Adidas AG (pronounced /ˈɑːdiːdɑːz/ in the UK and pronounced /əˈdiːdəs/ in the US,^[3] FWB The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Frankfurt, Germany: ADS, ADR An American Depositary Receipt represents ownership in the shares of a non-U.S. company and trades in U.S. financial markets. The stock of many non-US companies trade on US stock exchanges through the use of ADRs. ADRs enable U.S. investors to buy shares in foreign companies without the hazards or inconveniences of cross-border & cross-:Pink Sheets Pink Quote, informally known as the Pink Sheets, is an electronic quotation system operated by Pink OTC Markets that displays quotes from broker-dealers for many over-the-counter securities. These securities tend to be inactively traded stocks, including penny stocks and those with a narrow geographic interest. Market makers and other brokers can: ADDYY) is a major German A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state,-based sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of German sportswear giant Adidas, is a producer of athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories.Joe and Jeff Foster founded Mercury Sports. In 1960, Joe and Jeff Foster renamed the company Reebok in England, having discovered the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy. The name comes sportswear company, TaylorMade-adidas TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company of Carlsbad, California is a U.S. headquartered subsidiary of the German based adidas Group. TaylorMade was started in 1979 by Gary Adams, the inventor of the metalwood, and the company has continued to maintain a consistent presence at the top of golf product innovation since that time, including the R7 Quad line golf Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of company, and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, the company also produces other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear and other sports and clothing related goods. The company is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, after its U.S. rival Nike Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment with revenue in excess of.^[4]

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. Logos are either purely graphic or are composed of the name of the organization (a logotype or wordmark). An example of an abstract mark is the blue octagon representing Chase Bank, while an. The "Three Stripes" were bought from the Finnish sport company Karhu Sports in the 1950s.^[5][6] The company revenue In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover. Some companies receive revenue from interest, dividends or royalties paid to them by other companies. Revenue may for 2009 was listed at € The euro sign is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the Eurozone in the European Union (EU). The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. The international three-letter code (according to ISO standard ISO 4217) for the euro is EUR10.38 billion and the 2008 figure at €10.80 billion.

History

Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik

Adolf ("Adi") Dassler Adolf "Adi" Dassler was the founder of the German sportswear company Adidas started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈbaɪ.ɐn] ; Alemannic German: Freistaat Bayre; Austro-Bavarian: Freistoot Boarn), is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of the country. With an area of 70,548 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), it is by far the largest German state by area,, after his return from World War I World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were. In 1924, his brother Rudolf (Rudi) Dassler joined the business which became Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) and prospered. The pair started their venture in their mother's laundry Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered, but at the time, electricity supplies in the town were unreliable, and the brothers sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment.^[7]

By the 1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona . It marked the second and final time that the International Olympic, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world's first motorways to the Olympic village with a suitcase full of spikes and persuaded United States sprinter Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team to use them, the first sponsorship for an African-American. After Owens won four gold medals, his success cemented the good reputation of Dassler shoes among the world's most famous sportsmen. Letters from around the world landed on the brothers' desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all interested in their shoes. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year before World War II.^[8]

Late in World War II, the shoe factory shifted to production of the Panzerschreck Panzerschreck was the popular name for the Raketenpanzerbüchse ('rocket armor rifle', abbreviated to RPzB), an 88 mm calibre reusable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by Nazi Germany in World War II. Another popular nickname was Ofenrohr ("stove pipe") anti-tank weapon.^[9]

Company split

Both brothers joined the Nazi Party The National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei , abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known in English as the Nazi Party (from the Ger. pronunciation of Nationalsozialist), was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. It was known as the German Workers' Party (DAP) prior to a change of name, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party. During the war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in 1943 when Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were already in: "The dirty bastards are back again," Adi said, apparently referring to the Allied war planes, but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family.^[10] After Rudolf was later picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS The Waffen-SS was a military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron") or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside the Wehrmacht Heer regular army, but was never, he was convinced that his brother had turned him in.^[7]

The brothers split up in 1947,^[11] with

• Rudi forming a new firm that he called Ruda – from Rudolf Dassler, later rebranded Puma PUMA AG Rudolf Dassler Sport (FWB: PUMG) is a large German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear,
• and Adi forming a company formally registered as adidas AG (with lower case Lower case , minuscule, or small letters are the smaller form of letters, as opposed to upper case or capital letters, as used in European alphabets (Greek, Latin, Cyrillic, and Armenian). For example, the letter "a" is lower case while the letter "A" is upper case lettering) on 18 August 1949. The acronym Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations that are formed using the initial components in a phrase or name. These components may be individual letters or parts of words (as in Benelux). There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms (see nomenclature), nor on written usage (see orthographic styling). While popular All Day I Dream About Sport, although sometimes considered the origin of the adidas name, was applied retroactively, which makes it a backronym A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed after the fact to make an existing word or words match an acronym. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology. The name is actually a portmanteau A portmanteau (pronounced /pɔrtmænˈtoʊ/ , plural: portmanteaus or portmanteaux) or portmanteau word is used to mean a blend of two (or more) words or morphemes and their meanings into one new word. In linguistics, a portmanteau is defined as a single morph which represents two or more morphemes formed from "Adi" (a nickname for Adolf) and "Das" (from "Dassler").^[1]

The Tapie affair

After a period of trouble following the death of Adolf Dassler's son Horst Dassler in 1987, the company was bought in 1989 by French industrialist Bernard Tapie, for 1.6 billion 1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001 French France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, francs The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the French franc, the currency of France until it adopted the euro in 1999 , and the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription francorum rex ("King of the Franks") (now €243.918 million), which Tapie borrowed. Tapie was at the time a famous specialist of rescuing bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a business or corporate debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring. In the majority of cases, however, bankruptcy is initiated by companies, an expertise on which he built his fortune.

Tapie decided to move production offshore Offshoring describes the relocation by a company of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Even state governments employ offshoring to Asia Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled. He also hired Madonna Madonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance. After performing as a member of the pop groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album, Madonna, in 1983 on Sire Records for promotion. He sent, from Christchurch, New Zealand Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch, a shoe sales representative, to Germany and met Adolf Dassler's descendants (Amelia Randall Dassler and Bella Beck Dassler) and was sent back with a few items to promote the company there.

In 1992, Tapie was unable to pay the interest from his loan. He mandated the Crédit Lyonnais Crédit Lyonnais is a historic French bank. In the early 1990s it was the largest French bank, majority state-owned at that point. Crédit Lyonnais was the subject of poor management during that period which almost led to its bankruptcy in 1993. It was acquired by another French bank in 2003 and is now known as LCL (Le Crédit Lyonnais) bank Banking is generally a highly regulated industry, and government restrictions on financial activities by banks have varied over time and location. The current set of global bank capital standards are called Basel II. In some countries such as Germany, banks have historically owned major stakes in industrial corporations while in other countries to sell Adidas, and the bank subsequently converted the outstanding debt owed into equity The stock or capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors. Stock is distinct from the property and the assets of a business which may fluctuate in of the enterprise, which was unusual as per the prevalent French banking practice. Apparently, the state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership, government ownership or state property, are property interests that are vested in the state, rather than an individual or communities bank had tried to get Tapie out of dire financial Finance is the science of funds management. The general areas of finance are business finance, personal finance, and public finance. Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of finance deals with the concepts of time, money, and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted straits as a personal favour to Tapie, reportedly because Tapie was Minister A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet of Urban Affairs (ministre de la Ville) in the French government A government is the organization, or agency through which a political unit exercises its authority, controls and administers public policy, and directs and controls the actions of its members or subjects at the time.

In February 1993, Crédit Lyonnais sold Adidas to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a friend of Bernard Tapie for a much higher amount of money than what Tapie owed, 4.485 billion (€683.514 million) francs rather than 2.85 billion (€434.479 million). Tapie later sued the bank, because he felt "spoiled" by the indirect sale.

Robert Louis-Dreyfus became the new CEO of the company. He was also the president of Olympique de Marseille, a team Tapie had owned until 1993.

Tapie filed for personal bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a business or corporate debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring. In the majority of cases, however, bankruptcy is initiated by in 1994. He was the object of several lawsuits, notably related to match fixing In organized sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs when a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as race fixing. Games that are deliberately lost are at the football club. During 1997, he served 6 months of an 18 month prison sentence in La Santé prison in Paris Paris ([paʁi] in French, pronounced /ˈpærɪs/ in English) is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). The city of Paris, within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated.

In 2005, French courts awarded Tapie a €135 million compensation (about 886 million francs).

Post-Tapie era

In 1994, combined with FIFA The International Federation of Association Football , commonly known by the acronym FIFA (usual English pronunciation: /ˈfiːfə/), is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. Its headquarters are located in Zürich, Switzerland, and its current president is Sepp Blatter. FIFA is responsible for the Youth Group, SOS Children's Villages SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. It was founded by Hermann Gmeiner in Imst, Austria and received the 2002 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. According to the Financial Times, the 2 became the main beneficiary.

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group The Salomon Group is a sports equipment manufacturing company that originated in Annecy, France. The company was started in 1947 by François Salomon and his wife and child. In 1997 it became part of the Adidas group. On 2 May 2005, Adidas-Salomon announced that it had agreed to sell the Salomon Group for €485 million to Amer Sports of Finland who specialized in ski wear, and its official corporate name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the Taylormade Golf company and Maxfli which allowed them to compete with Nike Golf.

In 1998, Adidas sued the NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi- voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are located in Indianapolis, Indiana over their rules limiting the size and number of commercial logos on team uniforms and apparel. Adidas withdrew the suit, and the two groups established guidelines as to what three-stripe designs would be considered uses of the Adidas trademark.

In 2003, Adidas filed a lawsuit in a British The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land court challenging Fitness World Trading's use of a two-stripe motif similar to Adidas's three stripes. The court ruled that despite the simplicity of the mark, Fitness World 's use was infringing because the public could establish a link between that use and Adidas's mark.^[12]

In September 2004, top English The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant fashion designer Fashion design is the art concerned with the application of design and aesthetics to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social attitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories. Some work alone or as part of a team. They attempt to Stella McCartney launched a joint-venture line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the corporation. This line is a sports performance collection for women called "Adidas by Stella McCartney",^[13] and it has been critically acclaimed.^[14]

Also in 2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner company Salomon Group for €485m to Amer Sports of Finland.

In August 2005, Adidas declared its intention to buy British rival Reebok for $3.8 billion (US). This takeover was completed with partnership in January 2006^[1] and meant that the company will have business sales closer to those of Nike in North America. The acquisition of Reebok will also allow Adidas to compete with Nike worldwide as the number two athletic shoemaker in the world.^[15]

Adidas has corporate headquarters in Germany, and many other business locations around the world such as Hong Kong, Toronto, Taiwan, England, Japan, Australia and Spain. Mainly sold in the U.S., Adidas makes lots of assets from these countries and is expanding to more oversea countries.

In 2005, Adidas introduced the Adidas 1, the first ever production shoe to utilize a microprocessor. Dubbed by the company "The World's First Intelligent Shoe", it features a microprocessor capable of performing 5 million calculations per second that automatically adjusts the shoe's level of cushioning to suit its environment. The shoe requires a small, user-replaceable battery that lasts for approximately 100 hours of running. On 25 November 2005, Adidas released a new version of the Adidas 1 with an increased range of cushioning, allowing the shoe to become softer or firmer, and a new motor with 153 percent more torque.^{[citation needed]}

On 11 April 2006, Adidas announced an 11-year deal to become the official NBA apparel provider. They will make NBA, NBDL, and WNBA jerseys and products as well as team-coloured versions of the "Superstar" basketball shoe. This deal (worth over $400 million) takes the place of the previous 10-year Reebok deal that was put in place in 2001.

Products

Running

Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the adiStar Control 5, the adiStar Ride (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion 6), the Supernova Sequence (the replacement for the Supernova Control 10), and the Supernova Cushion 7 (which will soon be replaced by the Supernova Glide), among others. In addition, their performance apparel is widely used by runners. Adidas also uses kangaroo leather to make their more expensive shoes.^[16][17]

Football

One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and associated equipment. Adidas also provides apparel and equipment for all teams in Major League Soccer. Adidas remain a major company in the supply of team kits for international football teams. Current examples include Scotland, Spain, Russia, France, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Romania, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Japan, Venezuela and Ukraine.

Adidas also makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by many countries and leagues in the world. In the United States, referees wear the Adidas kits in MLS matches even though the primary referee supplier is Official Sports. The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport with notable examples including development of the Copa Mondial moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches for almost forty years. The studded equivalent was named World Cup follow in celebration of the 1978 tournament won by Argentina, one of the nations it supplied at the time. Some of the famous football teams currently sponsored by Adidas include Real Madrid, Palmeiras, Milan, Chelsea,.Beşiktaş , River Plate, Liverpool, Marseille, Bayern Munich, Schalke 04, Benfica, Wolfsburg, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Panathinaikos, Ajax, Dynamo Kyiv, and Stoke City among others.

Adidas became renowned for advancing the Predator boot design developed by ex-Liverpool and Australian international player Craig Johnston. This design featured a ribbed rubber structure for the upper leather of the shoe, used to accent the movement of the ball when struck; highly skilled players claimed they were able to curve the flight of the ball more easily when wearing this new contoured design.^{[citation needed]}The Predator also features the Craig Johnston-invented Traxion sole.

FIFA, the world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed footballs for use in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. The balls supplied for the 2006 World Cup, the Teamgeist, were particular noteworthy for their ability to travel further than previous types when struck, leading to longer range goal strikes that were intended to increase the number of goals scored. Goalkeepers were believed to be less comfortable with the design, claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight.

Adidas also introduced another new ball for the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was designed and developed by Loughborugh University in conjuction with Chelsea FC. It received much criticism from players, managers and pundits for being too hard to control. The lighter and more aerodynamic ball led to many shots and passes being over hit. The Jabulani was widely blamed for the low numbers of long range goals or even remotely accurate attempts in the opening stage of the tournament.

As well as the aformentioned Predator boot, adidas also manufacture the F50 and adiPure range of football boots.

Tennis

Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line of tennis racquets. While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the Response for the "club player", Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the 12.2 oz Barricade tour model.^[18] Adidas sponsors the following professional players with mainly clothing apparel and footwear: Justine Henin, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanović, Daniela Hantuchová, Alicia Molik, Andy Murray, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon, Fernando González, Flavia Pennetta, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, Sorana Cîrstea and Caroline Wozniacki. Adidas tennis apparel contains the ClimaCool technology found in other athletic jerseys and shoes.^[19]

In November 2009 World Number 4 Andy Murray was confirmed as Adidas's highest paid star with a 5 year contract reported to be worth £10 million.

Players sponsored by Adidas can take advantage of the Adidas Player Improvement Program, where the company provides coaches, fitness trainers and sports psychologists to players in order to further their careers. The program includes legendary coaches such as Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld.

In Cincinnati, at the ATP Tennis Tournament in Mason, they have also sponsored the ball-boy and ball-girl uniforms.

Golf

adidasGolf is part of adidas, a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and part of the adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-adidas golf company, and Rockport. The adidas Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods industry offering a wide range of products around the three core segments of adidas, Reebok, and TaylorMade-adidas Golf. adidasGolf sells and manufactures adidas-brand golf apparel, footwear and accessories.

Company Timeline:

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in alpine ski wear, and its official corporate name was changed to adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas also acquired the TaylorMade Golf company and Maxfli, which allowed them to compete with Nike Golf. Salomon sold its controlling interest in TaylorMade and its other sports equipment companies to global giant Adidas AG.

In 1998, Adidas Golf USA moved its business operations from Tualatin, Oregon, to the Carlsbad, California headquarters of TaylorMade Golf, acquired by adidas-Salomon. adidasGolf USA had 30 employees to relocate. Carlsbad is also the headquarters of one of its primary competitors, Callaway Golf Company.

In 1999, TaylorMade and AdidasGolf USA, were merged into a new company—called TaylorMade-Adidas Golf—with world headquarters in Carlsbad. Mark King was named president of the company he had begun his career with in 1981 as a sales representative after a short stint as vice president of sales and marketing at Callaway Golf Ball Co. in 1998.

In November 2008, Ashworth (clothing) became a wholly-owned subsidiary of TaylorMade-Adidas Golf, complementary to the synthetic performance fabrics of Adidas Golf.

Product:

Adidas Golf sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men’s equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, base layer and eyewear. Women’s equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, outerwear, base layers, and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both boys and girls footwear, apparel, and eyewear.

Cricket

In the 1990s, Adidas signed the famous Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and made shoes for him.^[20] Tendulkar continues to wear Adidas shoes while playing matches. Adidas even made action figures after Sachin Tendulkar.

In 2008, Adidas made their move into English cricket market by sponsoring English batting star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation of his lifetime deal with Woodworm, when they ran into financial difficulties.^[21] The following year they signed up fellow England player Ian Bell, Pakistan player Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja. Having made cricket footwear for many years, the company finally entered the field of bat manufacture in 2008 and their products are available in the Incurza, Pellara and Libro ranges.

Adidas also manufactures the uniforms worn by both the England cricket team and the Australian cricket team.

In 2008 and 2009 in both the seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL), it took up the sponsorship of the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils.

In 2009, Adidas signed Sachin Tendulkar and started sponsoring his bat. It created a new bat 'Adidas ST' for him and 'Adidas Pellara KP' for Kevin Pietersen, the same year. Now both of them use their personalized bats in cricket.

Basketball

Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer and is one of the leading basketball brands in the world. They are most famous for their iconic Superstar and Pro Model shoes, affectionately known as "shelltoes" for their stylized hard rubber toe box. These were made very popular in the 1980s hip hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas' stripe-sided polyester suits.

Adidas is also the current outfitter of all 30 franchises in the National Basketball Association (replacing the Reebok brand after the merger) and sponsors numerous players past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tracy McGrady, as well as Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Kevin Garnett, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith, Tim Duncan, Gilbert Arenas and Tony Parker. Adidas used to endorse Kobe Bryant with the Adidas Equipment KB8 as his first signature shoe, and stopped endorsing him in 2003.

Lacrosse

In 2007, Adidas announced the future production of lacrosse equipment, and will sponsor the Adidas National Lacrosse Classic in July 2008 for the top 600 high school underclassmen lacrosse players in the United States.^[22]

Rugby

Adidas make rugby balls and other rugby gear. They are the current kit and ball supplier to the New Zealand All Blacks, Irish Munster Rugby, and the Argentinian Pumas, among others. Adidas are also the official match ball supplier to the Heineken Cup.

Gymnastics

Since 2000, adidas has provided men's and women's gymnastics wear for Team USA, through USA Gymnastics. In 2006, adidas gymnastics leatards for women and adidas mens comp shirts, gymnastics pants and gymnastics shorts have been available in the USA, with seasonal leotards offered for Spring, Summer, Fall and Holidays. Starting in 2009, adidas gymnastics wear has been available worldwide through GK Elite Sportswear.^[23]

Skateboarding

Adidas SB (Skateboarding) are shoes made specifically for skateboarding. Many of the shoes Adidas previously made were redesigned for skateboarding.

Adidas Skateboarding also has a skateboarding team. The team consists of: Mark Gonzales, Dennis Busenitz, Tim O'Connor, Silas Baxter-Neal, Pete Eldridge, Dave Bachinsky, Benny Fairfax, Nester Judkins, Lem Villemin, and Vince Del Valle.

Accessories

Adidas also designs and makes sandals, watches, eyewear, bags, baseball caps, and socks.

As well, Adidas has a branded range of male and female deodorants, perfumes, aftershave and lotions.

Marketing

Adidas, like other sports brands is believed to engender high consumer brand loyalty. Brand loyalty towards Adidas, Nike and several other sportswear brands was examined in a recent study.^[24] The study found consumers did not exhibit unduly high loyalty towards such brands.

During the mid to late 1990s, Adidas divided the brand into three main groups with each a separate focus: Adidas Performance was designed to maintain their devotion to the athlete; Adidas Originals was designed to focus on fashion and life-style; and Style Essentials, with the main group within this one being Y-3.

"Impossible is Nothing" is the current mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas. This campaign was developed by 180/TBWA based in Amsterdam but also with significant work being done by TBWA/Chiat/Day in San Francisco – particularly for its basketball campaign "Believe In Five".TBWA\Chiat\Day commissioned Zane Peach^[25] to produce images for 2007 international ad campaign.

Game advertisement

The brand is featured in several games. Commodore Amiga: Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge Sony Playstation: Adidas power soccer Commodore 64, ZX spectrum, Amstrad CPC: Adidas Championship Football

Sponsorship

Adidas are the main sponsor and kit supplier of the highly successful New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks. Adidas also are the kit supplier to the Argentina Pumas, to the French Stade Français, and the Irish Munster Rugby team and the United States Eagles.

Adidas are the main sponsors and kit sponsors of the successful Australian Cricket Team and the England Cricket Team. They are also the main sponsors of the Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and English cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell. Adidas are the main sponsors of Australian Domestic Cricket Competitions – Pura Cup, KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, Ford Ranger One Day Cup. They are sponsors of the Indian Premier League teams Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians.

Adidas also sponsors and produces apparel for the Gold Coast Titans rugby league clubs in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition.

Adidas is the longstanding kit provider to the Germany national football team, a sponsorship that began in 1954 and is contracted to continue until at least 2018. Sponsoring also the Mexican, French and Spanish National Football Teams and from 2010 will sponsor the Scotland national football team.^[26]

Adidas are very active at sponsoring top football clubs such as Rapid Vienna, Middlesbrough, Real Madrid, Liverpool, AC Milan, Partizan Belgrade, Fluminense, Palmeiras, Bayern Munich, Dynamo Kyiv, Chelsea, Marseille, AFC Ajax, Schalke 04, Galatasaray, Benfica, River Plate, Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, UANL Tigres, Panathinaikos, Litex Lovech, Slavia Sofia, AIK, Djurgårdens IF, Brøndby IF, IFK Göteborg, Al-Ahly, Al-Hilal, Ahli Jeddah, Caracas, Universidad de Chile, and the Colombian football teams Los Millonarios and Atlético Nacional.

Adidas and Major League Soccer (MLS) announced a 10-year sponsorship agreement in November 2004 to make Adidas the official athletic sponsor and licensed product supplier for the league, and to work together to create a developmental league for MLS.^[27]

Adidas also sponsors events such as the London Marathon.

For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Adidas spent €70 million sponsoring the event, amid criticisms.^[28]

Adidas has also been marketing in NASCAR, sponsoring big name drivers such as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart.

Corporate information

Current executive board

• CEO Adidas-group: Herbert Hainer
• Finance Adidas-group: Robin J. Stalker
• CEO Adidas brand: Erich Stamminger
• Global Operations Adidas-group: Glenn S. Bennett

Former management

• CEO (1993–2002): Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

Financial information

Criticism

As with the majority of prolific brand-based transnationals, Adidas' business practises/ethics and commitment to worker welfare have been scrutinised and often criticised.^[30][31]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Adidas Group History
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Annual Report 2009". Adidas. http://www.adidas-group.com/en/investorrelations/assets/pdf/annual_reports/2009/GB_2009_En.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
3. ^ inogolo.com
4. ^ "Adidas, Deutsche Telekom, Infineon: German Equity Preview". Bloomberg L.P.. 16 January 2008. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=ah3ZhaeNWMdM&refer=germany. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
5. ^ Smit, Barbara (2007). Pitch Invasion, Adidas, Puma and the making of modern sport. Penguin. p. 44. ISBN 0141023686.
6. ^ Simon Chadwick, Dave Arthur (2007). International cases in the business of sport. Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 438. ISBN 0750685433.
7. ^ ^{a b} The Town that Sibling Rivalry Built, and Divided | Business | Deutsche Welle | 03.07.2006
8. ^ How Adidas and PUMA were born
9. ^ The Prehistory of Adidas and Puma; Spiegel
10. ^ Review of "Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and PUMA and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sport", Barbara Smit, March 2008, ISBN 978-0-06-124657-9
11. ^ Review of "Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sport", Barbara Smit, March 2008, ISBN 978-0-06-124657-9
12. ^ Adidas told its three stripes don't constitute a trademark at The Guardian
13. ^ Adidas.com – Stella McCartney collection
14. ^ Stella McCartney Biography at Internet Movie Database
15. ^ AOL.com
16. ^ SaveTheKangaroo.com
17. ^ YouTube.com
18. ^ tennis-warehouse.com/
19. ^ "adidas tennis". Adidas.com. http://adidas.com/us/tennis/. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
20. ^ "‘Brand Tendulkar will never lose value’". Indianexpress.com. 2006-05-05. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/brand-tendulkar-will-never-lose-value/3801/. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
21. ^ Pringle, Derek (October 16, 2008). "Kevin Pietersen snaps up lucrative bat deal after the demise of Woodworm". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/3204505/Kevin-Pietersen-snaps-up-lucrative-bat-deal-after-the-demise-of-Woodworm-Cricket.html. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
22. ^ "Level 2 Sports – Home". Adidasnationallacrosseclassic.com. http://www.adidasnationallacrosseclassic.com. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
23. ^ "adidas gymnastics". Gkelite.com. http://www.gkelite.com/adidas.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
24. ^ Dawes, J. "Brand Loyalty in the UK Sporswear Market." International Journal of Market Research, Vol 51, No. 1 2009.
25. ^ ":: Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art ::". Wolfecontemporary.com. http://www.wolfecontemporary.com/news.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
26. ^ "Islam Feruz called up to U17 squad". ScottishFA.co.uk. 2009-10-12. http://www.scottishfa.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
27. ^ "adidas, MLS strike long-term agreement". MLSnet.com. 2004-11-10. http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_events_news.jsp?ymd=20041110&content_id=18624&vkey=mlscup2004&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
28. ^ "Adidas Chief Criticizes Anti-China Protestors". Der Spiegel. 2008-05-03. http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,551262,00.html. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
29. ^ OpesC (French)
30. ^ Tyee – Homepage
31. ^ Common Dreams | News & Views

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/30237

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Taylor-Made-Golf-Co-Company-History.html

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sandiego/access/1246929281.html?dids=1246929281:1246929281&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+19%2C+1999&author=Mike+Freeman&pub=The+San+Diego+Union+-+Tribune&desc=Taylor%2C+Adidas+merge%2C+reshuffle+|+Hiring+of+Callaway+official+for+key+post+could+trigger+lawsuit&pqatl=google

http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/board-management-changes/10623278-1.html

External links

• Official website
  • Adidas brand website

Categories: Companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange | Companies listed on the Pink Sheets | Adidas | Shoe brands | Shoe companies of Germany | Swimwear manufacturers | Sporting goods manufacturers of Germany | Clothing retailers of Germany | Sportswear brands | Adidas brands | Companies established in 1924 | 1980s fashion | German brands | Economy of Bavaria | Herzogenaurach

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