Adidas company profile

The Adidas group is the world’s second largest sportswear manufacturer and  includes the Reebok brand, a share of the German football club Bayern München, and Runtastic, an Austrian fitness technology company. It also owns the CrossFit and Les Mills brands.

Adidas company profile

The company was founded by Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolf in 1924.

In the 1940s, the feuding brothers split the business into two separate companies: Adidas and Puma. 

The Dassler shoe, one of the first football boots, was considered one of the most innovative of its kind.

Adidas’s footwear became mainstream after it was worn and endorsed by the US rap band Run-DMC.

Adidas nearly went bankrupt in the early 1990s, but a series of sponsorship and partnership deals with celebrities and sportsmen and women enabled it to claw back profits.

Its nearest rival is the US sportswear multinational Nike.

Facts about Adidas

Adidas’s three-stripe logo was adopted in 1952 after it bought the branding from the Finnish athletic footwear brand Karhu Sports. It cost Adidas two bottles of whiskey and the equivalent of €1,600 (US$1,951).

Its trefoil logo was designed in 1971 and launched in 1972, just in time for the 1972 Summer Olympics, held in Munich.

This branding was replaced by the three bars logo, designed by then creative director Peter Moore in 1997.

Adidas and Reebok

Adidas bought Reebok, which was founded in Bolton in the UK, in 1958 for just over €3bn.

Reebok, which is now based in the US, has struggled to gain market share from its rivals and was put up for sale by Adidas in 2020. It is expected to be sold for under €2bn (US$2.4bn).

Adidas and Timex

In the spring of 2021, Adidas announced a tie-up with the US watchmaker Timex. The agreement means Timex Group will design, manufacture and distribute watches worldwide under the Adidas Originals brand. 

What is Adidas known for?

• Adidas makes shoes for every sport but started out making track spikes – running shoes made especially for track and field.

• The first Adidas clothing was a tracksuit made for the German footballer Franz Beckenbauer, in 1967.

• Adidas also makes football kits and is an official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League.

• Adidas is also known for its Stan Smith and Gazelle trainers.

• The company invented shower shoes, also known as slides or sliders, after the German football team requested Adidas make shoes for their players to wear in the shower and in changing rooms. After a few design changes, the Adilette was launched in 1972.