INNOVATION
Adi’s Augmented Reality Venture With EyeCandylab; Nike Takes Stake in Kizik Parent

The Three Stripes is bringing the environmental impact of plastic to life this holiday season at its flagship store in Paris via a partnership with San Francisco-based eyecandylab, which specializes in interactive video-based augmented reality experiences.

The six-week pilot project integrates existing in-store digital video screens to raise consumer awareness for the brand’s sustainably manufactured products made from recycled ocean plastics. The effort is part of Adidas’s Platform A initiative whose multiple objectives include the development of positive digital innovations at retail. Eyecandylab developed the App For The Oceans that will enable Paris store customers to observe the effects of consumption and plastic usage on the plant simply by holding a smartphone in front of any store screen. Subsequently, the consumer finds are immersed in an AR Ocean World with a giant whale circling them and collecting plastics floating in the water.

Meanwhile, Nike has made an undisclosed investment in Vineyard, UT-based Handsfree Labs, Inc., parent of the Kizik brand that specializes in step-in footwear.

Tom Clarke, president of Nike Innovation, said Handsfree’s “easy on and off” technology has the potential “to broaden and enhance” the effort to provide broader access to sport for all athletes.

“With Nike, we are re-inventing the way people put on shoes, and we are proud to introduce the world to this significant advancement,” Mike Pratt, Founder and CEO of Handsfree Labs, said in a statement.

In other footwear news,

Boise, ID-based Telic Intl. is forging a collaboration with Alan Guyan, a former innovation director for Under Armour, to launch limited-edition Telic 3D printed footwear in 2020. Telic, which provides aftersport recovery and comfort footwear, was launched in 2012.

“Today, 3D printing allows us to custom build shoes one at a time as Frank (as his shoemaking grandfather Frank did in Southern Italy) did for a perfect fit every time,” says Rocco Azzarito, Telic’s Co-founder and CEO. “3D print manufacturing is the future of footwear.”