In my opinion, the important factor to be able to survive in badminton industry is which players did the brand sponsor. When big stars in the game for example Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, Taufik, & Gade changed their rackets, everybody will start talking about that particular racket which usually has not been released yet to the public. On the other hand, if a new racket has been released with next to zero brand ambassador in the game, you guys could tell that hardly people will notice. As long as those big brands able to secure a contract with a well known brand ambassador, price will come second. Not to mention the huge profit margin they could take on those limited edition products.
Well, they are going to release THE FULL COMPLETE RANGE OF BADMINTON gear (racquets, shuttles, clothings, grips, strings etc ... )... if that is not a FULL SCALE attack, I don't what is then .... The BIGGEST NEWS/COUP will be if Adidas also say they will be the NATIONAL SPONSOR of so-so country and PSS/SS tournament - that will be the ATOMIC BOMB ATTACK !!
Well they have axelsen didn't they? With some of the top players retiring this year he might have a chance to really shine and that might be the player you're talking about.
Well, Adidas has "done enough" to convince me to HALT ANY NEW PURCHASE until I have checked out their stuff .... I am actually looking to see IF they have an ALL-ROUNDER worthy of Cab20sp and a shuttlecock good enough to top at least AS40 ... AND AT A REASONABLE PRICE ...
Judging from the photos:- Adizero looks like the challenger to the Nanorays and Windstorms Adipower is against Voltrics and Woods Precision's target is the Arcsabers and Flames. This is surely going to be interesting.
they have pictures of red/yellow shuttlecocks so even if the quality is only around AS30 they might be worth it if they help with visibility in some gyms and aren't over the top expensive. (Or just nylon shuttles in a shadowy photo )
I think they were artificially coloured like that for marketing reasons in the photo! they wont actually make RED shuttles! their clothing colours will be red, green, yellow, orange
adidas Japan has a webpage up. Not sure if this is old or not. http://www.adidas.com/jp/sports/badminton/
In existence for a few years already, posted in the shoe threads before if you hadn't taken the time to check them out so far
if they make shoes that is remotely close to being as comfy as their golf shoes that I own, these yonex will be going to goodwill in a hurry. if nothing else, these guys know how to make athletic footwear.
Picture comes from the most important badminton forum in France (animated by a national retailer): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Badmaniafr/176736202355521?
I know France is sponsored by adidas for clothing. I wonder if the National team will start using their racquets as well?
I reckon Great Britain, Denmark, France, Germany and probably some others will soon be sponsored by adidas for everything once they launch next month.
You might be right with Germany. As far as I can see the contract with Yonex for the clothing of the German team for team matches ended with the end of last year.
I expect adidas to go big on the sponsorship side of things. Most important is getting their rackets used by top professionals. Once that happens there'll be no stopping them. Everyone knows there clothes and footwear will be some of the best around so if they've done the right research and manufacturing with the rackets we really will see Yonex in their shadow. Can't wait until they formally introduce themselves to us next month. The world of badminton should be excited by their arrival.
Because the existing contracts mean nothing? The Yonex contract with Denmark is still pretty new for example (and a big chunk of it is the prizemoney for the Premier Super Series Denmark Open), let alone all the individual contracts players have with different brands. I think/iirc Axelsen just happenes to be at the end of his two year individual contract when Adidas came knocking ... Slightly overestimating their budget I would say