When SportsOneSource reported in late October that adidas planned to cut costs by implementing a hiring freeze and scrubbing plans for year-end parties, the brain trust at Sole Technologies, manufacturers of Etnies, Emerica and eS footwear, among other brands, saw a marketing coup.

 

To show that there is always room for a party, Etnies decided to throw a holiday party – for adidas’ Portland employees.


Etnies took out an ad in the local Willamette Week that invited all adidas employees to My Father’s Place for free PBR from 7 to 9pm on Dec. 8. To further the holiday cheer, the party will only cost a reported $1,000, well below the approximately $6.3 million adidas estimated in October that it would save by not having parties.


When asked about ulterior motives for the party, a source at Sole Tech commented with a laugh, “we just hope they’ll come have a drink with us.”