Adidas is planning to sell 1€ sneakers in Third Word countries, building on the trend of dramatically cost-reduced products such as $100 laptops and $1000 cars in India.
Jan Runau, a rep for the Adidas Group, said it hasn't been made official that the shoe will only cost one euro, but did say they are collaborating to create cost-reduced footwear with Bangladeshi banker and economist, Muhammad Yunus.
Yunus is highly involved with micro credits for the poor and is committed to helping them establish and build their own businesses, and will now use his passion to help with the Adidas partnership.
"No one has to walk without shoes," Yunus said in Berlin last week.
What Makes This Trend Stand Out
- Affordable Footwear
- The trend of bringing the cost of quality products down to price points that are affordable to people in Third World countries.
- Microcredit for Business
- The trend of providing microcredit to individuals to help establish and grow their own businesses.
- Collaborative Social Projects
- The trend of companies collaborating with social activists to drive costs of producing quality products down to affordable levels for people in Third World countries.
Sectors Adopting This
- Footwear Manufacturing
- Manufacturing companies in the footwear industry could benefit from collaborating with social advocates to drive down costs and bring affordable quality products to people in Third World countries.
- Financial Services
- The financial services industry could benefit from creating more microcredit programs to help individuals start and grow their own businesses.
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- More businesses could adopt a more socially responsible approach by collaborating with social advocates and driving costs of quality products down to price ranges that are affordable to people in Third World countries.
