Adidas Coaches Its Suppliers in the Sustainability Marathon – Building a Stronger, More Sustainable Supply Chain

Goal: cut chemicals by 30% across the partner network within 18 months, with quarterly milestones. The headquarters, based in Herzogenaurach, anchors the work, linking clothing and shoe lines, refurbished components, and field operations, while leadership demands practical, measurable progress.

In 2024, the program reduced the use of hazardous chemicals by 12% across mills and partner facilities. Fact-based audits show water use per garment down 8% and energy intensity down 5%, such gains achieved by organizers who train groups in safer dyeing and waste handling, with odlo as a key sponsor and care-focused partner. Based in field settings, teams work with brazilians ja young designers to scale changes, says the leadership.

Programs include chemicals management, water care, and worker safety. Athletes participate in field demonstrations; organizers preaching practical steps such as switching to water-efficient dyeing methods, selecting refurbished textiles for certain lines, and consolidating logistics to reduce trips. The approach includes clothing and shoe lines; care for people and environment sits at the core, supported by partnerships with sponsors and brands including odlo and other supporters.

For other groups, implement a three-pillar plan: first, map every stage of the field logistics network; second, set a transparent, public goal and publish progress; third, provide hands-on training and regular check-ins. The program includes mentoring for young designers and brazilians artisans; start with a pilot in one country and increase scope after six months.

In practice, the combination of strong leadership, transparent sponsorship from brands like odlo, and a focus on chemicals reduction, water care, and refurbished components can push the sector toward responsible outcomes. By the next cycle, the organization expects to increase the share of clothing and shoe products made with low-impact dyes, while boosting care for workers’ health and communities in field environments.

Adidas Sustainability Plan: Coaching Suppliers and Open-Source Innovation in Sports

Take direct steps to empower sourcing partners through a six-month program that equips facilities with practical modules on chemicals, water use, and worker welfare.

Create open-source toolbox with modular trainings, templates for chemical inventories, and shared metrics to track inputs for garments, yarns, and filaments across production sites.

Implement a social-acceptance framework that ties sponsors, vulnerable communities, and young people to action in favelas; measure outcomes such as training hours, job placements, and youth mentorship, ensuring relatable experiences that build acceptance.

Establish a source-driven data loop featuring a versatile indicator named (источник) to capture origin of fabrics and filaments; emphasize transparency and risk flags for high-risk chemical groups like certain dyes.

Prioritize oceans-friendly materials and direct audits to verify compliance, with a focus on vulnerable communities and long-term partnerships in continents with high needs; aim to raise highest levels of accountability across world where young designers co-create with communities.

For adidas, align program metrics with procurement goals, aiming to increase sourcing of recycled materials and reduce dependence on chemicals, while equipping factories to implement clean production lines.

Coaching Suppliers: Frameworks, KPIs, Audits, and Capacity Building

Recommendation: adopt a four-layer approach across facilities: governance, risk controls, performance KPIs, and capacity development. Through this framework, embed terms on waste reduction, chemicals management, and ocean stewardship. ngos and organizers can co-create a partnership with bluesign-approved mills, basf, and other groups to ensure safe practices. Focus on critical risk areas such as waste, chemicals, and labor conditions.

KPIs should measure percent waste diverted, energy intensity, water use, and chemical risk reduction. Some partners require short-cycle data collection; set monthly or quarterly cadence. Choose partners meeting bluesign and basf criteria to ensure consistent safety. Dashboards translate data into red/yellow/green signals, enabling organizers to steer a partnership with bluesign, basf, and other groups toward safer operations for those groups.

Audits: risk-based, unannounced checks focusing on chemicals handling, waste segregation, and worker safety. many audits rely on bluesign criteria and basf chemical safety standards. basf says data from these checks should feed joint improvement plans. Through open reporting, address non-conformities within 30–60 days; escalate high-risk gaps to a joint improvement plan with ngos and organizers. Use refurbished equipment audits to ensure asset integrity continues.

Capacity-building: implement modular training on chemical risk, organic materials, yarns, and filaments used in fabrics. Use open curricula shared with groups inside scope, including ngos and paulo-led programs. Offer hands-on practice on refurbished equipment and non-toxic alternatives. Track progress with same KPIs, reporting percentage gains toward goal across percent of sites compliant.

Focus on continuous improvement: set ambitious but achievable goals, such as reducing ocean-bound waste by percent within two cycles. Use tesla as a reference for durable, modular design that enables refurbishment rather than disposal. Create a cross-functional forum with groups, ngos, organizers, and brands to share terms, benchmarks, and best practices; this open approach accelerates progress while safeguarding workers.

Data transparency: publish baseline and progress metrics, ensuring partners can verify claims with third-party audits. Use bluesign and maaree as verification references. Keep data anonymized where needed; protect sensitive information. Use short feedback loops to fine-tune programs; aim for a percent improvement each quarter.

Open-Source Innovation in Sports: Adidas Tools, Licensing, and Community Engagement

Begin a 12-month program releasing modular toolkits: CAD templates, bill‑of‑materials, licensing terms, and an open glossary of context notes. Initial package includes 10 base patterns for shoe design andor gear concepts and open data on materials and finishes.

Permissive licenses invite schools, clubs, and small manufacturers to reuse contributions in products, kits, and gear lines.

Held workshops in germany and paulo to gather feedback from players, mentors, and community organizers in favelas.

Early pilots show significant gains: chemicals footprint reduced by 25 percent in fabric tests; organic dyes used in 30 percent of SKUs; yarns from organic or recycled sources rise to 60 percent.

Downside: licensing friction when partners join from distant markets; long lead times for open contributions; need to guard against greenwashing.

Create a partnership forum with direct sponsorship lines, featuring germany-based hub and paulo hub; maintain public dashboards on results, sourcing, and materials. This strengthens sustainable values across teams.

Oceans context drives design choices: substitute single-use packaging with fiber scraps; source materials from recycled streams; use gillnets-derived thread or recycled nets where feasible; share documented aquatic metrics to show impact; this plan is based on pilots.

Yearly targets include 25 percent reductions in chemical usage, 30 percent rise in yarns from organic or recycled sources, and 40 percent sourcing from non-toxic partners; ensure alignment with social goals and community sponsorships.

Contextual note: sponsorships from paulo and germany help scale through a distributed network; this supports long-term reliability and mind share among players and fans, making results relatable across regions.

The Most Sustainable Running Clothing Brands 2025: Criteria, Rankings, and Adidas’s Standing

Choose brands that publish long, practical data on fabric composition, water use, and chemicals within each product line. Open partnerships with sponsors, organizers, and education programs deliver leadership in global supply networks. Engaging in transparent disclosure helps vulnerable workers, and supports care across value chains.

Ranking criteria cover recycled-content share, low-water dyeing, chemical-management systems, supply transparency, and aligned education programs. Brands scoring high show significant reductions in hazardous chemicals and fabric waste, plus robust programs for partner education and worker care.

In 2025, top performers reach 60–68% recycled-content in running fabrics, with dyeing processes cutting water use by 30–40% and chemical-load scores above 85/100. Total program reach includes 12 countries, engaging 180 partner mills through hansen-backed education initiatives. Hansen confirms alignment across mills to reduce hazardous finishes.

Among global players, a germany-based brand shows strong leadership in fabric technology and water stewardship, with gains in education alignment and direct engagement across supplier partners. Yet vulnerability remains in remote plants where oversight is patchier; continuing direct dialogue and moving toward aligned terms helps close gaps.

To accelerate progress, brands should move toward long-run fabric programs with within-scope pilot projects, prioritize care for workers, and choose eco-friendly materials that reduce chemical loads. Align with global frameworks, engage young designers, and talk openly about terms of collaboration with supply partners and mills.

Moving forward, organizers and consumers will influence product development through facts, not slogans, favoring open disclosure and practical improvements in bodywear across mass-market lines.

Sustainable Running Tops: Materials, Dyeing, and End-of-Life Pathways

Choose materials with integrated recycled content and durable construction to reduce total waste.

• Materials

  • Prefer recycled polymers (polyester, nylon) from post-consumer streams; blend with natural fibers for comfort and moisture management.
  • Aim for input shares of 40–60% recycled content; partner with basf for chemistry that supports recycling compatibility.
  • Flip to knit structures that maximize breathability while minimizing waste; use open-loop or closed-loop design based on product line.
  • Engage local germany networks through companys to align on material sourcing and transparent reporting.
  • Integrate gillnets plastics captured by parley into form of fiber feedstock where feasible, reducing virgin plastic reliance.
  • Significant gains come from aligning with local values and priorities.
  • Some mind shift among athletes needed to accept take-back models.
  • Talks with trainers and field teams help refine practical pathways.
  • Agree on terms around recycled-content claims and labeling.

• Dyeing

  • Adopt low-water dyeing or dope-dyeing to minimize fresh water use; target total water use under 30 L per m2 for batches where possible.
  • Implement digital textile printing for small runs; this approach reduces chemical waste and speeds up iteration cycles; open data sharing with partners enhances accountability.
  • Work with basf and suppliers to source colorants with reduced toxicity and higher colorfastness across wash cycles.
  • Explore dyeing options through andor closed-loop systems to minimize waste.
  • Share process data as open data with partners to build trust and engagement; encourage paulo-led teams to gather feedback from field testers.

• End-of-Life Pathways

  • Establish take-back programs at local retailers, with clear sorting streams by plastics, fibers, and elastane; reduce landfill acceptance.
  • Use mechanical recycling to create regenerated pellets for new garments or other textiles; explore chemical recycling for high-purity polymers when viable.
  • Partner with Parley to channel plastics recovered from gillnets toward useful fibers; this adds social value while decreasing ocean plastics.
  • Design garments for easy disassembly; label materials clearly, enabling individuals and trainer networks to sort items efficiently.
  • Communicate practical benefits to customers; provide cost-structure transparency to increase acceptance and mind-share among athletes.
  • Apply a field-focused pilot with paulo and other trainers to test end-of-life pathways in real-life settings and gather feedback.

What Do We Actually Mean By Sustainable: Defining Scope, Boundaries, and Trade-Offs

Recommendation: Define a precise scope, map boundary conditions, and compare trade-offs across materials, water use, and ecosystems before committing to actions.

Effective scope covers design, material sourcing, manufacturing processes, distribution, and end-of-life pathways, while excluding non-essential activities. Early mapping should identify who participates (local communities, field organizers, trainers) and where influence matters (brazil, germany, global hubs). This framing guides decisions on which resources to protect, including water, oceans, forests, and air quality, and which outcomes to prioritize (safe sources, reliable continuity, worker well-being).

Boundaries align with practical constraints: well-watered sites, water quality, and recycling cycles; oceans impacted by gillnets and by filaments from synthetic materials; material streams include plastics and organic options; bluesign-aligned choices provide verification; partnering with local organizers and adidasparley-inspired pilots extends reach, with programs in field teams across brazil, germany, and other regions.

Trade-offs demand explicit metrics: cost versus durability, speed versus circularity, risk versus resilience. In some cases, increasing recycled content raises energy use or filament complexity; in others, sourcing organic materials reduces chemical load but may raise land-use pressures. Focus on highest-impact moves, such as replacing virgin plastics with recycled alternatives (bluesign-certified materials, or adidasparley components) and substituting gillnets with safer, well-documented sourcing methods. Decisions should be anchored in local contexts (brazil, europe) and backed by field data, third-party verifications, and clear owner accountability across partners.

Action plan examples include: map material sources with water-footprint data; increase safe sourcing by replacing virgin plastics with high recycled-content filaments; pilot bluesign-certified materials in organic footwear concepts; expand partnering with local trainers, field organizers, and youth programs to engage young workers and families; adopt adidasparley-inspired modules; build metrics to track water savings, material circularity, and safe source assurance across brazil, germany, and other regions; share knowledge via local workshops to ensure broad participation throughout.

This approach yields clear decision paths, contrasts with generic statements, and invites continuous input from local actors, schools, and community groups to sustain momentum throughout.