This Brooklyn-based sneaker brand is taking a huge bet that classic is forever

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Though retro and lifestyle sneakers are the predominant trends in footwear these days, and those styles are currently the company's top sellers, Greats didn't necessarily predict that would happen.

"It wasn't a crystal ball. It wasn't forecasting. We're not fortune tellers," founder Ryan Babenzien told Business Insider. "The data's there, it's just how you look at it."

Instead of chasing trends — "We're not a trendy company," Babenzien says — Greats relies on 10 core silhouettes.

"The company is based around the thought that there are a handful of classic silhouettes that are evergreen in the sneaker market, and they may ebb and flow, but these core palettes of silhouettes are what dominate the sneaker industry, period," Babenzien said.

Adidas opens up its Runtastic fitness platform to third-party manufacturers

Adidas is looking to power the backend of more fitness trackers and health-focused hardware in the future by opening up its Runtastic platform to third parties. Instead of circling its wagons so that only it can produce compatible hardware, it wants everyone to have a chance to make Runtastic powered products.

Adidas has had a bit of a mixed experience when it comes to fitness trackers. It recently shut down its MiCoach platform in favor of championing its Runtastic platform, the one it bought as part of the Runtastic app purchase in 2015. That side of its fitness tracking business has been far more successful, but it doesn’t want to stop there. It’s now looking to bring many more fitness-focused customers in to the fold.

“It’s not just about, ‘Can we develop a new piece of hardware that is a standalone Adidas ecosystem,'” said Stacey Burr, VP of wearable sports electronics at Adidas (via Engadget). “You’ll be seeing that we’ll be opening up a bunch of our content and know-how to other third party devices, and [making] it more of an open platform scenario so that we can extend onto other people’s devices as well.” 

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