Shanghai Is the Main Character Now: Inside adidas’ “Power of Three” at Shanghai Fashion Week
Shanghai just checked the entire industry. Adidas was the one who said it out loud.
To close Shanghai Fashion Week, adidas staged “POWER OF THREE,” and I need you to understand this wasn’t “a sportswear show.” It was a territory claim. It was adidas saying: we’re not visiting China, we live here now. We build here now. We design here now. And if you want what we’re making, you’re going to have to meet us in Shanghai. (Vogue Business)
Let’s sit with that for a second.
For decades, Western brands have flown into Asia, shot a campaign in front of a skyline, and called that global strategy. This was not that. “POWER OF THREE” was adidas putting its flag in the ground and telling Europe and the U.S.: you’re not the main character anymore. Shanghai is.
And Shanghai agreed.
The Tang jacket is now streetwear, not souvenir
The piece everyone’s reposting? The Tang jacket.
adidas took the Tang jacket — a silhouette rooted in Chinese tradition with the mandarin collar and frog button closures — and rebuilt it through its own three-stripe language. We saw silk and mesh living in the same look, frog closures running down the front, and that iconic adidas stripe running the sleeves like it’s always belonged there. It showed up styled with hoodies, outerwear, denim, not treated like “heritage costume moment,” but like “this is what we’re wearing this season.”
That’s a huge cultural shift.
Usually, when global brands “honor local culture,” it’s zodiac prints and lazy red-and-gold drops for Lunar New Year. This is not that. This is adidas letting Chinese design language drive silhouette, proportion, and attitude — not just surface graphics.
This is what respect actually looks like in fashion: not copying, not romanticizing, not sampling. Letting the local team build the garment and calling that the standard.
“Global brand, local mindset” is not a slogan — it’s policy now
The whole show was built by adidas’ Shanghai Creation Center. That’s their in-house design hub in China, which is celebrating 20 years. Internally, that studio isn’t “regional support.” It’s where product for China is actually conceived, prototyped, and greenlit — by people who live the culture they’re designing for.
This is strategic.
The current leadership at adidas is openly moving on from the old “we design in Europe, we ship to Asia” pipeline. The language coming from both CEO Bjørn Gulden and Asia-Pacific SVP Patrick Ng is very direct: adidas stays a global brand, but China gets to write its own version of adidas, for itself, on purpose. The job isn’t “make it look Chinese.” The job is “make it right for China.” Quality first. Credibility first. Identity first.
That is a full-power statement to the luxury industry in general because luxury has always sold this fantasy of “heritage = authority.” adidas just flipped that. Heritage is now: we’ve been here long enough to build our own house, thank you.
The show felt less like a lookbook and more like a takeover
Visually, “POWER OF THREE” was not subtle.
adidas shut down Old City Hall to stage the finale of Shanghai Fashion Week. Finale slot. Last word. They took it.
Over 100 looks moved through performancewear, street, tailoring, and club energy, as if those categories aren’t separate anymore. (Because in Shanghai, they’re not.) (
There were multiple runways, live music, a dance battle, and even three-stripe macarons. It was theatrical on purpose — not “fashion presentation,” but “this is our ecosystem.
And then the closer: supermodel He Cong in a five-meter gown, dramatic and sweeping, paired with new adidas Futurecool X sneakers. Couture silhouette on top, tech sneaker on the floor. It was disrespectful to old fashion hierarchy in the best way. It said, “You’re going to stop pretending sportswear can’t sit next to couture. We just did it. On our runway. In Shanghai.”
The guest list was a message
Look at who was in the room.
This wasn’t a Western celebrity photo-op with one token local name for optics. You had Chinese film stars, regional music names, and street-scene talent occupying the front row. Edison Chen — actor, designer, and longtime adidas collaborator — showed up alongside names like Sandra Ma Sichun, Li Xian, Wang Anyu, plus Shanghai designers who are actually shaping the city’s look in real time.
In other words: adidas didn’t import culture for credibility. It sat in the middle of culture that already exists and amplified it.
That’s the difference between influence and access.
You can buy it… if you’re in China
Here’s where it gets kind of rude (and by “rude” I mean iconic).
Almost everything that walked the runway went straight into a “see now, buy now” drop. You could literally buy the looks in China right after the show — through livestream on Tmall, the CONFIRMED app, and in physical locations like adidas Originals Anfu Road in Shanghai, Taikoo Li in Chengdu, and the Beijing Sanlitun Brand Centre.
If you’re in New York or London and you’re foaming at the mouth over that Tang jacket? Too bad. You’re not invited yet.
That’s not an accident. Greater China has been one of adidas’ loudest comeback stories this year, with double-digit sales growth and a renewed appetite for three-stripe identity — not hype nostalgia, but new work that feels rooted. This show rewards that loyalty directly.
Luxury houses love to talk exclusivity. adidas just executed exclusivity by geography. You had to physically be in the culture to tap in. If you weren’t, you’re watching on your phone like everyone else.
Let’s be honest: this is luxury behavior
People will try to file this under “athleisure goes runway.” No. That’s lazy.
What “POWER OF THREE” actually did was walk directly into luxury space and act like it belonged there — because it does.
Look at the pillars of luxury and check them off:
Controlled access (local-only product, immediate conversion).
Cultural authorship (Chinese silhouettes, Chinese casting, Chinese design leadership).Theatrical rollout (finale show, star front row, custom music, full-building energy). (
Visual icon to take home (the Tang jacket, but evolved for street instead of frozen in nostalgia).
That’s luxury. You can argue price points later. The behavior is already there.
And the part that should make a few European houses very, very nervous is this: adidas did not ask Paris for permission. Shanghai did not ask Paris for permission. The show was built by the Shanghai team to serve the Shanghai audience first — and then the rest of the world was allowed to witness it.
Fashion has spent years romanticizing “East meets West.” That era is done. The tone now is “We’re building ours. You can keep up if you want.”
