Adidas: Powerful. Inspirational. Achievable.

Sports stores have never been much of a favourite of mine.  It was just somewhere I would go to buy shoes.  And even then, it was neither here nor there, nor did I have any brand loyalty.

With the recent Fit is Sexy movement, the sports stores have become more and more prominent. With more choice than ever, brands are now vying for your dollar in more creative ways than ever before.

Designers and celebrities are now taking part in collaborative designs, assigning their names to a line.  Not only is fit sexy, it’s also looking sexy.

Of the current wave of sports brands and specialty stores selling sports gear, one stands out from the rest.  Adidas.

And it’s not because of its design, not because of its technology, it’s because of the mannequins that the store now employs.  These are not your classic skinny mannequins, these are muscular fit mannequins. These mannequins have fantastic bodies, clearly strong and sexy.

The physique are well defined, and not out of this world to the non beefcakes amongst us.  I see the clothes on display, and it just looks fantastic on.  The clothes are sexy, functional, explosive, powerful, on trend, a must have.  And that’s just the men’s range.

I want to be that fit and sexy, I’m not there and would probably have to work out like crazy and watch what I eat to obtain it.  But I am not going to dismiss this goal, it is something I could achieve.  And one which I would feel good about myself in achieving.

The standard woman’s mannequin in Australia is either a size 6 or 8, that’s a US 2 or US4.  And that’s skinny, weak almost.  These mannequins are clothing models, not inspirational models.  I walk into a non-Adidas store, and feel as though these mannequins wear the clothes poorly.  They do not inspire me to become a better version of myself.

In the world of fashion, whether we like to admit it to ourselves or not, we’re told by the posters what we’re suppose to look like.  Tall, super thin, almost skeletal at times.  Not healthy by anyone’s standards.  The model is a model, selling the message of “you could look like this” if you bought this outfit.  In reality, a very small percentage of the population actually do look like that.  We’re either not tall enough, not thin enough, not beautiful enough.  We’re not something enough.

For a society that is so fixated on the body, we have very few healthy body advocates.  The sports brands have always been the exception to this.  They have been the advocate of the healthy, super fit.

The woman’s mannequin in Adidas is an AU10 or US6.  She’s got beautiful toned legs, lean sexy arms, and a torso that’s just the right combination of toned and softness.  Whoever the athlete that the mold was based on, she has one standout body.  When she puts on her gym gear, she works out, she’s not parading around.  The girl means business.  And sadly, that’s just something that I don’t get from any other brand.

Kudos to you, Adidas.  You’re a sporting brand, who has finally taken the message beyond just your posters and commercials, you’ve put into play in your store.  The sporty mannequins are inspirational.  I applaud you for bringing forth a healthy body image.  I will one day be able to do 50 pushups, because your mannequin tells me I can, it’s achievable.