Salomon inside inovation Lab

Nestled in the heart of the French Alps, in the city of Annecy, lies a hub of sports innovation: the Salomon Annecy Design Center (ADC). Our visit to this space dedicated to research, development, and performance allowed us to uncover the behind-the-scenes creation of Salomon products. It’s a place where athlete care is central to every process, serving the pursuit of performance. The ADC holds many secrets, as the equipment and footwear for upcoming seasons are worked on, designed, and studied.

(During our visit, we encountered prototypes for athletes or products that will be released in the coming years, so photo-taking was limited.)

© Guillaume Desmurs

The Soft Prototype Area

Our visit began with the “softgoods” prototype area, where we were welcomed by Jean-Philippe, the sector manager at the FABLAB.

Here, the focus is on iterations and constant adaptation of products based on athlete feedback.

Each athlete comes with requests, often related to their upcoming challenges: Marathon des Sables, the Pierra Menta, the Diagonale des Fous,… For these challenges, a suitable outfit or pair of shoes must be developed and created. This is where the Prototype Area teams spring into action.

Experienced seamstresses work closely with the athletes to refine every detail, knowing that even the smallest stitch can make a difference. This proximity to the athletes leads to a deep understanding of their needs, resulting in innovations directly derived from their experiences.

Each athlete has a personalized shoe mold. Created from a 3D scan and a plastic reproduction, the brand ensures that each athlete will have a shoe that fits their foot perfectly.

The care given to the athletes is impressive and sometimes goes very far, such as the opportunity for François D’Haene to initiate a range in his name. The athlete then becomes an integral part of creating clothes, shoes, and bags intended for a broader audience.

A Shared Victory

The bond between Salomon and its athletes is palpable at every stage of creation and among the company’s teams. When François D’Haene wins a race with a product developed at the ADC, the entire team shares in that victory. Their close collaboration allows for designing products that not only meet elite athletes’ expectations but also inspire them and can lead to enhanced performance.

Innovation for the Many

If athletes are satisfied with a product, it may then be adapted into models for the wider public. We, the less proficient runners, can then access them. Take the Genesis S/Lab, initially designed for professionals and later adapted into the S/Lab model; it is now available in a public model: the Genesis. This model retains all the strengths of the S/Lab version but adds comfort and protection.

The Biomechanical Lab

The visit continued to the biomechanics laboratory, led by the enthusiastic Marlene Giandolini. This lab doesn’t just test products; it conducts in-depth scientific studies to decode the biomechanical impacts of each innovation. An example of their work is the analysis of the impact of a carbon plate on marathon performance. Studies show that the Carbon plate benefits those running a marathon in less than 4:30min/km. This research led to the creation of the S/Lab Spectur, designed to meet the needs of a broader range of athletes, those running around 5:00min/km, which is the majority of the pack.

The lab also performs analyses on ankles, energy-saving gains, and other tests.

One study even analyzed the impact of flask movement on running energy. The conclusions show that beyond comfort, flasks adjusted close to the body save energy compared to flasks that move around. These in-depth analyses cover various domains.

The Lab thus directly provides scientific analysis within Salomon. It also conducts customer-based analyses, studying customer choices: why a red shoe and not a green one. They even analyze less scientific aspects: the feeling with equipment. Why do we have a better feeling with one shoe and not another?

The ADC, Epicenter of Innovation by and for Athletes

Visiting Salomon’s ADC reveals a place of relentless innovation, where athletes are the focal point. This center of excellence embodies Salomon’s spirit: a continuous quest for improvement, where every product results from close collaboration with those who will put them to the test. Athletes, at the heart of this process, are not mere beneficiaries; they are co-creators of each innovation, ensuring that Salomon products are genuinely designed to excel. Once validated, these products can then be developed for the broader public and added to the brand’s catalog.