More than a year after Adidas’s very public breakup with Ye last October, the sportswear giant is attempting to position itself for a rebound during the holiday shopping season.

CEO Bjørn Gulden, who took over at the start of the year, said earlier this month that the Samba—in addition to other Terrace shoes including Gazelle and Spezial—has driven sales.

• Additionally, rather than destroy or write off its excess Yeezys, Adidas has been selling them off, which has also helped the company’s outlook by shrinking its operating costs.
• As a result, the company adjusted its guidance to project a loss of $106 million—a high figure but much lower than the previously expected $493 million loss reported earlier this year due to the Yeezy inventory problem.
• The company’s Samba shoe is one of the most in-demand products on the market and was recently named “Shoe of the Year” for the FN Achievement Awards.

“Seasonal items like fleece are always a hit during the holidays,” Andre Graham, VP and head of stores at Adidas, told Retail Brew. “We also like to celebrate product across all of our key categories, like Samba in originals and Ultraboost in running as just a couple examples.”

Come on, come all: In-store shopping is expected to take more precedence during the holidays compared to last year, according to Bankrate survey data.

• Gulden said that he sees promise in Adidas’s physical spaces, particularly in New York, as well as its DTC business as in-demand, new inventory has come in.

Keep reading here.—KM

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The tradition of crowds camping out at stores in advance of Black Friday to be the first in the door has waned, largely because retailers start the sales earlier and shopping online has gotten more popular. Now outdoors retailer Eastern Mountain Sports is starting a new tradition of pitching a tent in parking lots, but it’s camping for the sake of camping, and it happens at the end of Black Friday, not a day (or week!) beforehand.

On what EMS is calling its first annual Black Friday Parking Lot Campout, more than 200 campers at stores in Princeton, New Jersey, and West Lebanon, New Hampshire, arrived at about 6pm. The first 20 groups to arrive (and stay the full night) got to keep a camping package valued at more than $1,200, including a four-person tent and four sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and camp chairs, all of which had already been set up by EMS.

Most tents were set up in grassy areas on the periphery of the parking lot, while on the pavement there were food trucks, a climbing wall, movies, porta-potties and—the cornerstone of any camping experience—DJs.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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Sean Mitchell is VP of customer success at Gather AI, which provides drone-powered inventory management.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? For context, our solution at Gather AI uses autonomous, commodity drones, and AI software to automate inventory monitoring for warehouse operators to decrease inventory costs, improve productivity, and boost revenue. I’m responsible for bringing AI and data analytics to the world of inventory and warehousing, supporting customers across third-party logistics, retail distribution, manufacturing, food and beverage, and health and wellness.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? I’m an engineer and am responsible for overseeing hardware design, supply chain, and sourcing. In my role at Gather AI, I’ve also had the opportunity to share about my work with some podcasts. I never thought this would be something I would do, but it’s been a great experience, and you can check out my episodes over at The Manufacturing Executive, Supply Chain Careers Podcast, and TechEd Podcast.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? The Army and Air Force Exchange Services was one of our first large customer implementations. Gather AI has helped them manage over 100k pallets locations between two sites. Their distribution scale is huge, and this includes shipping to and supporting retail customers all over the world.

Keep reading here.—EC