Adidas has a plan to make basketball shoes cool again - and it starts in Los Angeles

Adidas

• Adidas is turning its focus to Los Angeles in a major way.
• Adidas is looking for a basketball revival in North America amid lessening demand for the category.
• Los Angeles is ground zero for Adidas' push into basketball, and it's planning a large warehouse party packed full of stars just before the NBA All-Star game.

Los Angeles is getting its time to shine in the Adidas spotlight.

Over the last year, the brand has been super busy in the City of Angels, one of its key global cities along with New York, London, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

Adidas

The new Adidas Originals store in Venice.

Adidas has opened a new, 31,000-square-foot office space for its sales, marketing, editorial, social, and key cities teams. It opened a new Adidas Originals boutique in Venice last year, and it debuted a store in Downtown Los Angeles on Friday, February 10.

It's all gearing up for a focus on what Adidas US head Mark King called "the most influential city" for sportswear during an interview with Business Insider.

Just before the NBA All-Star Game is played in Los Angeles on February 18, Adidas will be hosting a two-day festival that King said has been a year in the making.

With live music by N.E.R.D., exclusive shoes offered for sale via a raffle, famous All-Stars like James Harden and Kristaps Porzingis, an "east versus west" basketball game, a Sound Lab music-creating station, and an Adidas product customization station, the party serves as both a celebration of basketball culture and a coming-out party for Adidas' ambitions for Los Angeles.

King said that basketball, as a category, has slowed down when compared to Adidas' running shoes like UltraBoost, which have fueled its monster growth in the US.

Adidas

Adidas is setting its sights on basketball.

But, it's still what King called a "massive" category - both culturally and for Adidas itself. Basketball is the second-largest sport in the US when measured by participation, behind only running.

Still, King said Adidas hasn't yet had much traction in the category so far, which he hopes to change soon. King says to expect "strong statements about basketball" this year, likely in the form of getting "innovative product" on players' feet.

"It all starts with product," King said.