“Sexy helps but unless you’re fit it is not sustainable,” Singh said.

The brand has focused on opening flagship stores in key cities around the world. “We narrowed down the cities that play a critical role in influencing trends and New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Shanghai and Tokyo are the six key cities we’re focusing on.

“We then installed small teams in these key cities and it was relatively easy for us to activate the consumer, given that our teams were localised and they had very pointed understanding of this consumer.”

Singh said Adidas has also focused investment in these flagship stores and omni-channel customer experiences. “In the last few years, we’ve enabled the omni-channel suite in hundreds of our stores with endless aisles and click and collect. We have also looked at what we can do to create efficiencies on the floor, which will ultimately enhance the consumer experience.”

He added: “A few years ago we had a very dogmatic, seven steps to selling approach. We realised that today’s staff, the Millennials, need more context and purpose so we created a new approach called 'Connect, Engage, Inspire', which gives staff permission to be themselves.”