Adidas takes the sweat out of sweater shopping with in-store machine

FILE PHOTO: Shareholders of Adidas Group silhouetted in front of the company logo in Fuerth near Nuremberg, Germany, May 8, 2008. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Adidas has been testing a store where shoppers can design a sweater, have a body scan to determine fit and get it knitted by a state-of-the-art machine within hours, as the German company looks at ways to respond more quickly to customer demands.

The sportswear group is working on several initiatives to cut the time it takes to get new designs to stores from the 12 to 18 months now standard in the sneaker industry, including opening factories mainly operated by robots in Germany and the United States.