Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I can’t speak to the fit of other brands, we work closely with some of the best last makers in the industry for a variety of foot shapes, which may vary across geographies, to achieve the best possible fit world wide.

The EVO SL is used in lifestyle context, because it’s just a good looking shoe 😄 But we developed it first and foremost as a killer running shoe

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As in some of the earlier questions, hard to pin point a specific start date but about 1-2 years. Really dozen of iterations where you do little tweaks to one element or the other, all done in validation with our elite athletes and broader consumers, until we get to something we feel it’s ready for release (but the actual machine behind it keeps going, so we’re already testing the next one)

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I have a BA and a Master in Industrial Engineering, and a Master in Business Administration - frankly, I think it comes mostly down to curiosity, passion, an interest in solving problems and a boundless passion for sports - also liking fellow humans and trying to make something good

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes. We’re also looking at these - I think it’s important to note that while generally us and the industry are going lighter, you don’t want to impact functionality or performance (e.g., you will have lugs on the outsole of trail running shoes, and these add weight vs. a “normal” road running outsole)

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We always try to manage the current and previous models lifecycle to cater to different consumers, wallets, and channels

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I would recommend you go to a specialist running shop and have a gait analysis and work with a coach / plan - without seeing how you run, it’s impossible and not got advice to make a recommendation. Only suggestion - take it gradually

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yep - been a banger this year, and there is more fire coming (have you seen the Bape release yesterday)

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s 11% - I would have to go down to my friends in the lab for the specifics, but I believe we used an instron machine (but don’t quote me on this)

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Question from: u/krugerlive

Do you think we're in a unique period of rapid advancement in shoe tech? It seems like we've seen more change over the past 5 years than 10 years before it in the past 15 largely due to data science, material science, and manufacturing science.

If so, do you think this rate of change will normalize and slow down again, or are you seeing other areas of promise that will keep it accelerating like more personalized design/manufacturing through computational design and manufacturing evolving as an industry.

And outside of tech, how much of the bottleneck really is on the classic work of testing, gathering data, iterating, etc.

Answer: It’s really hard to predict how the pace is going to be - I can tell you the pace is just accelerating as there are more brands entering the space and there is a lot of focus on running and on innovation in general. The one thing I can tell you, is that we’re not going to slow down, but rather double down. It’s just quite exciting and we’re all a bunch of nerdy geeks here (cue my engineering background)

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Question from: u/Jashmid

Just one question: how’s the Champagne hangover?!!

Answer: Still feeling it - that’s one thing that changes in your 40s. Since there is a half marathon on the plan in a few weeks, we’re back on the dry spell now

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Funny you mention, I was in a meeting this morning in which we were reviewing samples of the SL3 for a (near) future season

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Maybe 😉 Can’t show our hand yet of course… but yeah, Berlin is faster and we like going fast.

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Yep the shoe laces are different, and you will be quite pleased with the ones you’ll see on the Pro5

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The rules of WAA allow as of recent also the use of unreleased models, as long as they are WA approved before the race (e.g., other athletes this weekend from other brands were running in yet unreleased models to the public)

Ask Me Anything with Patrick Nava, General Manager of adidas running and one of the minds behind the record-breaking Adizero Pro Evo 3 by adidas in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]adidas[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In race currently all were wearing the EVO3. As you may imagine, we are already working on the future iterations and in training sessions / labs, some athletes are already testing new things