How Adidas x Gucci Pop Up at BA TSU Turned into an Art Experience

The Adidas x Gucci pop up at BA TSU Art Gallery in Tokyo turned a standard launch into a full on cultural installation, using a gallery setting to frame the collab as an exhibition instead of a temporary shop.

When a collab becomes an exhibition

Placing the project inside the BA TSU Art Gallery in Shibuya shifted expectations from “store visit” to “show opening,” tapping into the venue’s cultural credibility and exhibition logic. This move aligned with the wider adidas x Gucci rollout, where global pop ups were conceived as brand activations and experience spaces, not just additional retail square meters.

Design language and atmosphere

Inside BA TSU, psychedelic colour, layered graphics, and exaggerated scale translated the collision of Gucci’s sartorial codes and adidas’ sports heritage into a single, immersive environment. Walls, floors, and fixtures carried the same kaleidoscopic prints and three stripe/web motifs seen in the collection, so the room felt like stepping inside the campaign rather than simply browsing rails.

Product inside the space

The pop up carried the full adidas x Gucci offer: tailoring inflected streetwear, sport inspired separates, accessories, and sneakers, all marked by shared signatures like the Trefoil, GG monogram, and three stripe/web mash ups. Environment and product echoed each other; the prints, colour blocking, and graphics in the space mirrored what appeared on tracksuits, dresses, ba,gs and Gazelle trainers.

Access and drop mechanics

The BA TSU Art Gallery pop up ran from June 7 to June 26, 2022, operating daily from 11:00 to 20:00 as the Japan anchor for the launch. Entry followed a reservation‑priority system, while the collection was also released at select Gucci stores, Gucci’s online shop, and via adidas’ CONFIRMED app, knitting together luxury and sportswear channels.

Why it mattered

By treating the collab as an exhibition, adidas and Gucci showed how a drop can function as a cultural event, using space, graphic design, and curation to express the partnership’s ideas before a shopper ever touches product. For brands, this pop up became a reference point on how immersive, gallery like activations can extend the life and impact of a collaboration beyond its initial runway or lookbook moment.