How the sneaker industry responded to COVID-19

Coronavirus has stopped the world.

As we watch many companies halt operations and furlough employees, I wanted to highlight the good efforts from businesses in the sneaker industry.

Employees designing protective masks at the UA lighthouse.

UA has donated more than 500,000 fabric face masks and 50,000 equipped fanny packs.

Under Armour

Headquartered in Baltimore, Under Armour is well-known for its tremendous community impact. UA began manufacturing and assembling face masks, face shields and specially equipped fanny packs to support University of Maryland Medical System’s 28,000 healthcare providers and staff in March. The athletic company also began exploring fabricating hospital gowns for the statewide medical system, in addition to providing face masks to LifeBridge, a regional healthcare organization also based in Baltimore.

Nike

Nike recently announced it had been working with Oregon Health & Science University to produce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the form of full-face shields and powered, air-purifying respirator (PAPR) lenses. Most notable is the simplicity of the nine-step process to produce the full-face shield, which is made of three parts. The equipment was distributed to Nike’s World Headquarters region including Providence, Legacy Health Systems, Kaiser Permanente and others in Oregon.

New Balance

New Balance has ramped up its factories to collaborate with local medical facilities to meet their equipment needs. The athletic company strives to produce a total of 100,000 masks per week throughout the pandemic. NB is also exploring whether the company can gain additional capacity at its other US factories from its current equipment and team. Its R&D team is working on producing medical gowns, foot coverings and other essentials.

Adidas teamed up with Carbon to produce face shields.

Carbon has already produced more than 18,000 face shields per week.

Adidas

Today, Adidas announced it started working with Carbon, a leading digital manufacturing platform who also works with the three-stripes company on its 3D printed footwear, to produce face shields. Carbon had already produced more than 18,000 3D-printed face shields per week when it recently shifted its manufacturing in March to focus on making medical supplies.