adidas recently announced they will be launching a line of sneakers that glow at night. The shoes are the result of an established partnership between two retailers (Sneakerboy and Wish) and the athletic brand.

The design of the glowing models is inspired by the deadly, but luminescent, jellyfish that is located on the Australian Coast, which also explains the connection to the Australian retailer Sneakerboy.

The first two pairs announced (in this collection) are different in terms of the glow-in-the-dark patterns. In one of the pairs, the entire upper part glows, while the other pair only has a few details that glow at night, such as the tongue. Both sneakers used a new manufacturing method in order to produce these details/patterns.

It’s curious to see how innovation & technology can bring new features that change entirely the way footwear works. Shoes that glow at night have high value, especially for youngsters. And these same youngsters will be willing to pay more for them.

At the same time, it doesn’t matter if innovation is about comfort, design or features. When a brand is innovating, it’s showing its consumers that it cares and that it wants to make better footwear for them.

All in all, even if the shoes that glow aren’t that successful, they will still add value to the brand equity. And that’s why brands should always keep an eye on innovation and communicating to consumers what they do.