Adidas' new V&A Waterfront store is its greenest in Africa

The new adidas store at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town is the brand's most sustainable store in Africa. The store is currently undergoing LEED-certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in accordance with the US Green Building Council’s rating system aimed at providing a framework for healthy, highly efficient green buildings.

Globally, adidas has committed to having nine out of 10 of its products feature sustainable technology, material, design or manufacturing method by 2025, and to achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Jean-Pierre Kotze, manager of Omnichannel Activation, which headed up the design of the new store, said he'd used the principles of biophilic design — the practice of connecting people and nature within our built environments — in the new space.

“The light we've used in the store mimics the perfect atmospheric light conducive to optimal health in humans. We've also installed a machine that checks the quality of the air so that it's cleaner than the air you'd breathe outside.

"We've also brought nature into the store by creating a wall of plants, which provides natural air conditioning, and embedded in the wall is a waterflow system which uses reverse osmosis, meaning that customers can help themselves to the purest water.”

The store has been constructed from sustainable materials too. “The cash desk is built from pallets (we haven't imported any of the materials) that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill,” said Kotze. “We used wood from sustainable forests in our fitting rooms, which means a low impact on the environment. The floor is 100% terrazzo [a composite material consisting of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material] using chips from other building sites.

"We've also only used second-hand furniture in the space, and for our displays we've used fibreboard manufactured from fibres recovered from recycled used cardboard boxes called Xanita board, which has gone into its third cycle of use and has a 60t crush system (you could park a car on it and it wouldn't crush).

"The only plastic we've used is Smile plastic, 100% recycled and recyclable, made from would-be waste, such as discarded chopping boards, cosmetics bottles and yoghurt pots — used for our shelves, which can be melted down and used again for something else.”