, these seem to hold up quite well.
Actually, if the COO contacted YOU, that is one way to impress a badminton fanatic. Everything she did so far amounts to nothing but talk. I will be interested to see what Adidas does going forward in the near future for our beloved sport.
That's surprising, I saw quite a few torn and damaged ones at a recent tournament, and mine were close to tearing as well when I finally decided to dump them for good. In my opinion, not a good shoe - the soles were WAY to stiff and I lost all feeling for the court, that combined with the low cut and very hard edge that pressed right against my ankle joint made them unwearable for me, despite giving it a very thorough try. :/
Back with more news. As you are all aware, after an initial flourish, we haven't been very impressed with Adidas badminton. Initially, my sources told me Adidas were signing up Lin Dan and look at what has happened. The news is that the original company that ran Adidas badminton has been removed from the scene and a new company is running Adidas badminton. Adidas will do another product launch in mid 2015 (as I was told). BC has a direct line to the top guy in Adidas badminton. It was only a brief conversation but waiting to hear more. We talked a bit about Nozomi Okuhara and her using Adidas racquets - they signed her up after the World Junior Championships. But she was injured for a lot of last year. They are still trying to sign up people for the long run. I didn't get to ask what racquet she was using - too brief a conversation. I will try to get some idea of how they will try to move forward from the previous attempt. Obviously, they will have to things a lot (and I mean a lot) better. Or will they be less ambitious and do the cunning plan approach?
Yes, in a way but can't find anything in 3U that plays the same. I love the feel of the APZ but my game changed when I use it..my team mates kept telling me that my swing was very long compare to when I was using BS-12 3U. I had to swing much harder to clear from baseline to baseline.
It looks like the (old colour) AdiPower Tour, she's wearing the new colourway BT Feather as well. As for the company, from what I gather the Hong Kong company responsible has been taken of the Adidas Badminton brand. Now a Chinese company responsible for Adidas China (all of adidas in China) is doing the badminton branch. As for 2015, who knows what's in store? Maybe a complete relaunch? Or perhaps they'll continue with the current line-up and slowly introduce their "own things"? For one, over the summer all rackets were introduced with a new colourway (the adipower Pro in Red, the Tour in White/Silver, the Duaforce in white/red. The adiZero pro in yellow, Adizero Tour in Blue). However they're not on the market yet.
