Less than a month ago I wrote a post scratching the surface of the problem of creating diversity in the sneaker industry:
Today I have to write this post because there are some serious realities in the fight for equality in sneaker companies. Right now on Instagram there is an ongoing discussion by Black employees on the @blackatnike page. This page has been written about in mainstream media. The protests within adidas are also creating change. So… what is difficult about this?
- Change isn’t immediate. Statements are acknowledgement, but adjustments take time.
- Brands know that it takes time, but they’ve had time already and haven’t made any changes.
- People want what’s best for them, but what’s best doesn’t matter if it doesn’t help the bottom line for a brand or retailer.
- Internal protests can change things, but if the protests fail to register with the mainstream and reach the consumer, that outcome will revert as the movement dies (I hope it doesn’t).
- When the outcomes revert, quiet work takes over. Important, quiet work that helps the situation, but is overlooked and the brand or retailer can’t share the work because they will look like they are trying to capitalize.
- The consumers are the most important people in the process of change. Businesses aren’t built on morality. They have to make money An ignorant consumer, is an unknowing cog in the machinery of racism within companies.
I can continue explaining, but I think if you’re reading you understand where I’m headed… or maybe you don’t understand. Prior to the quarantine for COVID-19 adidas announced The inaugural class of the S.E.E.D. school.
The first class features a diverse set of women design students. That’s change and it plants the seeds of diversity, but we won’t see those seeds and the consumer doesn’t have a clue that this program exists. PENSOLE is in partnership with adidas, but outside of Portland and the sneaker community, PENSOLE is an unknown entity. PENSOLE is the solder joint providing one connection in a circuit board with a thousand wires. PENSOLE is a quiet fan humming and changing things, but there isn’t any way that it’s enough.
How does a brand celebrate a program when it is also the creator of racists policy behind its walls? In an article on the protests taking place at shoe brands a reporter explained that many of the complaints happen at the retail level and due to the turnover of employees racism is brushed over. Two years ago I wrote this post:
For Nike, adidas and Many Brands, Diversity Appears to Place Gender Before Color
adidas is a German brand with offices in the U.S. The brand makes 30 Billion a year. The primary sport for adidas is soccer. adidas is more popular in Europe and Latin America than it is in the United States. There are fewer people of African descent in Germany, therefore the pool of talent there is smaller, which means inherently the company is “White”. The talent pool in the U.S. is more diverse, but the people in executive positions are White.
The uncomfortable reality for anyone reading this is the Black consumer is a small demographic for adidas. While their endorsed athletes and entertainers are primarily Black, those influencers do very little to convince Blacks in the U.S. to purchase their product. In the tri-state region around Memphis the only adidas/Reebok stores here crashed and burned. They had to close. In stores right now adidas’ flagship product the UltraBOOST is on sale for 79.99 at Foot Locker and it still isn’t being purchased.
Is adidas’ a victim of the chicken or the egg scenario? Because the company lacks diversity they don’t know how to appeal to the Black consumer? Or is the Black consumer so infatuated with Nike that Nike can have an IG page fighting against it and every store in this region can still sell out of each recent Air Jordan release?
There are conversations needed and there are consultants and people all vying for the dollars being generated by diversity and inclusion programs being born. Brands and retailers can hire people to make their companies better and stronger, but at the root of it all how does it reach the consumer? How does a brand that recognizes who its consumer is make a statement and then take action honestly when the company feels that the demographic isn’t interested in it. How does PENSOLE become one of many programs working quietly, daily to make change?
Six women became the inaugural class of the S.E.E.D. program like trees falling in the forest. Will they get jobs in the industry? Will White people see them as equals and not quotas? Will the consumer be educated about this program? Will new programs be born?
Use the source link at the lead to share the story of adidas’ program, or don’t.