Creative partnerships are probably the best short-term solution for Adidas at the moment before they take the time to find out their renewed identity in this very crowded sports products market. On Running™ and Hoka™ are eating away the US market, and in the Asian market, Asian brands with similarly featured products (with a localized approach) are being offered at half or 2/3 of the price.
Bjorn is playing the same old playbook from Puma, but this is the right strategic decision; playing aggressively on creative partnerships/collaborations to energize the sales, and taking 20% out of the global manufacturing volume for open-specs manufacturing yielding greater margins. This should balance the financial sheets nicely. It satisfies the shareholder short-term and buys time for the product creation team to find its renewed identity with an iconic sports product breakthrough and re-setting its game in the mid-to-long term.