What's going on between Kering and adidas?

A few days ago have gone viral some leak photos that anticipated the arrival of a possible collaboration between Balenciaga and adidas, a union announced by the first images of a Triple S version "three stripes" perfect symbol of a marriage as absurd as possible. In fact, a few weeks have passed since the officialization of another collabo passed from rumor to mathematical certainty, that between adidas and another brand part of the Kering group like Gucci, showing us that now, in the world of collaborations, anything is possible. A concept to which we are accustomed since, in recent years, the fashion system has enjoyed combining the most disparate names in the race to the collabo, a game often funny but sometimes able to distract us from the true meaning of what we are seeing, what could be hidden, for example, behind the collabo between adidas and Balenciaga.

While remaining in the realm of speculation, the recent rapprochement between the Kering Group and adidas is starting to look suspicious as ever, raising more than one doubt about the real intentions of the two names involved. Could Kering buy adidas? Difficult, if not impossible given the scope and size of the German brand, whose market capitalization is around 64 billion dollars and that with its 62 thousand employees would become a commitment from the scope almost prohibitive even for a giant like Kering. More credible instead is the idea of seeing the group led by François-Henri Pinault take over only a part of the sportswear brand, thus filling, albeit in part, a gap in its portfolio. Despite the presence of names such as Gucci and Balenciaga, as well as Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and McQueen, a sports brand is missing within the group, a void that has been present since 2018, when the group decided to sell first Volcom and then Puma, in which it held a 15.7% stake.

Controlling even just a small part of a brand like adidas would give Kering the possibility to create in-house collaborations, bringing realities of the luxury world into a different market like the one offered by the German brand. Despite the fact that at the moment it is only speculation, an encouraging example comes from what happened between Balenciaga and Yeezy, the brand founded by Kanye West that, after having begun to attend events linked to the group in an assiduous manner, from the couture fashion show of Demna to the top-secret one of Bottega Veneta, has announced the arrival of a three-way collaboration with Gap. Waiting to find out the real intentions of François-Henri Pinault we must first wait for the official announcement of the collabo between Balenciaga and adidas and from there, of course, we could really start hoping for a twist.