Adidas Pride campaign prompts anti-trans backlash with swimsuit images
"My hope is this range inspires LGBTQIA+ allies to speak up more for the queer people they love," says designer Rich Mnisi.
A new Pride-themed sportswear collection by Adidas is facing fierce anti-trans backlash online.
The Let Love Be Your Legacy collection, which went on sale Monday (15 May), is a collaboration between the sports brand and South African, queer designer Rich Mnisi.
The collection includes a £50 one-piece swimsuit worn on the Adidas website by a model whose gender identity is unknown. However, critics lambasted the inclusive approach to marketing by commenting on the model’s physical appearance and suggesting they should not be wearing what they perceive as womenswear.
In a tweet, former NCAA women’s swimmer Riley Gaines said: “I don’t understand why companies are voluntarily doing this to themselves. They could have at least said the suit is ‘unisex,’ but they didn’t because it’s about erasing women. Ever wondered why we hardly see this go the other way?”
Despite Gaines’ comments, the Adidas website does include a gender-neutral swimwear section. Furthermore, the same swimsuit is worn elsewhere on the website by another model who is female presenting.
British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies tweeted: “Yet again a male gets paid to advertise a product vastly aimed at women!
“Adidas, if you want to design a swimsuit for trans women, right on. They have different needs. But stop gaslighting women?”
Runner Mara Yamauchi added: “If this is aimed at female swimmers, there are thousands of wonderful, athletic females @adidasUK could have paid to model this. Brands erasing women.”
One Adidas customer, however, praised the inclusive approach to marketing the product, with one commenting on the garment’s page: “It helps to be freer and get away from gender borders, thanks to Adidas for letting us be freer, letting us be ourselves.”
Attitude has approached Adidas for comment.
On the Adidas website, a brand rep describes the Let Love Be Your Legacy collection as a “shared ambition to encourage allyship and freedom of expression without bias, in all spaces of sport and culture, the adidas x RICH MNISI range of apparel and footwear spans both lifestyle and performance featuring signature silhouettes across adidas Originals, football, cycling, sportswear and swim.”
“My hope is this range inspires LGBTQIA+ allies to speak up more”
“In creating this collection, I had a strong impulse to speak to my inner-child,” Mnisi commented. “[Also] to express to the world how LGBTQIA+ allyship can create a legacy of love. Unifying these themes together through my own visual language and adidas’ iconic performance and lifestyle pieces is a powerful combination – making the collection a symbol for self-acceptance and LGBTQIA+ advocacy.
Mnisi furthermore added: “My hope is this range inspires LGBTQIA+ allies to speak up more for the queer people they love and not let them fight for acceptance alone.”
“The pitch, the field or the pool must be a safe space, the place to game freely” – Tom Daley
Olympic swimmer Tom Daley is also pictured on the Adidas website wearing an item from the collection. In an open letter addressed “dear sport”, the former Attitude cover star, who is gay, wrote: “You’re a space for everyone. No matter who they are or where they come from. No matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, whatever it is. Every single athlete should be free to love you while loving whoever they want. And most importantly, being true to whoever they are.
“There is already so much hate in the world, saying what people can and can’t do at certain levels and in certain spaces. The pitch, the field or the pool must be a safe space, the place to game freely.
“But freely doesn’t mean easy competition. We are fierce, we play tough, we work harder. And we love radically. Sport, every chance you get, every chance we get, let’s make it clear that everyone is welcome to play. Let it be known that everyone’s own way is beautiful, valid and enough. And whether you want to be involved in sport to win, whether you want to be in for the social aspect, whether you want to be involved in sport just to move your body – there is a space for everyone at all levels.”
The backlash against Adidas follows similar controversies over brands like Bud Light and Nike using the influencer Dylan Mulvaney in their marketing earlier this year. Mulvaney, who is trans, appeared in social media content promoting both brands, resulting in similar boycott calls from transphobes.