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Champion’s latest campaign captures youth culture in motion

Champion Youth by Champion, Italy

Europe – American fashion brand Champion has launched the first chapter of its latest youth-focused campaign, A Study of Expression, a multi-city project spanning Milan, Berlin and Liverpool that spotlights how a new generation are reshaping culture.

The opening chapter follows a Milan-based skate collective, documenting how sport, style and daily life intersect as one fluid identity. Shot by Robbie McIntosh, the campaign rejects polished visuals in favour of raw, lo-fi, 1990s-inspired aesthetics, documenting moments of connection and spontaneity, notably without the presence of smartphones.

Champion’s Reverse Weave and C-Sport collections are subtly integrated, shifting focus from product to lived experience and reflecting Gen Z’s growing desire for authentic, offline connection. As the campaign moves to Berlin and Liverpool, it will highlight the distinct, localised rhythms shaping youth culture across Europe.

Our Gen Z: Global Youth Atlas report draws on the perspectives of nearly 40 contributors across 11 locations to provide a comprehensive guide to youth culture all around the world, helping your business understand what local Gen Z think, need and dream of.

Strategic opportunity

Identify the communities and subcultures shaping real culture in your target markets –from skate collectives to grassroots scenes – and embed your brand within them, capturing their essence rather than attempting to manufacture culture from the outside

Adidas redesigns access through single shoe service

Europe – Global sportswear brand Adidas is reframing product accessibility with the launch of its Single Shoe Service, available across 22 European countries.

Designed for people living with leg limb difference, the initiative allows customers to purchase a single shoe at 50% of the full-pair price, addressing a long-standing structural gap in footwear retail.

The service was developed in consultation with ParalympicsGB, ensuring it reflects lived experience rather than assumed need. Available across all in-stock footwear in Adidas-owned stores, the model embeds inclusivity directly into the purchasing system.

The move builds on Adidas’s broader adaptive design strategy, with 86% of apparel worn at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games created using inclusive design principles.

We began tracking the Adaptive Fashion Market in 2021, exploring how brands are rethinking inclusivity through design. In the next phase of growth, inclusivity will move from representation to infrastructure. As brands rethink access, Adidas’s move signals a shift from product adaptation to systemic redesign.

adidas in-store Single Shoe Service, adidas, Europe

Strategic opportunity

Fashion brands should identify exclusion across product and pricing, then co-design adaptive models with disabled communities to build inclusivity into core systems

Stat: How AI discovery is reshaping consumers’ brand choice

Photography by Mikhail Nilov, Global

UK – One in three UK consumers would now buy directly through AI platforms, according to research by Kantar, signalling a shift in how purchasing decisions are made. But a more striking insight reveals that 15% of the public say that if AI doesn’t suggest a brand when prompted, they assume it isn’t right for them.

The finding underlines the growing influence of AI in shaping brand consideration, with discovery increasingly mediated by algorithms rather than traditional channels. While 41% of consumers believe brands recommended by generative AI have paid for placement, trust in AI-led suggestions continues to rise.

The travel and tourism sector leads on AI adoption, with 43% already using AI for research, comparisons and customer service. Yet sentiment remains mixed: 41% are all in on AI, while 27% are anxious experimenters and 13% actively avoid it.

Elsewhere, brand experience remains critical. Some 82% of UK consumers are put off by disorganised brands, and 43% prioritise experience over the brand itself, according to SAP.

Explore our newly released report, Agentic Commerce Market, examining how AI agents are transforming retail through autonomous discovery and purchasing.