Beyoncé keeping her eyes on the game back in 2014.CreditFranck Fife/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
After Kanye and Adidas, and Rihanna and Puma; after Questlove and Nike, and Kendrick Lamar and Reebok, it was only a matter of time. And on Thursday, the first lady of Everything, Beyoncé Knowles, entered the sneaker wars.
Adidas announced that it would collaborate with Ms. Knowles on several endeavors, including a signature collection with Adidas and an expansion of the singer’s active-wear brand, Ivy Park. She will be a creative partner at Adidas.
In a statement, Ms. Knowles called the coming collaboration the “partnership of a lifetime” and touted a shared philosophy “that puts creativity, growth and social responsibility at the forefront of business.”
The pop star and entrepreneur will retain ownership of Ivy Park, which was introduced in 2016 in partnership with Topshop and sells comfort wear and athleisure at retailers including Nordstrom. In 2018, Ms. Knowles acquired full ownership of the company after Sir Philip Green, Topshop’s owner, was accused of racial abuse and sexual harassment.
Little financial information about Ivy Park is available, and it is unclear how successful the brand has been. It was immediately popular upon its release in 2016. On Thursday, its website had been altered to broadcast the Adidas partnership.
The Beyoncé/Adidas collaboration is perhaps the most notable partnership between a superstar and a sports brand yet, and it indicates the consumer and social power that can be derived from such cross-branding. It is also a tribute to the lane Rihanna paved in 2014 when she became a creative director and global ambassador at Puma, back when it was still a novel idea that an entertainer might lend her name to a company best known for athletic apparel. (Rihanna parted ways with Puma and is now said to be working with LVMH on her own luxury brand.)
Championing women and girls has become a key part of Adidas’s public relations strategy. This month, the company announced a new phase of its “She Breaks Barriers” initiative, which highlights the lack of equal media coverage for women’s sports in the United States.
Ms. Knowles has positioned herself as a political voice for black Americans and for women, including through her musical examination of her marriage and her 2018 Coachella performance, which gave a platform to historically black colleges. She will amplify these messages, and those Adidas has already pushed, by giving the company her imprimatur.
“Beyoncé is an iconic creator but also a proven business leader, and together, we have the ability to inspire change and empower the next generation of creators,” said Eric Liedtke, a member of the executive board of Adidas AG.
Adidas’s “multilayered” partnership with Ms. Knowles will include a program whose resources will be given over to “the next generation of athletes, creators and leaders.”
Last July, Forbes estimated that Ms. Knowles was worth $355 million, citing her most recent solo album, “Lemonade,” her million-dollar-grossing tour with her husband Jay-Z and the value of her stake in his streaming service, Tidal.
