Adidas store celebrates Jozi culture with local design and digital mirrors

There’s an exciting new retail trend emerging that sees international brands starting to incorporate SA culture into the design of their stores.

The gigantic new Adidas flagship store in Sandton City is the perfect example of this concept: local design collaborations and hyper-local elements have been carefully woven into the interiors, giving the space a unique vibe Jozi urbanites are sure to appreciate.

Posters showcasing natural landscapes in and around Joburg abound on the sales floor, and you’ll note a cutout of the city’s skyline provides a backdrop to the paypoints when you head to the hi-tech fitting rooms. 

These are equipped with “Radio Frequency Identification” mirrors to update customers on colour, size and style options in real time. There are also a variety of digital backdrops for changing-room selfies — if that’s your jam.

You could also snap an Instagram-worthy sneaker selfie with the rug grounding the shoe fitting area as a backdrop. Custom-made by award-winning illustrator and designer Lazi Mathebula, it incorporates a version of Adidas’ trefoil logo in its bold and bright geometric design.

“The logo is still intact. It just holds an extended meaning in relation to Joburg, the concrete jungle. I used the signature blue of the Adidas Originals logo and warm colours representing the City of Gold,” he says.

The taxi trefoil within the same space is another unique addition. This time the Adidas logo has been reimagined using taxi parts, which have been layered, moulded and sprayed bright blue to create a 1.7m-high artwork.

It hangs behind a vintage cabinet serving as a DJ area complete with mixing decks — possibly my favourite space in the entire store.

Another oversized artwork — this time a 9x5m mural — forms a strong focal point in the spacious children’s section.

It was created by Cape Town-based illustrator Russell Abrahams, who was responsible for The Impossible is Nothing mural at the FNB Stadium Towers, and is complemented by furniture upholstered in his textile designs.

Interior designer Mia Senekal’s New Moon couch in a luxurious black leather is another local touch point.

It takes pride of place in a quiet nook that is the perfect place to try on footwear or relax after you have worked your way through Adidas’ extensive collection of apparel and footwear — this includes one-off, ready-to-buy graphic prints that are the result of their regular collaborations with local influencers and creators .