Adidas has more than a few hit sneakers on their hands these days, but the newest addition to their roster might be the biggest yet. The Adidas NMD caused a pretty huge ruckus on their launch day (see below), as retailers were unprepared for the huge level of hype the shoes had. However, it ended up being a good problem for the Three Stripes brand, which sold more than 400,000 pairs of the shoe on launch day.
The numbers come from Herbert Hanier, the CEO of adidas-Group, who’s spoke on the success of the NMD during adidas’ first-quarter 2016 earnings report. Hanier attributes the sneaker’s success to a balance of great product design and excellent marketing, saying, “On the one hand, it is of course the unique look and feel as NMD is technically a running shoe realized as a lifestyle sneaker. Its midsole is elevated with adidas Boost technology, while the upper utilizes the integrity of adidas Primeknit. This offers highest comfort, combined with cutting-edge design. On the other hand, the success of the NMD also goes back to a number of special activations, including launch events and campaigns that took place in key cities around the world.”
The success of the shoe even prompted adidas to move up the release of four pairs of NMDs to the same weekend as Nike’s Air Max Day, directly challenging their competitor. Adidas has been on a roll lately, and they’ll undoubtedly be evolving the NMD silhouette into yet another fresh sneaker in the near future.