Atlanta, GA – Following the celebration of the 2025 Honorees, the Quilters of Gee’s Bend and Jaycina Almond, adidas is proud to announce its newest Honoring Black Excellence (HBE) highlight: Sekou Thornell, founding father of Kitboys Membership and model marketer for Atlanta United. With an unwavering dedication to inclusion, Sekou is pioneering a brand new future for American soccer—one the place Black voices not solely take part within the sport however form it.
To honor Sekou’s transformative affect, adidas HBE is debuting a compelling brief movie that shines a highlight on his journey and the highly effective affect he’s making within the soccer world. Whereas the movie facilities on Sekou’s private story, it additionally showcases his work by way of Kitboys Membership, the Atlanta-based artistic collective he based, which blends sport, style, and storytelling. By means of Kitboys Membership, Sekou is shaping a extra inclusive and consultant sport, utilizing limited-edition attire and concrete aesthetics to make soccer extra accessible to American audiences. The movie additionally highlights how Sekou’s broader artistic work—spanning images, videography, music, and net design—celebrates the wealthy tradition that’s driving soccer’s evolution.
Along with the movie, adidas is deepening its funding in Sekou’s mission by offering a considerable grant to assist Kitboys Membership’s continued efforts to develop entry to the sport, foster artistic expression, and empower the following era of Black soccer innovators.
This 12 months’s HBE theme honors how particular person creativity stitches collectively a bigger cultural narrative—one wealthy with resilience, innovation, and unapologetic Black brilliance. Sekou embodies this imaginative and prescient, utilizing his platforms to interrupt down limitations, reimagine the sport, and construct area for group to flourish.
Keep tuned as adidas HBE continues its year-long celebration of Black excellence.
Extra about adidas Honoring Black Excellence (HBE)
Born in 2019, Honoring Black Excellence (HBE) is an adidas initiative that acknowledges Black group leaders and amplifies their work by way of impactful storytelling, giveback packages, and group activations. Rooted in co-creation, HBE is pushed by the honorees’ efforts of their communities to uplift and empower the following era of Black athletes and creatives.
Extra About adidas:
adidas is a worldwide chief within the sporting items business. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany, the corporate employs greater than 62,000 folks throughout the globe and generated gross sales of €23.7 billion in 2024.
