If you’ve bought a pair of collaborative or limited edition adidas sneakers in the past few years, chances are Till Jagla had a hand in their release. Now, however, the creative with the Midas touch has announced he’s leaving the Three Stripes after 11 years. Here, he speaks exclusively about his time at adidas, why he’s moving on, and what’s coming up.
For the past three years, Jagla was head of adidas Energy Concepts, a dedicated team at the brand’s Herzogenaurach world headquarters, built up by Jagla himself. The team’s aim was to create concepts and themes around special products that would bring hype to the Three Stripes — everything from collaborative sneakers to special-edition colorways or new models. Some of adidas’ biggest hits over the past few years have been a product of the AEC team.
Jagla’s LinkedIn page probably says it best, where he describes his AEC experience as: “CONSTANT INJECTIONS OF ENERGY AND HYPE! STORYTELLING AND CONCEPTUAL FRANCHISE MANAGEMENT.”
But before spearheading the AEC project, which Jagla could only do after years of success in his previous roles, he worked as a senior category manager and later global director of adidas Originals. Through the years, he’s had a hand in countless projects, ranging from adidas SPEEDFACTORY to Bad Bunny x adidas.
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“I reflected a lot in the last few weeks, as you can imagine, and I came to the conclusion that I’m the most proud of the people,” he says when asked which of the never-ending projects was his favorite. “Of course, you probably want a product-centric answer. I’ve seen so many things. I’ve probably created 100,000 sneakers. I’ve worked on more than 2,000 collaborations. It’s impossible to pick just one project; rather, I like to look at my time at adidas in chapters.”
The first chapter Jagla highlights is the time between 2014 and 2016 — coincidentally also Kanye West’s beginnings at adidas. “During that time, I witnessed adidas really begin to understand product marketing at a deeper level. Previously, we maybe thought more about product execution and product excellence,” he explains. “From 2014 on you can really see that product marketing and what marketing means with regards to the consumer, the market, and the industry was more of a priority at the company.”
While Kanye joining adidas and the launch of adidas YEEZY was the biggest news in those years, it’s another project that Jagla wants to highlight, namely the relaunch of the adidas Originals Stan Smith. “We pulled Stan Smith out of the global market. The French team wasn’t happy, as that was by far the biggest franchise in the market,” he laughs. “We made the decision to clean up the distribution to dry out the market in order to really relaunch that shoe in the most respectful manner.” And dry out the market adidas did. The Stan Smith was relaunched with a bang, and instantly became one of the most talked-about sneakers, treated to several high profile collaborations and undergoing material innovation such as Primeknit and Boost.
“That same season, we brought out the ZX Flux, which, for the modern sneakerhead, probably isn’t the coolest sneaker, but it really taught us a lot,” Jagla reveals. “It showed the team at adidas to look towards the future, because adidas — at the time — tended to look more towards the past and try and reinvigorate an existing idea or product.” The adidas ZX Flux was a huge success, comparable to the Nike Roshe Run at the time, and really put adidas on the map with a lot of sneakerheads.
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Jagla’s second chapter shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It’s all about Boost. “Back then, I was responsible for lifestyle concepts, and Boost was pegged as a performance concept,” he says. “But we had a feeling that it could become more relevant in the lifestyle market, which had become a bit stale. At that point, we thought Nike had gone a bit stale, and we wanted to capitalize and bring functionality into the market, so we came up with the NMD.”
Anyone who was around for the early-day adidas NMD releases and hype will know that the model was like wind in adidas’ already bustling sails. “If you ask me, that was a game changer,” states Jagla. “And interestingly, at the same time, we repositioned the Ultraboost as a lifestyle sneaker. It was built as one of the best running shoes adidas ever created. But, as you know, the biggest chunk of business is made through lifestyle products. And we had the lucky situation that Kanye wore the sneaker in the streets and on stage.”
According to Jagla, Kanye poured oil on the fire that was the adidas Ultraboost, resulting in a firestorm of hype that sneakerheads were drawn towards like insects to light. The adidas NMD, Ultraboost, and Kanye’s original YEEZY 350 all featured Boost, and all came out around the same time. “We had so much tailwind,” muses Jagla. “The entire industry was attracted to us and it was one of the greatest things to witness. I’m forever grateful to adidas for letting me be a part of that and trusting me to the fullest.”
Jagla tells me that he’s had some absolutely crazy ideas, sometimes running with them before anyone could stop him. Through it all, adidas has trusted Jagla to deliver, allowing him leeway that some other creatives may not be lucky enough to get. Make no mistake, though: Jagla worked hard for the right to that freedom.
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“adidas always gave me the support and trust to experiment. That’s what a lot of these projects are: experiments,” he says. “That leads me to my next chapter: hype.”
As Jagla tells it, he had an idea, which he pitched directly to the adidas board. “It got to a point where I was telling people internally, ‘Hey, we need to come up with something very new, something that feels like a small brand, take advantage of a bigger brand, but really brings back that energy, that fire, that mindset, that can-do mentality.’”
Jagla and his team needed to show a proof of concept, the search for which gave us the AriZona Iced Tea x adidas collaboration that was shut down in NYC for selling shoes for 99 cents, or the BVG collaboration with Overkill and the public transport system in Berlin, Germany. Both drops were bona fide successes and showed the Three Stripes brass that what Jagla was pushing for made sense. “Now Energy is a new hype creation unit that really puts storytelling at the heart of everything we do,” says Jagla. “It was literally starting a brand within a brand. It was all the bad and ugly of the startup brands.”
When someone as decorated and respected in the industry as Jagla leaves a brand such as adidas, it always sends shockwaves through the community. The first thing everyone wants to know is, why? Jagla wants everyone to know that there was absolutely no bad blood between himself and his employer; in fact, it was very much the opposite. “I think the beauty between adidas and myself was always that they appreciated my hands on mentality, and they gave me all the trust,” he says, a tinge of sadness in his voice. “When I turned 40, I asked myself what I want to do for the next 10 years. To me, standing still is like going backwards. Again, adidas x Till is the best collaboration I’ve ever been a part of, but I felt that I could do even more than what I’ve done so far.”
adidas gave Jagla more freedom than most others enjoy in their roles, allowing him to put together crazy collaborations and projects. But, like many creatives, Jagla has some ideas that are too otherworldly for a corporation of adidas’ size and stature to consider. “I’m still an adidas guy, I love that brand. But I feel like I’m sitting in a golden cage. It’s a beautiful cage, and I have everything I need to do my job, but I have ideas that are even bigger, so much so that even adidas said they’re too unrealistic,” says Jagla. “They’re in a different universe, and I want to bring them to market and possibly realize them with other partners.”
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On the one hand, Jagla may feel that adidas — even with its fullest level of trust — has limits that he wants to blast through. On the other, Jagla has always been about the community and contributing to it is one of his main drivers. Being at adidas limits the people and brands he can work with, for obvious reasons. “I get approached by so many people, by brands, and I want to give back to people outside of adidas,” he says. “It’s not about always hitting the goals of the corporation. That’s what you get paid for, yeah, but you also need to try to become an integral part of the culture.”
As for what’s coming, Jagla can’t reveal everything, but says that education is hugely important to him and will be at the root of everything he does. “The biggest value we have as human beings and individuals is education. I want to help people get information they have never received before. I want to give people access to content they have never seen before. I want to create awareness for topics that are important for people, the culture, for our industry, and maybe even for the planet,” he says.
In typical Till Jagla fashion, he’s set lofty goals for himself, but considering what he’s achieved over the last decade with adidas, you’d be playing against the house if you’re betting against him. And the house always wins.
Before we end our interview, Jagla has some words he wants to share directly with his former colleagues, friends, and family at adidas:
“I have appreciated and enjoyed every second we have had together, all the success stories we have celebrated together; we came up together, it was pure joy to go [on] that journey together with my adidas family. But also I want to address a few words to the external world. For me, it’s just important to tell everyone who loves something that’s part of our industry, be it shoes, be it fashion, be it resale, be it whatever. Just try to be empathetic, just try to give back, try to contribute to the culture and try to also believe in your dreams, in your vision, because there’s no one in the world who you need to ask for [you] to realize your dreams. Believe in yourself, believe in your strengths, believe in your vision, and then try everything you can to make it work, to make it become reality.”