Adidas
How Collaborative Design Transformed Adidas’ Locker Room Platform
Big Motive partnered with global sports leader Adidas to revolutionise bespoke kit creation for grassroots clubs and professional organisations through user research, collaborative design and prototyping—driving innovation, empowering global teams and advancing Adidas’ vision for sustainable growth.
Adidas set out to transform its custom teamwear platform, Locker Room, into a dynamic solution for sports teams worldwide. The goal was to enable grassroots clubs and professional organisations to design and order bespoke kits collaboratively. To realise this vision, Adidas partnered with Big Motive and Amsterdam-based DesignThinkers, leveraging their expertise across Portland, Belfast, Bogota, and Amsterdam to deliver a reimagined user experience.
The Problem
The global teamwear market was growing rapidly, presenting Adidas with an opportunity to support grassroots sports while fostering deeper relationships with athletes, parents, and coaches. However, the existing order management and production processes were complex and disconnected, creating barriers to seamless user experiences. Adidas needed a solution that empowered diverse global users—including coaches, procurement teams, and athletes—to collaboratively design unique teamwear specific to their sports, leagues, and teams. Aligning stakeholders and streamlining workflows to deliver this functionality became critical to the platform’s success.
Our Approach
The project’s primary objective was to enable sustainable revenue growth by accelerating the time to design, order, and deliver customised team apparel. Big Motive applied a combination of service design and UX methodologies, supported by extensive research activities, to deliver impactful results. Key activities included:
- User research: Engaging with sales representatives, retailers, and teams across Europe and the US to understand their needs, test assumptions, and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Collaborative design sprints: Facilitating workshops and sprints to align global stakeholders and define strategic goals, workflows, and platform functionality.
- Prototype testing: Iteratively designing and testing workflows and prototypes with target users to ensure the platform met real-world needs and expectations.
- Global collaboration: Coordinating efforts across multidisciplinary teams in Belfast, Bogota, Portland, and Amsterdam to deliver an integrated, user-centred design solution.
The Outcome
The Locker Room platform represents a transformative leap in Adidas’ ability to connect user insights to business goals. Through this two-year partnership with DesignThinkers and the Adidas GTS team, Big Motive has:
- Redefined user experience: Co-designed workflows and a long-term vision that simplify and enhance the custom teamwear ordering process.
- Empowered global users: Created an accessible and efficient platform that enables agents, coaches, and procurement teams to design and order bespoke team apparel.
- Driven business impact: Established a scalable solution that supports Adidas’ vision for sustainable revenue growth in the global teamwear market.
Locker Room continues to evolve, setting a new standard for the teamwear experience. Big Motive is proud to support Adidas in its mission to transform team sports at every level across the globe.
